Grand Theft Wiki:Style Guide

The Style Guide provides guidelines for layout and style of articles. Using a style guide will create consistency across the wiki, making it easier for readers/editors to navigate, and therefore more attractive to new users.

These guidelines are not "set in stone." Discussion of more efficient or more effective ideas is welcomed on the talk page; however, consistency is important, so please discuss any ideas before beginning widespread use of a style not recommended here.

At all times, style is secondary to content. Do not delete content because it is not formatted properly; format it or add a "Cleanup" or similar tag.

Each "Main Article" page can have a corresponding talk page. Below, the style to use on the two very different types of pages is outlined.

Main Article

Content

An article should be created for any topic that has enough information for a complete page. Two or three sentences does not make a complete page. If the information is legibly contained on a broader-topic page, leave it as-is. Do not create a page that will have a stub tag as the only content. It is better to see the red link; that makes it clear that there is no information on the topic.

An article's main page should be informative and helpful to the reader. It should contain complete and accurate details and should be easy to read. Any information relevant only to editors should be added to the article's talk page. Any discussion of the article's content or style should take place on the article's talk page.

Attributions

Attributions (e.g. "written by GTAMAN") and dates/times (e.g. "added Apr 29, 2008") should not be included on the article's main page. The wiki keeps a record of all edits, which editor it was made by, and when it was made. (However, comments left on talk pages should be signed, see below)

Game Information

All information included relating to gameplay should be accurate and verifiable.

Each game topic within Grand Theft Wiki should have one central page (e.g. Girlfriends), with links (if necessary) to the pages detailing the topic in particular games (e.g. Girlfriends in GTA San Andreas).

Game pages should be written in third-person and not first- or second-person whenever possible (i.e. "Tommy Vercetti has..." or "The player may customize...", not "I chose to kill..." or "You can steal...".

Many types of layouts are preferred for certain game pages.

Links

Avoid cluttered links. Only use a link for the first occurrence of a topic in each section; there is no reason to link to the same article multiple times in a section. Only link to an article if the information is likely to help the reader; too many irrelevant links cause "pauses" when reading and can distract from the intention of the page.

Disambiguation

When an article shares a name with another article, such as two different games having missions with the same name, or a character's name also being the name of a mission, they must be disambiguated. The title of each page should be clarified, such as "Title (person)" and "Title (mission)", or "Title (GTA SA)" and "Title (GTA VC)". The title page, the one without any parenthesis, should use a {{disambig}} tag, and should link to the articles.

Spoilers

"Spoilers" should not be included on list-type pages, such as Missions in GTA San Andreas or Characters in GTA IV. Single-topic pages, however, like Carl "CJ" Johnson or Sir, Yes Sir! should contain complete and accurate details, and so should contain all spoilers related to the topic, without any "spoiler warnings." If there is doubt as to whether a spoiler should be included, include it with a {{Spoiler}} tag and a more experienced editor or admin will make the decision.

Talk Pages

Content

A talk page (i.e. Grand Theft Wiki talk:Style Guide notice the "_talk" added on to the end of the namespace) is used to discuss the article's style and content, or lack thereof.

Attributions

On an article's talk page, attributions are made by typing four tildes (~~~~) at the end of your comment. This adds the time of the post and your signature (usually a link to your user and/or talk page(s).)

Topics

Always preface a new topic with a two-tier header (i.e. ==My Topic==). A reply should be indented with a colon (:), and each additional reply should include one additional colon. When a conversation has many replies, the fifth comment should have no colons. For example:

==My Topic==
This is my topic.
:Reply 1
::Reply 2
:::Reply 3
::::Reply 4
Reply 5
:Reply 6

Language

• As page names, neither American nor British spellings are preferred; it is preferred to have both as pages, and have one redirect to the other. Where applicable, the alternative spelling should redirect to the spelling used in-game.

• Within the text of an article, neither American not British spellings are preferred, but should be consistent within the article, and should use the spelling used in-game wherever possible.

• Within the text of an article, numbers should be written out in words, so long as it is two words or less. Tables and statistics, however, should be written out numerically. When referring to something in-game, it should be written out as it is portrayed on the game.

• At all times, the exact text used in-game should be used on the wiki, with redirects from alternative spellings.

• When naming pages, use the following guidelines:
  • Game main page:
    • The game's full title should be used
    • Grand Theft Auto 1 & 2 use Arabic numerals
    • Grand Theft Auto III & IV use Roman numerals
    • Games without a numeric indicator should include a colon (:) after "Grand Theft Auto"
  • Pages including a game's name in the title:
    • Use "(Topic) in GTA (Game)" - removing the parenthesis and using the appropriate term.
    • No colons are necessary when "Grand Theft Auto" is abbreviated as "GTA"

• When including a game title in the text of an article, the first occurrence should be the full title with no abbreviations. Subsequent occurrences may be abbreviated using "GTA 1", "GTA San Andreas", "GTA IV", etc. no colons are necessary when "Grand Theft Auto" is abbreviated as "GTA"

See Also

Policies

• Policy - This page outlines what policy is, and the processes behind it
• Rules - The rules of Grand Theft Wiki must not be broken on any accounts
• Layout Guide: − The preferred layouts for game information pages
• Copyright - Guidance on the reproduction of Copyright material
• Privacy policy - The use of user's private data held on or by Grand Theft Wiki
• Copyright templates - Templates for marking Copyright or Copyleft content and images
• Consistency - Making sure articles are consistent across the wiki
• Canon - What are considered to be "true" descriptions and events in the GTA series
• Cleanup - The process of keeping Grand Theft Wiki's articles clean, correct and consistent
• Vandalism - Guidelines for how to deal with vandalism, and what counts (also NSfV)
• Deletion - Guidelines for the processes behind deleting pages on Grand Theft Wiki
• Staff - The different levels of staff, who they are, and how to apply
• Medals - Awards given to members for ongoing commitment and outstanding contribution
• Featured articles - How articles are given "featured" status
• Bots - Grand Theft Wiki policy regarding "Bot" accounts
• Protection - When and why an article may be protected from editing

Help

Grand Theft Wiki Help

Not sure how to do something on Grand Theft Wiki? This section contains a series of pages designed to help you!

Whether you need help with editing syntax, want to know how to name a page, or want to understand what a feature is, there should be something here to help you out.

If you have a question that has not already been answered, please just Ask Us. Also see our FAQs and policy.

To get started with Grand Theft Wiki, see Help:Basics</noinclude>

Help Pages

Grand Theft Wiki:Style Guide/Pages

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