South Park Archives:Rules and Policies/Manual of Style

General

 * In general, content should be written in a style appropriate for an encyclopedia. Descriptions should be clear and precise; speculations or uncertain facts should be avoided.
 * Do not be overly specific when writing, only as specific as necessary.
 * Use full sentences where possible.

Language

 * American English is preferred at this wiki as it is the spelling and grammar that South Park uses.
 * Colloquialisms, slang, l33t speak and other informal styles are not acceptable.
 * Users can use short hand on Talk Pages, Forums and Blogs only.

Linking

 * Do not overlink. Generally, a page should be linked to, from a given article only once, on its first occurrence. Links may be repeated if the first link is far up the page or if the manner the word is used in makes it necessary (e.g. in summary lists). The exception to this would be episode titles which should always be linked to each time they occur. If the episode title appears twice in a paragraph or structure, then only the first instance in that paragraph or structure should be linked.
 * If a link is not to this wiki put the URL like this: South Park Studios . It will look like this: South Park Studios. Notice it is lighter than internal links. If the link is to a page in this wiki just use pagename link. It will look like this: Cartman. Notice it is darker than external links.
 * To link to other wikis, you should use intended name  . (ex. Interwiki map will produce Interwiki map)
 * If you need to link to Wikipedia you should use intended name , for example South Park gives South Park.

Attribution

 * Do not add any attributions (like "written by XYZ") or dates ("written on 14/02/09") to articles. An accurate record of all contributions to an article is available via its "History" page.

General

 * If you are new to wikis, you may want to read the tutorial on Wikia Help.
 * To learn the basics of editing a wiki, go to the page editing guide.

Bold

 * Bold the article name the first time it appears in the article itself. Any alternative names should also be bolded at their *first occurrence.
 * Avoid using bold formatting for general emphasis.

Italics

 * "South Park" should be italicized, but only if it's referring to the show and not the location.
 * Italics should be used for the titles of books.
 * Italics can be used for general emphasis, but should be used sparingly.

Emphasis

 * Do not use ALL CAPS.
 * Avoid bolding words for general emphasis.
 * Avoid using double emphasis (e.g. combining bold and italics).
 * Use emphasis sparingly and only when necessary.

Underlining

 * Underlining article content should be used sparingly and only in special cases.

Character Names

 * Do not use Fanon names, if the character has no name, please send a message to an administrator and it will be discussed.

Episode and Song Titles

 * Episode and song titles should be put in quotations only.
 * Punctuation, such as commas, should be outside of the closing quote.

Book, Movie, and Album Titles

 * Book and movie titles should be italicized and put in quotations

Disambiguation Pages
Disambiguation pages are pages that are meant for a list of pages with similar titles. For example, the disambiguation page Pip links to both Pip Pirrup and Pip (episode). By using this new template, we've made linked both of those pages back to Pip for easier navigation and the ability to find other related articles. To use this new template, do the following:
 * First, verify that the page is linked from a disambiguation page.
 * Second, take note of the full page name of the disambiguation page.
 * Third, add the template below to the top of the page you wish to link back to the disambiguation page:

Example: Entering in  produces:


 * Note: Do not use this template on the disambiguation page itself or on a page that is not linked from a disambiguation page.
 * Note: If there is a template on a page, such as the Character Template, Episode Template, or Location Template, add the LinkDisambig template below it.

Main Article Linking
Some times it may become necessary to add a short paragraph about something that already has an article. To do so, do the following:
 * First, take note of the page you are linking to.
 * Second, add the template below to the top of the section or paragraph you wish to link back to an article:

Example: Entering in  produces:


 * Note: Use this template in the correct spot. It is always best to add it either above the paragraph or just below the section header.
 * Example: See usage on List of Raisins Employees.
 * Note: Use sparingly. Do not add this template to every singe subsection. If you are in doubt, ask an administrator, we would be glad to help you.

Categories
Categories are used for both organizational and navigational purposes. When adding categories, make sure that the category belongs in the article. Also always check the description for each category before adding it.
 * Always pay attention when adding a category, categories need to be written and capitalized properly in order for them to work.
 * Categories don't work like "tags" do on other sites.

Over-categorization
Please do not add too many categories to a single article.

Here's a couple of helpful tips to prevent over-categorization.


 * If an article is in the Celebrities category then it doesn't belong in the Minor characters category, same goes for Background Characters, etc. This rule, however, does not apply to characters who were formerly background characters, but have been "promoted" to minor character status. This rule also does not apply to characters who were formerly minor characters, but have since been "relegated" to background character status.
 * Episode specific categories don't belong in character articles and vice versa.
 * Do not make-up unneeded categories, they will be removed from the article and deleted.
 * If an article is in the "Houses" category, then don't add it to the "Locations" category, because "Houses" is a sub-category of the "Locations" category. Same goes with all other categories and sub-categories.