User:Trig Jegman/REFP

Reference guidelines

References serve as sources for information. Not all information requires sourcing, but it's generally best to include them as often as possible. References help verify the integrity of information on Inkipedia [as well as direct users towards associated media or other reading material associated with the article's topic.]

For further general reading, consult Wikipedia's policy on sourcing. Wikipedia's standards are much stricter (as Wikipedia's scope and function is different from Inkipedia's), but the page contains a great overview on the topic as well as instructions for how to add references to articles using markup.

If a claim is not easily verifiable and/or reads as disputable, adding an inline "Citation needed" template is recommended. With this tag, other editors are encouraged to seek out the proper citation and add it to the page.

What makes a good reference
Use your judgement as an editor when discerning whether or not your reference is accurate and helpful enough for Inkipedia.

Examples of good references

 * Official material (e.g. content from the Splatoon games themselves, information from endorsed guidebooks or artbooks)
 * Note that the manga is not an accurate source of information for the game, as it follows a separate continuity (/ is officially stated to be "non-canon") (verify this?)
 * Official statements (e.g. social media posts made by Nintendo or the official Splatoon accounts, information found within Nintendo Directs, [Press kit press kit] contents, developer interviews)
 * Developer interviews or other statements (e.g. magazine articles, Splatoon-related Tweets put out by developers(?verify),
 * Note whether or not datamine related tweets are allowed per leak policy
 * Note that competitive namespace has different standards for what can be considered reliable references
 * in certain cases interwiki niwa or wmf links are preferred over refs (for etymology and general explanation of topics/etc)

Examples of bad references (generally)

 * Unrelated tweets that list no sources
 * Social media posts/etc containing speculation, fanon content, machine translation (see policy:translation?)
 * Unusual or disreputable or known to house unverified information websites (some random blog post or quora question is not acceptable)
 * the manga when discussing the main series (may be added in trivia if truly relevant)

When to add references/What kind of statement needs a reference?
References should typically handle in-universe information with in-universe sources, or sources directly related to the fiction. As a rule of thumb, editors should accept that Splatoon is a lighthearted game series aimed at all audiences, and thus not all in-universe information will add up completely or can be fully explained via inspecting official material. Some degree of suspension of disbelief is necessary, regardless of one's devotion to the series' lore; first and foremost, this is an encyclopedia about a family-friendly videogame.
 * note that speculation is not allowed

References are necessary when a statement's verifiability is not immediately obvious; Consider the following examples:
 * consider better examples
 * Note standards for sourcing

Markup
References are defined then inserted inline with the  tag, then displayed as footnotes on articles with the   tag. Note that the ref tag must be closed. The  tag must be placed at the end of the article, under a dedicated "References" heading. Example output:

To use the same reference more than once in the same article, define a name to the first instance of the reference, then call that name the second time you input the reference. ie:  which outputs as:

Note: if you call a reference's name before it is defined, the software will display a minor error message in place of the reference footnote.

Formatting

 * External link source formatting
 * Internal link source formatting
 * NIWA link source formatting
 * Tweets/Nintendo dot com use an icon template
 * In-game dialogue/text formatting
 * In-game non-dialogue information formatting (ie images)