Inkipedia:Policy/Manual of Style

This is Inkipedia's official Manual of Style, which guides you through how articles on this wiki should be written and formatted. Please do not judge this Manual too seriously—be reminded that not all of us have viewed this Manual at all.

Grammar and spelling

For our readers to be able to understand and enjoy the material within our articles, this text must be well-written. Please try to adhere to the rules of grammar and spelling as much as possible. Although not everyone on this wiki is a professional proofreader, you are encouraged to do the best you can in ensuring that your technical details are grammatically correct. If someone corrects your spelling or grammar, do not take it personally. They are simply helping readers.

Pronouns

Please use singular they when referring to a person of unknown gender. For example, someone referring to a player should use they, as the person is of unknown gender (he/she/other).

If this bothers you, reconstruct the sentence to use a plural subject and use they.

Unacceptable

After checking his inventory, the player gets the Basic Tee.

Acceptable

After checking their inventory, the player gets the Basic Tee.

Alternative

Players should check their inventories to receive the Basic Tee.

Quotes

Please copy text that you are quoting exactly as it is written. This includes any spelling errors and other obscurities. To indicate that you have copied an error (and it is not an error of your own), please use a [sic] tag using the {{sic}} template.

Contractions

At best, make an attempt to avoid contractions such as "don't" and "can't." These sound very informal and, in general, decrease the formality and professionalism of the article.

Capitalization

In article titles and the article body (including non-content pages such as templates), only the first word and proper names are given a capital letter. Wikipedia's Manual of Style can be used for guidance. The following things should always be capitalized, due to being proper names, or due to being consistently capitalized by Nintendo:

• Names of weapons. Does not include common names such as "main weapon" or "roller".
• Names of gear items. Does not include common names such as "headgear" or "shoes".
• Names of abilities. Includes gear abilities and the Super Jump action, but not common actions such as swimming or regular jumping.
• Names of unique locations like shops and stages.
• Names of modes.
• Any mechanics that are consistently capitalized in-game. For example, Zapfish and Gusher are always capitalized, but dash track and ride rail are not.
• Inkling, Octarian, types of Octarians, and names of characters. Does not include common names such as "squid" or "octopus".
• Proper names of currencies, such as Golden Eggs and Power Eggs. Does not include common names like "cash" or "egg".

Italicization of titles

All works of art, major and minor, should have their titles italicized. With this in mind, please italicize every mention of a game in the Splatoon series. This applies to article text, headers, and page titles.

Conjectural names should not be italicized.

Bold may be combined with italics for the first mention of a work of art in its own article.

Point of view

A common mistake while editing is to use phrases like the below:

I think the Basic Tee is available at the start of the game.

Although this is completely valid due to the grammar rules above, notice that it is expressing the idea in the first person. This can confuse the reader a good deal. Who is the "I" speaking?

Second-person statements are also typically not acceptable. Take, for instance, the below phrase:

If you speak to the girl amiibo, she will ask you to complete Octo Valley with a charger.

These are slightly trickier to spot. Notice how the author is explaining the situation using the reader as an example, using "you" as if the reader is the subject of the situation.

In general, attempt to stick as close to third-person as possible. Try this phrase:

Speaking to the girl amiibo in Inkopolis Plaza challenges the player to complete Octo Valley with a charger.

Or simply

Octo Valley can be completed with a charger by speaking to the girl amiibo in Inkopolis Plaza.

The only exception is in sections such as walkthroughs, tips, and user pages. In such cases, use second-person instructional text if possible, except for your user pages, where you may use the first person.

Linking

Links are the thread that sews the wiki together. Although their importance cannot be stressed enough, it is also important that you know how to use them properly.

Do not be obtrusive

Although links are important, do not let them get in the way of the reader. The following sentence is unacceptable:

Black Trainers are trainers with a white heel (see Cyan Trainers, Purple Sea Slugs, and Pink Trainers.)

Notice how the text seems to acknowledge the existence of the links and seems to "point" at them with the "see" phrase.

This is better:

Black Trainers along with Cyan Trainers, Purple Sea Slugs, and Pink Trainers, are shoes with a white heel.

Although link text stands out from the rest of the text, do not let links halt the flow of the writing.

Avoid "click here" syndrome

Many web designers know that link text that says "click here" is not descriptive and requires the reader to click on the link to discover what article is the destination. This rule of thumb also applies to wikis as well, especially within the article namespace. In particular, "click here" syndrome is to be avoided within standard articles, although its use is also discouraged within the Category, Template, Inkipedia, and Help namespaces.

Short article, one link

When adding links within a short article, it is unnecessary to link the same word multiple times. In longer articles, however, the better choice is to "renew" the link for every section.

Treat readers like idiots

A rule of thumb for music notation is "treat the musician like an idiot." Although this seems odd at first, it makes sense that the composer ensures that the musician does not assume certain dynamics, articulations, etc. without the composer's consent. Composers should also assume that the musician does not fully understand the feel and attempted emotion of the music and that all needed articulations should be added whether the musician expects them or not.

The same also applies to encyclopedias. Suppose a reader who is inexperienced in Splatoon reads the following sentence:

Capturing a Splat Zone is important to winning in Splat Zones.

Wait, what is a Splat Zone? What makes it "important?" These questions pop out of the reader's mind when they read the sentence.

Be very specific, regardless of the complexity of the topic. Be formal, and define new Splatoon terms as they appear.

...But do not overdo it

Do not be too specific because of the Treat Readers Like Idiots guideline. If how you are describing the feature does not have a linking article, then consider if you are going into too much depth. The following article beginning is not acceptable:

Black Trainers are trainers in Splatoon.

Um...what? We already know trainers are trainers. We also don't have an article devoted to trainers.

Do not delve too deeply into how an article is classified. If it is clothing, say that it is shoes, and not that it is a "type of trainers".

Article structure and formatting

Chronological order

Please keep each game in the Splatoon series in chronological order. Articles should show the history of a topic starting with the first game and ending with the latest game. For example, an article about a weapon present in the first two games in the Splatoon series should have general information first, then Splatoon information, then Splatoon 2 information.

Line breaks

Please use the <br> tag to add a line break, as recommended by Wikimedia's Lead Platform Architect. Other variants of the line break tag will produce the same result but are longer to type.

Multiple line breaks

Multiple line breaks (<br><br><br>...) look messy. If they are in place to align a picture or template, it may be better to use a {{clear}} template instead.

Coloring

The whole page should be a single main color. Unless there is established precedent to do so, do not deviate from the page's styling. Wiki links should use site styling only, unless this conflicts with readability and accessibility.

If you need to apply emphasis, prefer using bold or italic styling.

If you have a general color that you want to apply to all pages, talk to the administrators about the wiki's skin or insert some CSS into your personal settings.

Established color exceptions

The following canon material are established exceptions to this rule:

• Yellow highlights on character dialogue using {{quote}}.
• Multi-color song lyrics found in official material using {{Multi-color text}}. Subscripts should also be given to aid accessibility.

In-line images

Using in-line images in a paragraph draws undue attention to some sentences over others, and causes undesirable results when readers try to copy and paste the text. Therefore, in-line images should not be put into a paragraph.

In-line images can be used for lists of items as long as they are not sentences, like the following:

• Duskwave Tee
• Firewave Tee
• Icewave Tee
• Vaporwave Tee

Dates

To ensure consistency and avoid confusion, please format dates and times using the date template and time template, and input dates into the templates using the ISO standard format (yyyy-mm-dd hh:mm). This format is preferred for input because it is the most compact date format.

Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) is the standard time zone, so please use UTC for all dates and times on Inkipedia. Some UTC dates may differ by one day compared to the date in your local time zone, so please take care to verify not just the time, but the day as well. Please express UTC time in 24-hour format without an AM/PM indicator, like 13:01 instead of 1:01 PM.

By default, the date template will show dates in the format day month year. This format was selected as the default because it is the most common date format in the world. Additionally, this format has the benefit of not having a comma, so that dates do not unnecessarily slow or pause reading. Readers can use their Inkipedia account preferences to have dates displayed in their preferred format, including month day, year, or ISO standard format.

Localization

Many of Inkipedia's articles are in the American English language. The gear articles' names are from the American version, and other English names of the same gear should redirect to that article.

Where possible, please switch an American word, or where spelling is questioned, to a neutral word. For example, the American spelling "traveled" and British "travelled" should just become "went" as necessary.

Article titles should follow the American version if it differs (such as E-liter 3K as opposed to E-Litre 3K).

Where there is a collision of interest, the American version should still be used but a clear distinction made at the top of the article must be given (as in the case of Jungle Hat).

Edit summaries

Edit summaries are a feature of the Inkipedia software meant to allow users to roughly explain the content of their edits, so that other users have a quick way to know what is being edited and why.

Summaries should generally be reasonably professional, short, and to-the-point. Additionally, they should:

• be explanatory to the edit being made; if your edit summary is not adequate to give at least a rough idea of your edit, it is functionally the same as (if not worse than) no summary at all.
• be relevant to the content of the edit or wiki editing in general; irrelevant content includes (but is not limited to) jokes or humor, non-wiki-related opinions on Splatoon topics, and explanations or qualifiers about one's personal life.
• avoid excessively referencing your own editing behaviors or those of others. There is no need to apologize or self-flagellate for the occasional mistake; we all make them! Accordingly, please also do not disparage other editors for their missteps in edit summaries (instead, consider using a talk page to discuss with them directly, or reporting to staff if there is a severe breach of policy).

Editors are encouraged but not required to leave summaries, so if for any reason you would rather not or feel you cannot reasonably describe your edit, you are welcome to leave it blank.

By default, Inkipedia's software will prompt you one time to enter an edit summary if an edit is submitted without one.
This prompt can be disabled by navigating to:

Preferences > Editing > Prompt me when entering a blank edit summary

Editing of userspaces

• Generally, users should only edit their own userspace, unless permission is given by the page's author (e.g. a guest list), or you are genuinely helping the user (e.g. replacing an old picture or fixing poor code).
• All user pages must adhere to the Policies laid out across the Wiki.
• If you wish to remove one of your own pages, please use the {{Delete}} template with a summary such as "Author request" and an administrator will do it for you.
  • Note: please note that this is an encyclopedia and not a place to just edit your user page with cool codes. You are free to edit your user page as much as you want but please help contribute to improving this wiki.

Thank you for reading!