Help: Manual of Style

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This Manual of Style is a collection of rules of thumb and guidelines for giving our wiki a consistent look and feel. It is intended as a handy reference for editors. Feel free to suggest or discuss guidelines, over at the forum or on the discussion tab.

General rules

Editing

  • Use the Preview button.
  • Follow the format of existing pages as much as possible. You can always use the sandbox to test codes.
  • Add, if possible, a descriptive summary when editing a page. A "minor edit" is a fix to a typo or small change that does not affect the page, with no summary required.
  • Avoid using too literal pieces of text from the source material. Quoting (part of) a sentence is allowed, but should be distinguished by using "double quotes". However, write text as much as possible in your own phrasing.

Discussion

  • When uncertain about something, or in disagreement, discuss the issue on the article's talk page, or on the talk page of another user. The names of talk pages begin with Talk:. If no talk page exists, feel free to create one.
  • At the end of your post, sign it with your name and stamp it with a date and time by adding --~~~~.
  • When replying to a previous post, indent your post using a colon (:).
  • Use headings to sort the contents of the talk page into topics, if necessary.

Spelling

Words should be spelled using the American English spelling.

Punctuation

  • For quotations, use "double quotes" and 'single quotes' for nesting quotations; thus "quotations 'within' quotations".
  • Write formally. Avoid using contractions such as don't, can't, won't, would've, or they'd.
  • Avoid using slashes to join words. Instead, spell it out.

Tense

Sections that cover events taking place before the novels should be written in past tense. However, events taking place in the book series should utilize present tense - even if the event is outdated by new books in the series.

Article layout

Article title

The title of an article should be a recognizable name or description of the topic that is natural, sufficiently precise, concise, and consistent with those of related articles. Preferably, the name of the article is a representation of the way the topic is phrased in the texts of A Song of Ice and Fire.

Pages of characters with the same name can be differentiated in several different ways:

  • When a parent is known: by adding in brackets "(son of [character])" or "(daughter of [character])". For example: [[Aegon Targaryen (son of Aenys I)]], [[Aegon Targaryen (son of Jaehaerys I)]], [[Aegon Targaryen (son of Baelon)]]. In this instance, a page titled [[Aegon Targaryen]] becomes a disambiguation page, listing all characters by this name with a short description.
    • When one of the characters with the same name is significantly more prominent, the article's title can reflect this. For example: [[Daenerys Targaryen]] links to the page on the character Daenerys Targaryen, a POV character in the main novels. Historical figures by the same name are differentiated using descriptions in brackets (e.g., [[Daenerys Targaryen (daughter of Jaehaerys I)]] and [[Daenerys Targaryen (daughter of Aegon IV)]]. The disambiguation page is subsequently titled [[Daenerys Targaryen (disambiguation)]]
      • A notable exception is the page [[Brandon Stark]], which links to the page on the eldest brother of Lord Eddard Stark, instead of the page of his son, also called Brandon Stark. Although Eddard's son is a more prominent character in the novels, as a POV Character, while Eddard's brother has died prior to the events described in the novel. Instead, the page for Eddard's son has been titled [[Bran Stark]] by which name the boy is most frequently referred.
    • The same strategy is also preferable when, although the name of a parent is not known, the name of a child or spouse has been released, for example [[Brandon Stark (father of Walton)]] or [[Alys Arryn (wife of Rhaegel)]].
  • When the name of a parent (or child) is unknown: by adding a recognizable description, as short as possible. For example:
    • By adding a nickname in brackets. Examples include: [[Brandon Stark (Breaker)]] for Brandon the Breaker and [[Brandon Stark (Shipwright)]] for Brandon the Shipwright.
    • By adding the character's profession in brackets. Examples include: [[Corlys Velaryon (Kingsguard)]], [[Dake (guard)]], [[Butterwell (Hand of the King)]], [[Baelish (hedge knight)]], and [[Baelish (sellsword)]].
    • By adding the character's location in brackets. Examples include: [[Dalla (Dragonstone)]], [[Bessa (Winterfell)]], and [[Pate (King's Landing)]].

Prevent the use of too many capital letters in a title page. For example, Septon Moon's page is titled [[Moon (septon)]], not [[Moon (Septon)]]

Moving an article

When you change an article's name by moving the article (placing all its content under the new name), make sure to change all interlinks in the wiki to the old page name. This is in order to prevent breaking the linking in the wiki, as too many re-directs (as a result from moving an article multiple times) leave the wiki unable to display the correct page.

All pages on which an article title is linked can be viewed using the Special:WhatLinksHere option.

Introductory paragraph

An article should begin with an introductory lead section which summarizes the subject's status when it is introduced in the story. It is followed by the rest of the article divided into sections, each with a section heading. If there are at least four section headings in the article, a navigable table of contents is generated automatically and displayed between the lead and the first heading. As a form of spoiler protection, plot details from the books should be presented in a chronological context through the "Recent Events" section.[1][2]

Introduction

  • The first occurrence of the [name of the] subject of the article at first mention must be in bold, preferably in the first sentence in the article. Frequently used nicknames can be written in bold as well.
  • The lead section should be about one to three paragraphs long, dependent on the overall size of the article. Often, a single short paragraph suffices.
  • Ideally, the lead section should describe the status of the topic when it is first introduced by George R. R. Martin. Spoilers should not be included in the lead.

Body

  • The physical appearance and personalities of characters can be described in an "Appearance and Character" section, found at the top of the page. The section is re-titled to "Appearance" or to "Character" when only information about one of the two topics is available.
  • General history (pre-A Game of Thrones) should be described in the past tense in a "History" section. Some historical information, such as revelations in A Storm of Swords-Chapter 80 or A Dance with Dragons-Chapter 13, is used by George R. R. Martin for drama instead of worldbuilding. These major spoilers can instead be presented within the "Recent Events" section.
  • Plot from the novels of A Song of Ice and Fire should be presented chronologically and in the present tense in a "Recent Events" section. This should be subdivided by book (A Game of Thrones, A Clash of Kings, A Storm of Swords, A Feast for Crows, A Dance with Dragons, The Winds of Winter). This allows the reader of an article to follow along according to how far in the books they have read without being spoiled by books they have yet to read. To prevent spoilers in the "History" section, "Recent Events" can also include a POV character's revelations regarding major events which occurred before the novels.
  • Sections titled "Quotes by [character]" and "Quotes about [character]" can be used to display 'spoken' quotes from the books. These
  • For the "Family" section, use Template:Familytree.
  • "See also" is a section where the reader can be find related articles. If a related topic has already been linked to earlier in the article, it should generally not be included in the "See also" section.

In general, while nicknames and aliases can and should be mentioned on a page, a character should on his or her page be referred to in text by his given name as much as possible. A character's titles, although also mentioned on-page, should not be added prior to every mention of a character's name.

Links

Everything that appears in a narrative this wiki covers may be linked, such as dates, places, people, and events. However, do not over link; it is recommended that you limit the number of times you link the same topic in a single article. Generally, it is preferred that you link only the first instance of a topic in each section of an article. If you have made a link in captions or the infobox, it is a good idea to make the same link in the article.

Do not use external links in the body of an article. Articles can include an external links section at the end as further reading. The following sites can be linked: official sites that relate to the topic, articles about the subject of article on other encyclopedias, or vast resources that contain neutral and accurate information that has not been mentioned in the article.

References and notes

  • For all text, references must be added.
  • All references and sources are combined under the same subsection: "References". For this, simply type {{references}} at the bottom. Within the text, books can be cited using Template:Ref, while other sources can be cited using the wiki coding <Ref>text</ref>
  • Cite only sources that are considered canon and reliable, like So Spake Martin, Not a Blog, etc.
  • The section "Notes" can be used for explanatory information. The section is placed only when relevant, and should be located above the "References" section. To use notes on a page, type type {{Notes}} below the subheader. Within the text, a note can be placed using the reference wiki-code type <ref group="N">Note.</ref>.

Copying

You are allowed to copy text from Wikipedia. However, original content is much preferred!

Content of Wikipedia is released under the GNU Free Documentation License. When you copy text from Wikipedia, there are specific requirements that have to be followed. When part of your text is derived from Wikipedia, the EnWP template has to be placed at the bottom of the page, below the reference list.

Images

  • Uploaded images must be related to A Song of Ice and Fire and its derivative works, the one exception being if you want to upload an image for your userpage, of yourself or for a userbox.
  • Always tag the images you are uploading with copyright information; for this you can use copyright tags template.
  • It is preferred that any primary image used (be it a photo or an artistic depiction) is one that does not deviate too much from how the character is described.[3]
  • When uploading images to the Wiki, the rule of the thumb is to use JPEG for photographic images, and PNG for everything else.
  • Superseded or replaced images should be kept to preserve Wiki historical record. Deletion should only be used in case of copyright violation or technical reasons.
  • Be watchful not to overwhelm an article with images by adding more just because you can.
  • Permission to use an image should always be requested from the artist. Earlier given permission does not apply to new images.
  • Take care not to start a page with an image; If you do, in mobile view the image will be the first thing a reader sees, instead of an introductory paragraph.
    • Similarly, do not add multiple images underneath one another, as readers reading a page in mobile view will see only images. Instead, add at least one paragraph of text in between.

Categories

  • Each page and each image should be labeled with one or more categories, as appropriate. You can use the Categories Overview to find out more on how they are organized.

Templates

  • You can find a list of templates here: Category:Templates and an overview of the most common ones here:Help:Templates Overview. Many of the templates used in the wiki automatically tag the pages with the appropriate category.

Dates and years

  • Use Template:Date to link to the Years after Aegon's Conquest; {{Date|300}} links to 300 AC, {{Date|54}} links to 54 AC, etc. Links to the years present in Template:Years can also be made using regular wiki linking, e.g. [[54 AC]]. Links made to years before Aegon's Conquest can be made by typing [[Years before Aegon's Conquest|12 BC]], which links to page Years before Aegon's Conquest. Writing [[Years before Aegon's Conquest#Year 12 Before the Conquest|12 BC]] ensures that the reader immediately jumps to the linked year on that page, provided it has its own subheader.

Notes
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