This page is considered an official policy on the Fairly OddParents Wiki.
- These policies are widely accepted amongst editors, and are considered a standard to be followed.
- Ignoring policy could result in reversion of edits and/or blocking of editing rights.
Except for minor edits, please make use of the discussion page to propose changes to this policy.
This is the Manual of Style for The Fairly OddParents Wiki. It is a guide to help make articles more uniform and properly formatted.
For information on the most basic writing techniques and styles, which are used here, see Wikipedia's Manual of Style.
Below are some basic formatting do's and don't's.
General
- Please categorize articles and insert navigational templates appropriately to ensure that the FOP Wiki is a more orderly compendium of Fairly OddParents knowledge.
- Please do not insert a heading, such as == Summary ==, if there is only a single heading within the article. Just don't put a heading until you feel the need to insert two, and then you may create two.
- Whenever inserting pictures in "thumb" format, such as [[Image:Random.jpg|thumb|left]], be sure to add a caption like [[Image:Random.jpg|thumb|left|Caption goes here.]].
- Refer to the Fairly OddParents universe from a third-person perspective.
- List all references at the end articles. It should not be:
Timmy said, and I quote this from Episode Two, "What could possibly go wrong!?"Instead, use the reference tag if necessary, or else, write:"What could possibly go wrong?" (Power Mad) - Refrain from using slashes whenever possible. Instead, work the word "or" into the sentence, or figure out some other way of stating it.
Editing Standards
Use the Minor Edit button
As a corollary to the above, if you're making a minor edit (e.g. fixing a spelling error or tweaking formatting), check the "This is a minor edit" button below the Summary box before saving the page.
Use the Preview Button
The preview button is right next to the save edit button, and is there for a reason. It's your own personal spell checker, link checker, whatever-else checker. Use it.
Don't link to the current page
In other words, a page should not link to itself. If it is attempted, the link will simply turn into bold text.
Link once
A given page should only contain one link to any other page. If a page links to Timmy Turner in one place, then that should be the only link to Timmy Turner on that page. Typically this link should be the first instance of the term in the article.
An exception to this is are the links in Infobox templates and "See also" sections.
Don't use conversational style
This is an information site. It should read like Wikipedia, not like your diary.
- Check your spelling and grammar. Don't use internet slang (ex. "How r u?" or "c u 2nite"). If you're not 100% sure about the way a word is spelled, type it into Google or Dictionary.com. If you know that you're not the strongest speller, compose your edits in a word processor like Microsoft Word or use Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome which has spell-checking built in.
- Don't use "smileys" or "emoticons".
- Don't "reply" to content others have posted. If you think a particular point warrants discussion, post on the article's Discussion page. If you're 100% sure that something should be changed and don't think a discussion is necessary, just change it. Dialogue goes only on articles' Discussion pages or the forum.
- Never abbreviate the names of characters, places, or anything. Wherever possible, use the full name of a character the first time they are mentioned.
Stubs
If you don't know enough information on a topic, or you know there's more, add a stub to it. To do so, try this:
- {{stub}}
And people will know that it's a stub by looking at the stub category. Generally the {{stub}} template is put at the bottom of the page.
Don't sign your edits
All contributions are appreciated, but if every user left their mark on every contribution they made, the Wiki would be nothing but signatures. If you've made an edit that you're particularly proud of (such as a transcript or screenshot), the correct place to take credit is on your own user page. If you do not have a user account, we respect your anonymity, but your edits will remain anonymous, too.
Do sign your Talk posts
If you make a post on a discussion page, please sign it. If you have a user account, this is as easy as typing ~~~~ at the end of your post. If you don't have a user account, just sign it with your name or nickname so everybody can tell who's who when reading long conversations. Even better, create an account anyway and use the signature method described. There really is no reason not to if you're going to stick around.
External Links
External links are links that point to sites other than the Wiki. The links should be in the form of a bullet list. External links typically look like this:
*[http://www.manual-of-style.com/filename.html Something Something]
Headers/Headings as Links
Never make a header title as links. Instead, utilise the Main Redirect Template and add it under the header. Additionally, avoid adding the the Ref Tag to the header.
Regional Differences in Grammar/Spelling
Please refrain from basing edits on the correction of English grammar or spelling as your society sees fit. There are many variations and all are correct. For example, "color" and "colour", "center" and "centre". Note that American English users use "-ize" or "-yze" whereas the British English users use "-ise" or "-yse".
Layout guide
- Main article: Fairly Odd Parents Wiki:Layout Guide
Character pages
All in-universe character articles should be structured as follows:
- Infobox character ({{Infobox villains}} for villains)
- Title
- Icons ({{Era}} Character icon if available, character debut season)
- Main article
- Appearances
- Trivia
- Image gallery
- Notes and references
- External links
- Category
- Interwiki links
Episode pages
All individual episode articles should be structured as follows:
- Infobox episode
- Title
- Icons ({{Era}} Relevant character icons if available, episode season)
- Information (short summary)
- Characters present
- Places
- Songs
- Main article (Synopsis)
- Trivia
- Screenshots
- Notes and references
- External links
- Category
- Interwiki links
For more details as to what each section of an article should contain, see the Layout Guide. Please note that not all articles use every section.