Blaze and the Monster Machines Wiki:Manual of Style

This page is an official policy on the Blaze and the Monster Machines Wiki. It has wide acceptance among editors and is considered a standard that everyone should follow. Except for minor edits, please make use of the discussion page to propose changes to this policy. Canon Policy Here at Blaze and the Monster Machines Wiki, we only use information gathered from the series itself. We do not use any information from fan written fiction otherwise known as fanon. We also prohibit the use of slang terms as topics of articles. This is not appropriate for this wiki and may result in blockage of the user. Refer to the Blaze and the Monster Machines Wiki:FAQ for a discussion of non-canon issues that keep reappearing. Grammar and Punctuation When writing articles it is important to follow these rules of the English language: Don't use netspeak or any similar slang and avoid abbreviations in articles. We are compiling a professional resource for Blaze and the Monster Machines fans. Keep your writing around a 6th Grade reading level. You don't need to fill it with big words just to make it sound smarter, especially if you're not certain how the word should be used. Always use a present tense when writing. Vary your words. When writing, try to vary the words you use and the length of your sentences. It makes things sound more interesting. Capitalize words when appropriate. (see below) Use correct punctuation. This includes commas, periods, quotation marks, and apostrophes. (see below) Know the difference between homophones: there, their, and they're; here and hear; it's and its; who's and whose. Capitalization Capitalize the first word of every sentence. Capitalize proper nouns. Capitalize the first, last, and important words in a title.\ For a full list visit Capital Community College's Guide to Grammar and Writing Links To link to another article inside Blaze and the Monster Machines Wiki, you must put [[]] around it. To link to an article in Wikipedia, use wikipedia: and put the article title inside. If an article does not exist by that name, the link will show up as dark red, like this. External links will show up as blue. You only need to link to another page once in any given article. Most of the time this is the first time that article's title comes up, but there are some exceptions to this. Episode Articles Do not link to another page during the brief introductory summary that appears prior to the Table of Contents or the description passage. Instead, link only the first time an article title appears in the Summary. In the Appearances tab, each actor and character should be linked to. Spacing Main article: Help:Editing tips#Spacing Web pages do not look the same for everyone. Different web browsers will display things different from one another. For example, Firefox may show a sentence wrapping around a picture while Safari does not. Internet Explorer 8 will show a transparent background in a PNG picture while Internet Explorer 6 does not. Monitor sizes and resolutions will also affect how much can be seen at one time. A 15" monitor isn't as wide as a 19" monitor, so web pages will be longer on a 15" monitor than they will on the 19" monitor. Pages on a 19" monitor can also be longer if the resolution is set low. For example, 800x600 instead of 1280x1024. When editing a page, use the following rules: Keep article content as close to the top of the page as possible. Put one blank line in between paragraphs. Put two blank lines if you need to separate things with a little more space, such as certain templates. Larger spacings should be created with different commands rather than adding more blank lines. Naming Articles Main article: Blaze and the Monster Machines Wiki:Naming convention policy Episodes Episode articles are named for the episodes precisely as they are presented on-screen. Each episode begins by portraying its title and we must use it exactly as written. Please note that it may be appropriate to create redirects from one or two common misspellings or mis-capitalizations of titles to make users' searches easier. Administrators may move articles without consultation when they don't conform to the Episode Naming Policy. Administrators may move articles without consultation if they do not conform to the Character Naming Policy. Songs Songs are named for the titles as they are shown in the closing credits. Use the song's title in the credits as its official name. Other topics Other topics should always use lower case letters after the initial capitalization unless the word is always capitalized. Point of View Articles on the Blaze and the Monster Machines Wiki are written from an in-universe point of view as if the person, object, or event actually existed or occurred. Use tense the same way a standard encyclopedia would. Because the passage of time is unclear and some episodes occur out or chronological order, it may sometimes be difficult not to refer to another episode by name. You should strive to use language that would be in-universe in order to avoid it whenever possible. The best way to avoid naming an episode is to describe the events of the episode. Behind the scenes information should be located in a "Background Information" section or indented and italicized if you do not have enough for a separate section. This information is covered by the Real World point of view. Real World Point of View The real world point of view applies to articles that are written about production personnel, actors, some songs, or other series information which are not part of the Blaze and the Monster Machines universe. They should be written the same as a standard encyclopedia entry in present day. For all articles where it is necessary to include a link to an external site for a real-world article, use italics for books, movies and songs. Use regular text for all other links. Examples: Google — non-italicized link Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs — italicized link to the movie article Episodes Episode articles are a blend of the in-universe and real world points of view. Summaries may be written in present tense and in a novelization style if desired but should otherwise maintain an in-universe point of view. Infoboxes and all other sections are written from the real world point of view. The intro will be a brief and general summary on the article. Song Lyrics Articles for song lyrics include a summary of the episode(s) the song appears in, followed by the lyrics and any background or other information relating to the song. When typing the lyrics, follow this format: If more than one person has lines in the song, preface the line where the singer changes with the person's name in bold. Spoken lines should be in italics. Descriptions should be in parentheses and italics. Capitalize the first letter on each line, even when it is the continuation of a sentence. Lyrics usually do not include ending punctuation, such as the period at the end of a sentence, but it is recommended to use them. Use a break (<br>) at the end of each line in a verse and a blank line to separate verses. This will show where each verse begins and ends. Dialogue that takes place during the song should be included. Inflections can be used to show how a line was sung, rather than just providing the words. For example, use all-caps if a line is shouted really loud, or on a line that uses multiple notes for one word, use a line that's "warbled" and stretched out. If the song uses slang or colloquial terms, include them instead of trying to change them into a formal word. Sources When writing an article, you must cite a source. This involves adding the episode name after the sentence(s). ​​​​If the source is not an episode, book, etc., but an interview or something like this, you must cite it via reference tags. If you use any resource outside of the show, please list your sources in a section titled "Sources" at the end of the article. Spoilers We only use information from material that has already aired on Nickelodeon and Nick Jr. in the United States. If you wish to include information from an unaired episode, you must mark the article with the appropriate tags. Any article that includes spoilers must have a {{spoilers}} tag at the beginning of the article. If spoilers are to be included in any article other than a main episode article, then the spoiler must be contained within the separate {{spoiler|}} tag. This tag uses java to hide spoilers from those who do not want to read them. Note that wiki markup does not work inside this tag. Please keep this information to a minimum and try to only include verified information and not idle speculation. Some users do not want any information about upcoming episodes and we must respect that. See also Help:Editing tips Category:Help