Dragon Ball Encyclopedia:Standards
From Dragon Ball Encyclopedia, the ''Dragon Ball'' wiki
This article consists of the standards on Dragon Ball Encyclopedia.
Contents
General editing
Use the edit "Summary" box
When editing pages, try to fill in the "Summary" box above the "Save page/Show preview/Show changes" buttons before saving. Make sure you fill it in with something useful describing the edit you made and, if it is not obvious, why. For example, "fixed spelling error", "added fun fact", or "reverted edits by 127.0.0.1" are all acceptable. Saying "made some changes" or just filling in the name of the page is not helpful because it is information that we already have. Making your summaries accurate and useful makes it vastly easier for the rest of us to keep track of Recent changes and it keeps everybody happy.
Use the "minor edit" button
If you are making a minor edit, e.g. fixing a spelling error or tweaking formatting, try to remember to check the "This is a minor edit" box below the "Summary" box before saving the page. Again, this will make things easier for the rest of us.
Link once
A given page should only contain one link to any other page. If a page links to Son Goku in one place then that should be the only link to Son Goku on that whole page. Typically, this link should be the first instance of the term in the article. In the case of large articles, however, it is acceptable to make a link to another page in each major section. Using standard English, it is also a good idea to use the full name the first time you mention a character and then use a shortened name for subsequent mentions of that character, such as Goku to refer to Son Goku.
Do not use a conversational style
This is an online encyclopedia. It should read like an encyclopedia, not like a diary.
- Check your spelling and grammar. Do not use internet slang (ex. "How r u?" or "c u 2nite"). If you are not 100% sure about the way a word is spelled, type it into Google or Dictionary.com. If you know that you are not the strongest speller, first compose your edits in a word processor or web browser which has spell checking. (Firefox 2 and its derivatives such as Lolifox and Opera with Aspell installed will work).
- Do not use "smileys" or "emoticons" within articles.
- Do not "reply" to content others have posted. If you think a particular point warrants discussion, post your message on the article's talk page. If you are 100% sure that something should be changed and do not think a discussion is necessary then just change it. Only dialogue goes on an article's talk page.
Stubs
If you do not know enough information on a topic, an article is much too small, or you know that there is more information to be added to an article then add a stub to it. To do so, just add the {{stub}} template to the top of the article and people will know that it is a stub by looking in Category:Stubs.
Do not sign your edits
All contributions are appreciated, but if every user left their mark on every contribution they made then the wiki would be nothing but signatures. If you have made an edit that you are particularly proud of then the correct place to take credit is on your own user page. If you do not have a user account, we respect your anonymity but this means your edits will also remain anonymous.
Do sign your user talk posts
If you make a post on a talk page or in the forum then please sign it. This is as easy as typing ~~~~ at the end of your post. If you do not have a user account then you could also sign it with your name or nickname so everybody can tell who is whom when reading long conversations. Even better, you could create an account anyway and use the signature method described. There really is no reason not to if you are going to stick around. Getting an account also gives you benefits, such as being able to upload images for contribution, moving pages that need moving, and making use of your own userspace. (Anon users generaly do not get this privilege because their userspace may be shared among a number of people.)
