MechaBay:Manual of Style

The Manual of Style is the official guide to the preferred writing style on MechaBay. This article outlines the basic principles to help keep MechaBay articles uniform to promote clarity and cohesion.

If you are looking for a guide to the preferred formatting style, refer to the Layout Guide.

Preferred language

For the sake of consistency,we mandate standard American English spelling, grammar, punctuation, and word usage. Translation of the articles to other languages will be considered if the community agrees to adopt another language as a supported language.

Mecha

All mecha should be referred to by their respective terms in their universe. For example:

• Knightmare in Code Geass
• Evangelion in Neon Genesis Evangelion
• Mobile suits in most Gundam series

Article and category titles

• Titles should be in the English form unless they are originally named in a different language.
  • Example 1: Mobile Suit Gundam, not Kidou Senshi Gundam.
  • Example 2: École du ciel, not School of the Sky.
• Titles should be nouns or noun phrases.
• Titles should be in singular form, not plural.
• Titles should be as short as possible.
• Titles of articles about individual characters should be the name by which the character was most commonly known in the respective universe, with later names preferred to earlier names, and full names preferred to partial names or nicknames. Titles, such as military ranks or titles of nobility, should be omitted.
• Capitalize the first letter of the first word and any proper nouns in headings, but leave the rest lower case.
  • Example 1: Minorvsky particles, not Minorvsky Particles.
  • Example 2: Zodiac Alliance of Freedom Treaty, not Zodiac alliance of freedom treaty.
• A, an, and the are normally avoided as the first word.
  • For example, "Celestial Being" instead of "The Celestial Being".
• Special characters—such as the slash (/), plus sign (+), braces ({ }), and square brackets ([ ])—are avoided; the ampersand (&) is replaced by and, unless it is part of a formal name.
• Page names of mecha articles should not bear the mecha's model number.
• Page titles of mecha articles should bear the mecha's model number and full code name.

Section headings

• Section headings should follow the guidelines for article and category titles.
• Section headings should formatted as a H2 header. For example, == Header title ==
• A space should be added between the == and the heading. For example:

=== This is a heading ===

which produces:

This is a heading

If you mark headings this way, a table of contents is automatically generated from the headings in an article. Sections can be automatically numbered for users with that preference set and words within properly marked headings are given greater weight in searches. Headings also help readers by breaking up the text and outlining the article.

• There should be no empty line after a section heading. For example:

=== This is a heading ===

This is text from the heading

• Capitalize the first letter only of the first word and of any proper nouns in a heading, and leave all of the other letters in lower case.
• Avoid links within headings.
• Avoid overuse of sub-headings.

Tense

All in-universe articles should be in past tense. Keeping articles written in past tense provides consistency and flavor.

Ranks and titles

A rank's name is not to be capitalized if it refers to the rank, not a person. However, if the word refers to a person, it should be in capitals.

Mecha names

All mecha names should be

• Capitalized
• Un-italicized
• Preceded by the full technical designation in the first instance, and may be referred to solely by type name or common name in all succeeding instances.

Class and ship names

Names of specific spaceships should be:

• Capitalized
• Italicized
• Referred to by neutral pronouns (it, its)

Class names are italicized only when a spaceship in the class bears the same name. The definite article may be used, but it is not required.

• When a ship's class is a modifier, use a hyphen:

"Pegasus-class assault cruiser"

• When it is a noun, do not use a hyphen:

"Dominion is a ship of the Archangel class"

Do not italicize a class name when:

• Using the class name and type, but without "-class"

"Megallan battleship"

• It is being used alone as a noun

Missile, and other craft types where a specific spaceship does not bear the class name should be

• Capitalized
• Un-italicized
• Preceded by the full technical designation in the first instance, and may be referred to solely by type name or common name in all succeeding instances.
• Referred to with neuter pronouns (it)

Apostrophes

While plural nouns ending in "s" should be made possessive by adding only an apostrophe, singular nouns ending in "s" can be made possessive by adding either an apostrophe followed by another "s" (s's) or simply an apostrophe (s'), providing each article is consistent throughout. Users are encouraged, but not required, to use only an s' for possessive nouns ending in a "s" or "z" sound.

For example:

• Lacus' songs of peace
• Pilots's lounge area

Quotations

Quotations should follow this general format:

• If the quote is less than a paragraph long, simply including it in the article's body with "quotation marks" will suffice.
• If the quote is at least a paragraph in length, or a dialogue, insert as a block quote:

"Block quotes are indented with a colon at the beginning of each new paragraph. Each paragraph needs only one colon, not a new colon for each line (word wrap will accomplish this automatically).

New paragraphs, however, do require their own colon."

Please be sure to provide as much information as possible (for instance: source, page if applicable, and characters speaking if applicable).

• Users should not correct the capitalization, spelling, grammar, or word usage within direct quotes taken from copyrighted sources as such modifications jeopardize our Fair use claim on that material. Article quotes ought to be verbatim and any changes, edits, or exclusions should be explicitly noted by using square brackets ("[ ]"). Any errors made by the author may be noted by using "[sic]." This includes words such as Human, which the community has decided to capitalize in all other contexts, and the word galaxy, which is to be de-capitalized in all other contexts.
• However, the community has decided that quotes taken from comics should not mimic emphasized boldfaced wording. Instead, only italics are to be used for emphasis.
• Quotes that serve as introductions to article subsections should not contain internal links because they appear unprofessional and are generally distracting. The only exception to this rule would be in-universe words or phrases of an obscure nature.
• Redundant internal links should not be added to quotes because they serve little purpose beyond making the quotes appear cluttered and messy. Links should only be added to quotes if they contain a specific article's ONLY mention of a particular concept, but even then, it is better to integrate the internal link into the body of the article's text.
• Piped links should be avoided as much as possible. If the context of the quote is not readily apparent, it is best to add appropriate information to the quote attribution field of the quote template rather than adding piped links to ambiguous pronouns such as "you," "he," or "they."

Per standards of American English, double quotation marks (" ") should be used and the period (full stop), comma, question and exclamation marks should be within the quotation.

Single quotation marks (' ') should only be used when there is a quotation inside a quotation.

A quote used in a Wookieepedia article should only include:

1. Text that is presented within actual quotation marks, or otherwise clearly marked as spoken dialogue.
2. Text that is clearly presented within the confines of someone's memoirs, journal, or diary. This includes in-universe written works, such as catalogs, news reports, historical chronicles, government documents, personnel dossiers, and the like.

A quote is NOT

1. Narrative prose that is not actual spoken dialogue or a character's personal memoirs, journal, or diary. This means that thoughts are not considered quotable material.

Examples

• Single speaker

If I have the power to make a difference, I should put it to good use.

—Kira Yamato, Mobile Suit Gundam SEED

Units of measurement

For consistency, all in-universe articles should use metric units of weight, mass, length, and other measurements.