An Editor's Handbook

“

Take that, booksmarts!

Click to listen

— The Bad Editor

”

This Editor's Handbook is designed to compile all useful templates and style guides an editor may need.

Maintenance Templates

Remember that for many of these a | can be put after the word to add additional notes.

Article Status

Use these to tell others about the status of the article.

{{disambignote}}
{{Stub}}
{{Recent addition}}
{{beta}}
{{unreleased}}
{{Strategy-WIP}}

Requests

Use these to request improvement, addition, or organization.

Page Content

{{Cleanup}}
{{Rewrite}}
{{retranslate}}
{{Expandlist}}

File Content

{{Improveimage|Notes for improvement}}
{{Needimage}}
{{Needvideo}}
{{Externally linked}}

Page Organization

{{Delete|Reason for deletion}}
{{Move|Proposed target title}}
{{Merge|Proposed merger target}}
{{Split|Time limit for split}}

Creating a Custom Signature

1. Navigate to User:USERNAME/Sig

Note: Replace USERNAME with your Team Fortress Wiki username.

2. Edit the page, and include everything that you want to be in your sig. For example, to recreate the default signature, you'd add something like:

[[User:USERNAME|USERNAME]]

3. Save the page

4. Go to Special:Preferences

5. In the "Signature" field, add the following:

{{SUBST:User:USERNAME/Sig}}

6. Check the box marked "Treat signatures as Wikitext (without an automatic link)"

That's it. Next time you use ~~~~ it will be replaced with the contents of your /Sig page.

Example: Fyahweather

Featuring Articles

Nominating an article for featured article review, is a three step process.

1. Ensure the article meets all of the featured article criteria.

2. Next the featured article candidate template should be included on the article's talk page.

You can include this template by using the following code:

{{Featured article candidate}}

3. Lastly, you need to add the article to the list of nominated articles.

To do this, click here and type the article's name in the subject surrounded by double squared brackets (example: [[ArticleName]]) and in the text add the reason why you think the article is worthy of nomination

To support or object an article nomination, click the edit link next to that article's section, and your opinion in the following format.

Supporting and Objecting

Support

'''Support''': Why you support this article's nomination

Support: This article is well written, containing a good demonstration, lengthy detail, and useful information.

Object

'''Object''': Why you object to this article's nomination

'''Oppose''': Why you oppose this article's nomination

Object: This article does not have painted images.

Oppose: This article is constantly beset by vandalism.

Comment

'''Comment''': Your comment

Comment: The article has been nominated for feature twice.

Archiving

New Archives

If the page has never been archived before,

1. First, open the page you are archiving for editting and copy all the code for the page. Save this code to a document for safe keeping.

2. Add the Talk Archive template to the top of the page using the code below

{{Talk archive
| arc1name=DATE
| arc1link=/DATE
}}

Note: Replace DATE with today's month and year

3. Remove all the content from the page, except any headers or templates that are still necessary, such as the header on the Wiki Discussion page.

Note: Be sure to create an edit summary that explains that you are archiving the page.

4. Save your changes, this will create the template on the page, now with a link to a page that does not exist.

5. Open the page that does not yet exist by clicking the red link in the Talk Archive template. This page is the new archive.

6. Paste all the code from the page you are archiving and save it to the new page.

Talk archives
	11/9/11

Adding a New Archive

If the discussion page already has been archived once before, your job is made easier.

1. Open the discussion page for editing and copy all the code for the page except the talk archive template and any headers. Save this code to a document for safe keeping.

2. Add two more lines to the Talk Archive template to create a new archive:

{{Talk archive
| arc1name=April 2011
| arc1link=/April 2011
| arc2name=DATE
| arc2link=/DATE
}}

Note: Replace DATE with today's month and year

3. Remove all the content from the page, except any headers or templates that are still necessary, such as the header on the Wiki Discussion page.

Note: Be sure to create an edit summary that explains that you are archiving the page.

4. Save your changes, this will add the new link to the template, which links to a page that does not exist.

5. Open the page that does not yet exist by clicking the red link in the Talk Archive template. This page is the new archive.

6. Paste all the code from the page you are archiving and save it to the new page.

Style

A

A or an?: Use "an" before a silent H, e.g. "an hour", "an heir", "an honorable man", "an honest woman". Use "a" before a strong H, e.g. "a hero", "a hotel", "a historian" (but don't change a direct quote if the speaker says, for example, "an historic"). With abbreviations, be guided by pronunciation, e.g. "an LSE student".

Abbreviations and acronyms: Use all capitals if an abbreviation is pronounced as the individual letters, e.g. BBC, VAT, etc; if it is an acronym (pronounced as a word) spell it out with an initial capital, e.g. Nasa, Nato, unless it can be considered to have entered the language as an everyday word, such as 'awol', 'laser', and, more recently, 'pin' and 'sim card'.; If an abbreviation or acronym that readers may not immediately recognize is to be used more than once, put it in brackets at first mention, e.g. Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO), Seasonal affective disorder (Sad). This saves people having to search back through the article to find the original reference.; Use common sense; however, it is not necessary to spell out well-known ones such as EU, UN, CIA, FBI, CD, Nasa, etc.; Cap up single letters in such expressions as "C-list", "F-word", "the word assassin contains four S's", etc.

Adverbs: Do not use hyphens after adverbs ending in '-ly', e.g. "a hotly disputed penalty", "a constantly evolving world", "genetically modified food", etc; but hyphens are needed with short and common adverbs, e.g. "ever-forgiving family", "ill-prepared report", "much-loved character", "well-founded suspicion".

Affect/effect: '"Affect" and '"effect'" have no senses in common. As a verb, '"affect" is most commonly used in the sense of "to influence", e.g. "how smoking affects health". As a noun, "effect" means "to bring about or execute", e.g. "layoffs designed to effect savings". Thus, the sentence "These measures may affect savings" could imply that the measures may reduce savings that have already been realized, whereas the sentence "These measures may effect savings'" implies that the measures will cause new savings to come about.[1]

American/British English: Both American and British English are proper. However, a page should remain consistent throughout in regard to its use of one or the other. For instance, "defence" and "defense" are both correct spellings of the word, and both are acceptable. Regardless, no page should have occurrences of both "defence" and "defense" within it.

Apostrophes: They indicate a missing letter or letters ("can't", "we'd") or a possessive ("David's book").

Contractions can affect the tone of an article and make it appear informal and even inelegant: "what's more" may work but "what is more" may be more appropriate.

The possessive in words and names ending in 's' normally takes an apostrophe followed by a second 's', e.g. Jones's, James's, but be guided by pronunciation and use the plural apostrophe where it helps, e.g. Mephistopheles', Waters', Hedges' rather than Mephistopheles's, Waters's, Hedges's.

Plural nouns that do not end in 's' take an apostrophe and 's' in the possessive, e.g. "children's games", "old folk's home", "people's republic", etc.

Phrases such as "butcher's knife", "collector's item", "cow's milk", "goat's cheese", "hangman's noose", "writer's cramp", etc. are treated as singular.

Use apostrophes in phrases such as "two days' time", "12 years' imprisonment", and "six weeks' holiday" – where the time period (two days) modifies a noun (time) – but not in "nine months pregnant" or "three weeks old" – where the time period is adverbial (modifying an adjective such as pregnant or old). If in doubt, test with a singular such as "one day's time" or "one month pregnant".

As or since?: "As" is causal: "I cannot check the online style guide as the connection is down".; "Since" is temporal: "Luckily, I have had the style book on my desk since it was published".

Average, mean, and median.

Although we loosely refer to the "average" in many contexts, e.g. pay, there are two useful averages worth distinguishing.

What is commonly known as the "average" is the "mean": "Everyone's wages are added up and divided by the number of wage earners". The "median" is described as "the value below which 50% of employees fall", i.e. it is the wage earned by the middle person when everyone's wages are lined up from smallest to largest. (For even numbers, there are two middle people, but you calculate the mean average of their two wages.)

The "median" is often a more useful guide than the "mean", which can be distorted by figures at one extreme or the other.

C

Colon: Use this between two sentences, or parts of sentences, where the first introduces a proposition that is resolved by the second, e.g. "Fowler put it like this to deliver the goods invoiced in the preceding words".; A colon should also be used (rather than a comma) to introduce a quotation, e.g. "He was an expert on punctuation", or to precede a list, e.g. "He was an expert on the following: the colon, the comma, and the full stop."; This is an example of the tendency to use a semi-colon where only a colon will do: "Being a retired soap 'treasure' must be a bit like being in the army reserves; when a ratings war breaks out, it's time to dust off your uniform and wait by the phone."; There is a distinction between a colon and a semicolon; many writers seem to think they are interchangeable, but to make it clear they are not.; (see semicolon)

Commas: A misplaced comma can sabotage a sentence, as in this example: "Neocon economists often claim a large, black economy turbo-powers growth..." (The writer was talking about a big, black economy, not a big and black one, which is not the same.)

Contractions: Do not overuse contractions such as "aren't", "can't", "couldn't," "hasn't", "don't", "I'm", "it's", and "there's"; while they might make a piece more colloquial or easier to read, they can be an irritant and a distraction, and make a serious article sound frivolous.

H

Hyphens: Use one word whenever possible; hyphens tend to clutter up text (particularly when the computer breaks already hyphenated words at the end of lines).; Inventions, ideas, and new concepts often begin life as two words, then become hyphenated, before finally becoming accepted as one word. Why wait? "Wire-less" and "down-stairs" were once hyphenated.; Words such as "handspring", "madhouse", and "talkshow" are all one word, as are" thinktank" (not a tank that thinks), "longlist" (not necessarily a long list), and "shortlist" (which need not be short).; Prefixes such as 'macro-', 'micro-', 'mega-', 'mini-', 'multi-', 'over-', 'super-', and 'under-' rarely need hyphens. Examples are listed separately. Follow http://www.dictionary.com when a word or phrase is not specifically listed in this guide.; There is no need to use hyphens with most compound adjectives, where the meaning is clear and unambiguous without, e.g. "civil rights movement", "financial services sector", "work inspection powers", etc.; Hyphens should, however, be used to form short compound adjectives, e.g. "two-tonne vessel", "stand-up comedian"," three-year deal", "19th-century artist", etc.; Also use hyphens where not using one would be ambiguous, e.g. to distinguish "black-cab drivers come under attack" from "black cab-drivers come under attack".; Do not use hyphens after adverbs ending in '-ly', e.g. "politically naive", "wholly owned", but when an adverb is also an adjective, e.g. "hard". The hyphen is required to avoid ambiguity – it's not a "hard, pressed person", but a "hard-pressed one"; an "ill-prepared report", rather than an "ill, prepared one".; Use hyphens with short and common adverbs, e.g. "much-needed grammar lesson", "well-established principle of style" (note though that in the construction "the principle of style is well established" there is no need to hyphenate).

I

If not: This can be ambiguous. Does "it is the most beautiful castle in France, if not the whole of Europe" mean "and maybe in the whole of Europe" or "but not in the whole of Europe"?

Into or in to?: One word if you go "into a room", but two words in such sentences as "I called in to complain", "I listened in to their conversation", and "I went in to see my friend".

It's or its: "It's" is the shortened form of "it is" or "it has", e.g. "it's a big dog"; "it's been ages since I saw her". "Its" is the possessive form of "it", e.g. "the dog is eating its bone".

M

May or might?: "May" implies that the possibility remains open whereas "might" suggests that the possibility no longer remains open. "They may have played tennis, or they may have gone boating" suggests I don't know what they did; "they might have played tennis if the weather had been dry" means they didn't, because it wasn't.

N

No doubt that, no question that: These are opposites, e.g. "There was no doubt that he was lying" means he was lying; "There was no question that he was lying" means he wasn't, although the two are routinely confused.

No one: Not "no-one".

Numbers: When used within a sentence, spell out from one to nine; integers from 10 to 999,999 thereafter use m or bn for sums of money, quantities, or inanimate objects in copy, e.g. "£10m", "5bn tonnes of coal", "30m doses of vaccine" – but million or billion for people or animals, e.g. "1 million people", "3 billion rabbits", etc; spell trillion in full at first mention, then tn; in headlines use m, bn, or tn.

P

Pronunciation: If a word is too difficult to pronounce, the correct pronunciation isn't something most people know, or the word is not part of the English language, then the correct IPA pronunciation (if not English) in the Merriam-Webster pronunciation (if English or a place name) should be provided. (Along with a recording of the word being said clearly and correctly.); Leave some silence at the end of a recording for browsers and players which truncate sound files.

Q

Quotation marks: Use double quotes at the start and end of a quoted section, with single quotes for quoted words within that section. Place full points and commas inside the quotes for a complete quoted sentence, otherwise the point comes outside, e.g.; "Anna said, 'Your style guide needs updating,' and I said, 'I agree.' "; but: "Anna said updating the guide was 'a difficult and time-consuming task'."; When beginning a quote with a sentence fragment that is followed by a full sentence, punctuate according to the final part of the quote, e.g. The minister called the allegations "blatant lies. But in a position such as mine, it is only to be expected."; For parentheses in direct quotes, use square brackets.

R

Re or re-?: Use 're-' (with hyphen) when followed by the vowels 'e' or 'u' (not pronounced as "yu"), e.g. "re-entry", "re-examine", "re-urge".; Use 're' (no hyphen) when followed by the vowels 'a', 'i', 'o', 'u' (pronounced as "yu"), or any consonant, e.g. "rearm", "rearrange", "reassemble", "reiterate", "reorder", "reuse", "rebuild", "reconsider".; Exceptions are "re-read" or where confusion with another word would arise, e.g. "re-cover"/"recover", "re-form"/"reform", "re-creation"/"recreation", "re-sign"/"resign".

S

Self-control, self-defense, self-esteem, self-respect: These are hyphenated.

Semicolon: Used correctly, the semicolon is a very elegant compromise between a full stop (too much) and a comma (not enough). "Some reporters were brilliant; others were less so".

T

That or which?: "That" defines, "which" informs:; "This is the house that Jack built, but this house, which John built, is falling down".

This and that: "That was then, but this is now"; "this looks forward, that looks back"; a man showing his son and heir the lands lying in front of them says, "One day, son, all this will be yours." and then he points behind him to the house and says, "But that remains mine".

U

Uber: No accent if you are saying something like "uber fast", but use the umlaut if you are quoting German, i.e. Medic responses. The normal transliteration of the 'ü' ('u' with a dieresis representing an umlaut) when used in writing systems without diacritics (such as airport arrival boards, older computer systems, etc.) is 'ue', not just 'u'; however, the English language use of the word "uber" is considered a new word distinct from "ueber". When used in conjunction with another word, it should be written as an individual word and not hyphenated (example: "uber defense" not "uber-defense"). An "ÜberCharge" is the name of the effect from the Medigun in TF2, and as such should be capitalized (see TF2 Wiki Style guide). Also note that the contractions "uber'ed" or "uber'd" should be avoided and "ÜberCharged" used instead.

Z

Zigzag: This has no hyphen.

Formatting

While many of these are located in an easily accessible palette, I'll put these in anyway.

''text here'' italicizes the word.
'''text here''' boldens the word.
'''''text here''''' boldens and italicizes the word.
[[link here]] makes a link to Page
[[link here|substituted words]] makes a link to Page, but in different words, such as Edition.
[[Category:Gameplay]] puts a page in the Gameplay category.

Quotes

To make a quote, use {{Quotation|Speaker|Spoken words|sound=file name here}} Alternatively, cut the sound area out if there is no file available or the text is written, and use {{Quotation|Speaker|Spoken words}}

“

Gesundheit!