Feminist SF Wiki:Manual of style
We are stylish in a geeky sort of way.
But we are also lazy and overcommitted, and so we currently link not to local styles but to information from Wikipedia about their styles. (See Wikipedia Manual of Style.) We will adopt & modify as we please, when we please.
Capitalization
- Capitalization will generally follow Wikipedia rules:
- Only first words of articles & catgories should be capitalized in the title of an article based on an ordinary phrase.
- Exception: Unless the name is proper, in which case all words are capitalized except conjunctions (and, or); articles (The, A, An), and prepositions four letters or under (over; Above).
- Exception: Words & phrases that have an official casing should follow that casing, whatever it is. Example: "bell hooks", which is properly all lowercase, should be written in all lowercase. (The Mediawiki software does not permit the first letter in the URL or title of the page to be lowercase, but the text should be correct.)
- Exception: Follow proper capitalization for original languages. For instance, "La bohème", not "La Boheme".
- In all cases where capitalization might be confusing to people set up #REDIRECT pages with variant capitalizations.
Translations
- The primary article for a work should use the work's original title in the original language. Redirects may be set up from translated titles to the primary article with the original language name. For example, El Laberinto del Fauno is the original; Pan's Labyrinth redirects to El Laberinto del Fauno.
- If multiple articles or notes are written about a work, the disambiguation page should use its original work, with lists for its translated titles.
- If entries are made that are particular to a particular translation, then the entry should reflect which translation is being used -- the translator's name, date of publication, and other edition information is critical; ISBN is desired where available. The title of the article can use the translated title but should indicate the translation in the title, e.g., "Sexist characterizations in The Barber of Seville (Eng. transl.)". The entry should include a link back to the disambiguation or basic bibliographic page for the original edition.
Categorization
- Category names should be wiki-style, with only proper names capitalized, and otherwise lower-case or First letter only capitalized. In other words, this should be Category:Style guide, not Category:Style Guide. But Category:Star Trek should get double-capped because it is a proper name.
- See FSFwiki:Categorization for details about what kinds of categories to make and maintain.
Pronouns and generic "he"
- Obviously we don't follow the generic "he" rule. Feel free to use "she" as generic, to alternate between he and she, to use s/he or he/she or she/he, or per, singular they, or whatever your preference is. If it's something that's unusual please link to a description of the naming format. (Create one if you have to.) If you are a follower of the generic-he rule, then please link to Generic he/him.
- If there is some nomenclature / pronoun format that is appropriate for that reference, please use that -- i.e., don't apply your own format, if the work or person in question specifically prefers a different style. If Pat Doe wants to be referred to as "per" then don't, please, apply your own favorite terminology of Pat Doe as a "he" or a "she" or a "s/he".
Citing sources
- See Citing sources
Languages
- Contributions are welcome in any language. However, if no reliable editor can read it to verify the content is relevant, the content may be temporarily embargoed.
Coalition Allophone
Ceci dit, le prérequis étant que vous puissiez lire l'invitation ci-haut, il est entendu que cette Wiki est prédominément anglophone. Les usagères polyglottes sont invitées à élargir le champ (chant) de la Wiki FSF (SFF?) par l'apport d'autres cordes vocales. Il sera cependendant parfois nécessaire de traduire cet apport afin de rassurer les administratrices de la validité du contenu en des langues leur étant étrangères. À cette fin, une coalition de collaboratrices allophones serait utile. Sujet à poursuivre sur la page de discussion.
Regional and dialect variations
Any regional or dialect variation of a language is acceptable. (See Wikipedia Manual of Style, National varieties of English.) So, grammar, spelling, and punctuation with regional variations are acceptable. Wikipedia's policy here seems good, with the sole exception that it is English-specific. To summarize:
- If there is a good reason for an article to adopt a particular regional variant -- for instance, Mary Shelley, who was basically an English citizen who spent most of her life in England and wrote, herself, with English variations -- should utilise English punctuation (e.g., if a partial quote that is not a sentence itself, occurs at the end of a sentence, then the period or comma is placed outside the quotes). Similarly for spelling and grammar variations.
- If there is no good reason to pick one version over another based on the substance of the article, or if several versions would work, then the first one used in the article should be applied consistently.
- Whatever regional variation is used should be applied consistently throughout the article.