SGCommand:Manual of Style

This article is about Stargate Wiki's editing guidelines. For our policy, see SGCommand:Policy.

For information on the most basic writing techniques and styles which are used here, see Wikipedia's Manual of Style.

Below are some basic Stargate formatting do's and don't's.

Layout guide

In-universe

All in-universe articles should be structured as follows:

1. Infobox
2. Main article
3. Stub template
4. Behind the scenes (notice the capitalization)
5. See also
6. External links
7. Succession box
8. Category
9. Interwiki links

Please note that not all articles use every section.

Out-of-universe

1. Infobox
2. Main article
3. Stub template
4. See also
5. External links
6. Succession box
7. Interwiki links

Naming articles

Main article: SGCommand:Naming conventions

There are some rules regarding how articles on Stargate Wiki should be named.

• Article names should be in singular form, not plural.
• The titles of articles about individual characters should be the name by which the character was most commonly known in the the Stargate 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.
• Unless the name of the article contains (or is) a proper noun, none of the words should be capitalized.

Using the #

Do not use the # in a link unless you intend to direct to a section of that article with the title after the # as a section. When linking to articles, particular books and guides with numbers denoting their order, omit the # and simply put the number. Otherwise the software will look for that number as a section title on the page.

e.g. Stargate SG-1: Fall of Rome 2, not Stargate SG-1: Fall of Rome #2

You can use piped links to account for this. For example, [[Stargate SG-1: Fall of Rome 2|''Stargate SG-1: Fall of Rome'' #2]] would give you Stargate SG-1: Fall of Rome #2.

Perspective

In-universe

If something is in-universe, or is described as such, it belongs to the Stargate universe exclusively and not to the real world. Characters, for example, are in-universe, but the actors who play them are out-of-universe. Note that even articles on real-world entities that describe them within the context of Stargate, like Cheyenne Mountain or New York City, should be written from an in-universe perspective: that is, only what was revealed about them in Stargate canon should be present in the article. Pseudohistory is an integral part of in-universe treatment of canon material.

An in-universe perspective will strive for verisimilitude; that is, it will be written as if the author existed within the Stargate universe (imagine an in-universe archivist who lives through the events as they occur and treats the Stargate sources as documentaries on events that are very much real). Articles about any in-universe things, such as characters, vehicles, terminology, or species, should always be written from an in-universe perspective. If a section in the article is not, such as the listing of a character's published appearances or behind the scenes details, it should be tagged as such.

The only section where out-of-universe information is appropriate is the "Behind the scenes" section and its subsections of an in-universe article. See below for more details.

Out-of-universe

Out-of-Universe refers to the perspective in which an article is written; it is the opposite of in-universe. Something written from an out-of-universe (OOU) perspective is written from a real life point of view. It will refer, for example, to real life publications, actors, authors, events, and so on, acknowledging that its subject is fictional.

Articles about books, movies, games, or other real-life Stargate material should obviously be written from an out-of-universe perspective. In contrast, in-universe articles should never refer to Stargate by name, or any other real life things such as publications, actors, or the like — with the exception of "Behind the scenes" sections and references.

Headings

Use the == (heading) markup for headings, not the ''' (bold) markup. 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.

• 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 written with the "present" defined as of the most recent canonical work set in the Stargate universe. All the standard rules for handling living and dead people, operational and defunct organizations, etc. apply as on Wikipedia. For example, Richard Woolsey is the current commander of the Atlantis Expedition (as of Atlantis season 5), while Ra was the Supreme System Lord (now deceased).

All out-of-universe articles follow the standard Wikipedia conventions for both fact and fiction. This means, among other things, that plot summaries use the present tense and are free to refer to storytelling conventions and devices (for example, "This episode begins with the characters discussing a particular piece of technology previously seen in episode X").

Capital letters

System

When we name star systems, and when we link to them, the word "system" should remain in lower case.

Stargate

The word "Stargate" must always be capitalized, as an invented word which is spelled this way in official sources.

Human and other sentient species

In all sections of in-universe articles, the words "Human" and "Near-Human" should be capitalized, just as the name of any other sentient species (Asgard, Goa'uld, Asuran) in the Stargate universe would be. The word "humanoid," however, should not be capitalized.

Please note that semi-sentient or nonsentient creature names must not be in capitals. As much as we don't capitalize "Dog" or "Cat" in real-life, we shouldn't capitalize fictional creature names.

Ranks and titles

A rank's name is not to be capitalized if it refers to the rank, not a person. "George S. Hammond was a well-known general." or "As a captain, he had many responsibilities."

However, if the word refers to a person, it should be in capitals. "As an experienced leader, General Hammond..." or "He never liked telling jokes to the Colonel."

There are some ranks the name of which should always be capitalized, no matter the semantics. Such titles are System Lord, First Prime, Prior, and so on.

Italics and miscellaneous grammar

Class and ship names

Names of specific spaceships should be:

• Capitalized
• Italicized
• Referred to by female pronouns (she, hers)

e.g.

"The Korolev was a Daedalus-class warship. Her commanding officer was Colonel Chekov."

The use of the definite article should follow the most common use for that ship in canonical sources.

Class names are italicized. The definite article may be used, but it is not required.

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

"Daedalus-class warship"

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

"Asgard ships of the O'Neill class were formidable"

Numerical designations, such as X-302, are not italicized.

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.
• 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."

Single quotation marks (' ') should only be used when there is a quotation inside a quotation: "I never liked 'Indeed.'"

A quote used in an article should only include:

1. Text that is presented within actual quotation marks, indicating spoken words.
2. Text that is clearly presented within the confines of someone's memoirs, journal, or diary. This includes in-universe written works.

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.

Sources

What sources are considered acceptable

On Stargate wiki, the information presented on the show takes priority over all other sources. However, Stargate Wiki includes information from all sources that are officially-licensed and considered canon by MGM. Notably, these sources include Fandemonium novels, role-playing books, audiobooks by Big Finish Productions, the Stargate SG-1: The DVD Collection magazines, the MGM Tech Journal, etc). While, for example, Daniel Jackson's birthday isn't explicitly stated on the show, it is given in Stargate SG-1: The DVD Collection 2. As a result, Stargate wiki includes it.

Naturally, however, inconsistencies do arise. When this is the case, we make a note of it at the bottom of the page in the 'Notes' section and provide a link next to the text in question. For example, on the MGM Tech Journal entry for the 304, an Asgard beam turret is labeled as being a node at the end of the neck. However, the object labeled as the beam turret was seen on the series several times before the Asgard upgrades. Thus on the article 304, this discrepancy is noted in the 'Notes' section at the bottom of the page.

Because the official status of these ancillary sources is canon, we have to include the information they provide (keeping in mind they are approved my MGM and the show's staff). However, because sometimes the facts they present don't always align with the show (or make complete sense) we make a note stating such in much the same way we include a 'Goofs' section on episode articles. Obviously each episode is canon, but occasionally they get facts wrong or present inconsistencies.

Measurements

The specific measurements of objects presented in the Stargate franchise are rarely detailed in the show. As such, most of the dimensions of various technologies (notably spacecraft) on Stargate Wiki are retrieved from non-show sources. However, some of the measurements presented in these sources tend to contradict the apparent visual size as seen on the show. For example, Stargate Magazine #32, page 84, appears to give incorrect measurements for Destiny. The width is given as 518m and the length is given as 747m. However, the ship should be at least twice as long as it is wide based on visual observation.

In the case of Destiny's measurements, despite appearing incorrect, they still come from a source officially-licensed by MGM, and are thus still the best measurements we have for the ship. To note the apparent inconsistency, a comment is made at the bottom of the Destiny article under the 'Notes' heading.

Fan-made measurements are never allowed to superseded the measurements of an official source, no matter what. This is the case for the following reason:

Lets say user:1 comes to Stargate wiki claiming the official source is wrong and that they've deduced the 'proper' size of Destiny based on various visual observations and computer algorithms. Now lets say that Stargate wiki includes user:1's measurements. However, a few weeks later, user:2 comes along claiming that both the official source and user:1 were wrong, and that he instead has the real 'proper' measurements of Destiny. At any rate, both measurements are pure speculation. Stargate wiki would be unable to stand behind either one and (given both are non-canon) it would be impossible for us to make a choice between them. Stargate wiki is not licensed to create canon material and thus, in the eyes of the community and MGM, both measurements are equally wrong.

The best Stargate wiki would be able to do is include the official (and potentially inaccurate) measurements in the infobox (properly cited of course). Then in the Notes section of the article in question, in addition to including a reasoning as to why the official measurements appear incorrect, user:1 and user:2 are free to include their own measurements.

Non-canon sources

Main article: Stargate canon

Information that pertains to a non-canon source may still be included on Stargate Wiki under certain conditions. Such articles are confined to the categories Ambiguously-canon articles and Non-Canon articles, respectively. Furthermore, the following templates are used on such pages along with the proper sources so no mistake can be made as to an article's official-canon status. These templates include:

• {{Ambig}}
• {{Noncanon}}

Information from a non-canon or ambiguously-canon source may be included in a canon article under the conditions that the information is properly sourced, and the information included is wholly enclosed by the following templates as to clearly distinguish it:

• {{IAC}}
• {{ambigstart}}
  • {{end}}
• {{Noncanonstart}}
  • {{end}}

If the articles is about a real-world source that contains information deemed to be non-canon, the following template is to be used. All such articles are placed in the category:Non-canon sources:

• {{Noncanon topic}}

For a list of all of Stargate Wiki's advisory templates, see here

How to cite sources

There are two ways to cite sources on stargate wiki:

1) Using the {{cite}} template. For Stargates SG-1, Atlantis, and Universe episodes, this template will be written as {{cite|SG1|Episode name}}, {{cite|Atlantis|Episode name}}, and {{cite|Universe|Episode name}}, respectively. These will appear on the page as (SG1: "Episode name"), (SGA: "Episode name"), and (SGU: "Episode name"). Information on how to use this template to cite other (non-episode) sources is further explained here

2) Using <ref></ref> around the name of the source, and including <references/> at the bottom of the page under a 'Reference' heading.

Both Methods are demonstrated being used in an article below:

When citing information in the main text of an article, users are allowed to use either method 1 or 2. However, when citing information in an infobox or image caption, method 2 is strongly perfered.

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This page uses content from Wookieepedia, the Star Wars Wiki, licensed under the GFDL. For the original page, see Wookieepedia:Manual of Style.