View source for ShadowrunWiki:Guidelines


This article contains a collection of '''guidelines''' that should be followed when creating articles, categories, etc.

== Article ==

# No content (text, images) will be taken from protected works with the exception of quotations, which are clearly marked as such with a reference to the source and must otherwise comply with the copyright rules for citing works.
# No ''rule articles'' are created. Rules articles are those articles that describe the game mechanics of the different editions of Shadowrun or list values that have no inner-world equivalent in the Sixth World.
# The standard article describes the [[Sixth World]], i.e. the world of Shadowrun. This description does not address the fictional character of the world and should approach an encyclopedic style. Any meta information belongs at the end of the article (see the [[ShadowrunWiki:Sample Article|sample article]]). Articles with meta information about Shadowrun as a role-playing game, for example articles about sources, publication history, overviews of adventures or indexes of game mechanics concepts in the sources, are separated from the world-descriptive articles by their own namespaces (an article prefix delimited by a colon, for example "Meta:").
# An article on a topic described in official or semi-official sources contains only source-covered information in the main text. A direct reference to the source in the text is ideal (see the [[ShadowrunWiki:Sample Article|sample article]]).  All information is allowed, especially that which is not accessible to most characters in the world of Shadowrun. There is no ''spoiler'' warning, i.e. a mark that an article anticipates the content of novels or other works.
# Articles whose topic is ''not official'' are marked with [[Template:Unofficial]].
# Within the articles, no indications are given that the content has nothing or only partly to do with reality or is fictitious.

=== New articles ===

# An article must always contain Shadowrun-specific information. If a topic is not directly related to Shadowrun, it probably does not belong in the ShadowrunWiki.
# A topic that does not have an independent name usually does not need its own article but is part of an overarching topic/article. This applies in particular to articles with combined article names that are connected by ''from'', ''in'', ''from'', etc. (example: ''[[SimSinn]] films with [[Karl Kombatmage]]'' do not need their own article but can just as well be listed in one or both parent articles).
# If a new article deals with a topic from official or semi-official sources, sources are '''always''' cited (see [[ShadowrunWiki:Sample Article|ShadowrunWiki:Sample articles]]). If this is not possible, the [[Template:Source|Template:+source]] is used to mark the article.

=== Article name ===

# The article name should be chosen in such a way that there is no overlap with other articles. In the case of ambiguous article names, a topic area must be indicated in brackets to distinguish them (example: [[Phoenix (city)]]).

== Left ==

=== Linking ===

# Real synonyms can be used when linking articles, but usually one spelling variant per synonym should be chosen. (Example: Group Court instead of Group Court, Group Court of Justice)

=== Forwarders ===

# Misspelled wikilinks should be corrected instead of creating a redirect to the correct spelling.
# In the case of articles on a topic that is described in official or semi-official sources, all spelling variants of the article name that can be found in the sources are allowed as a redirect. Clear misspellings may be exempt from this. In addition, additional redirects that cover mere possible spelling variants should be avoided. And especially for non-official articles, only as many redirects should be created as absolutely necessary to maintain a certain clarity and uniformity among the articles.
# Names in other languages that refer to the English article name as a translation redirect should only be created if the name is used with a similar frequency as the English name. It is possible that a name in another language is preferable to the English one as an article name. A forwarding can then be saved. (Example: ''Fixer'' and ''slider'' are equivalent, ''Draco Foundation'' is preferable to ''Draco Foundation''.)
# Redirects should always remain within a namespace. (Example: An article redirect should only point to an article, not a category.)
# Direct links that only point to a part of an article, but at the same time represent an independent lemma, should always be created as a redirect instead. (Ex. The link <nowiki>[[Crime syndicates#Mafia|Mafia]]</nowiki> should be created as a redirect Mafia, which refers to Crime syndicates#Mafia.)

=== Wikilinks ===

# Articles without a shadow run reference - for example explanations of terms of real things - should be linked to Wikipedia if necessary (<nowiki>[[wp:Term]]</nowiki>). All other topics should be handled internally at ShadowrunWiki; even if there are no official sources about it (example: smaller cities or [[countries]]).
# If known, a link should always point to the actual topic, not to a redirect to the topic.