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This page details Blooncyclopedia's guidelines for structuring, writing, and categorizing articles.
{{TOC|right}}
This page details Blooncyclopedia's guidelines for structuring, writing, and formatting articles.


==Article titles==
==Writing article text==
{{main|Blooncyclopedia:Article titles}}
===Spelling===
*Because ''Bloons'' games are not very consistent with their usage of American English vs. British English spelling, this wiki allows editors to use either spelling standard.
*If the article's title requires a specific standard (e.g., [[Town Center]] or [[Large Calibre (BTD6)|Large Calibre]]), then all editors must use the same standard in the text of the article. If the article does not already have a spelling standard established, the spelling is up to the editor.
*If an article is already clearly written in one spelling standard, then any additions/changes should be consistent with what the article uses. For example, if an article has clearly established its use of British English by other editors, then any additions/changes to the article must also be in British English from that point onwards. Editing an article to make the spelling more consistent is constructive, but changing all the spelling from one to the other without reason is unconstructive and edits of this nature will be reverted.
*If the title of an article uses a specific spelling standard, all links to it must use the same spelling, even on articles written in a different spelling standard. For example, never render links to [[Town Center]] as "Town Centre", even on an article with a title like [[Large Calibre (BTD6)]].
*Note that this only applies to spelling. [[Blooncyclopedia:Dates and timestamps|Dates and timestamps]] should always be formatted as DD/MM/YYYY regardless of the spelling standard used.


==Article text==
===Writing style===
*The first occurrence of the article's title (excluding distinguishers and "list of" if applicable) within the article should be '''bolded'''.
*Names of media (i.e. games and series) should be written out in full the first time they appear in the article. Later uses of the name should be [[Blooncyclopedia:Abbreviations|abbreviated]].
*Names of media should always be ''italicized'', including abbreviations.
*Text taken from official sources (i.e. in-game descriptions) should always be transcribed exactly as written. Errors should be noted rather than corrected.
 
==Writing style==
{{main|Blooncyclopedia:Writing guidelines}}
{{main|Blooncyclopedia:Writing guidelines}}
*Your writing within articles must follow the basic rules of English at least. Unless transcribing in-game text directly, you should capitalize the first letter of each sentence, end sentences with a fullstop, use proper grammar and spelling, et cetera.
*Your writing within articles must follow the basic rules of English at least. Unless transcribing in-game text directly, you should capitalize the first letter of each sentence, end sentences with a fullstop, use proper grammar and spelling, et cetera.
*Don't insert speculation, don't state the obvious, don't use overly verbose or flowery language, and don't editorialize. This is a wiki, not fanfiction.
*Don't insert speculation, don't state the obvious, don't use overly verbose or flowery language, and don't editorialize. This is a wiki, not fanfiction.
*A little bit of flippancy or casualness is fine as long as the text is mostly focused on conveying factual information. Don't just waste the reader's time with jokes.
*In tips and strategies, a little bit of flippancy or casualness is fine as long as the text is mostly focused on conveying factual information. Don't just waste the reader's time with jokes.
 
===Spacing and line breaks===
*Use line breaks to break up text into more digestible paragraphs. Too few breaks causes paragraphs to become excessively long and difficult to parse, but too many line breaks disrupts the flow of the text. The exact size a paragraph "should be" is subjective, but in general, a paragraph should be just long enough to develop an idea or point and are usually at least two sentences long, often 3–5 sentences long. One-sentence paragraphs should be used sparingly.
*If a topic would require a lot of short paragraphs, such as describing an [[upgrade]] that has many distinct effects, use a bullet-point list instead of a paragraph. Bullet-point lists in the lede are acceptable.
*Don't insert more empty space between paragraphs. The way to create a paragraph break in the source editor is to insert one blank line between paragraphs, but inserting more than one blank line creates a much larger gap between paragraphs that is unnecessary.
**Note that if the first text of a line is a tag that starts a [[Blooncyclopedia:Hidden comments|hidden comment]] (<code><nowiki><!--</nowiki></code>), and there is no text after the tag that ends the comment (<code><nowiki>--></nowiki></code>) on the same line, it still counts as a blank line, even though the paragraph breaks in the comment itself do not. If a hidden comment starts and ends on its own line, do not have blank lines directly above or below it.
 
==Formatting==
*Write the first occurrence of the article's title (excluding identifiers in parentheses and "list of", if applicable) in '''bold'''. If the subject has alternative names listed in the first sentence (such as "Super Monkey" and "Supermonkey"), write all of those names in bold. Do not use bold text for any other purpose.
*Write out the names of media (e.g., games and series) in full the first time they appear in the article. Later uses of the name may be [[Blooncyclopedia:Abbreviations|abbreviated]] depending on how often the name is used in the article text.
*Always ''italicize'' names of media, including abbreviations.
*Always transcribe text taken from official sources (e.g., in-game descriptions) exactly as written. Instead of correcting errors, make note of them with {{temp|sic}} or somewhere else on the article to make it clear to the reader and other editors that it is correctly transcribed.
 
===Links===
*In general, only insert a link the first time the term appears in an article. If the word "monkey" is used 10 times in a page, then only make the first occurrence of the word into a link. Repeating links is acceptable on longer articles, but try to limit it to once per major section (level 2 headings).
*In the source editor, try to optimize links as much as possible. For example, you can use <code><nowiki>[[Monkey]]</nowiki>s</code> instead of <code><nowiki>[[Monkey|Monkeys]]</nowiki></code> to render the link text in plural form. (See [[Help:Links]] for more information.)
**If you need to link to a subsection and it has a redirect, just link to the redirect instead of using a piped link. For example, use <code><nowiki>[[Paragon power]]</nowiki></code> instead of <code><nowiki>[[Paragon#Power|Paragon power]]</nowiki></code> when linking to the section about Paragon power. That way, the link doesn't need to be updated in case the section is split into its own article at a later point.
*Avoid having multiple links directly adjacent to each other in article text (what's called a "sea of blue"). For example, <code><nowiki>[[Camo Bloon|Camo]] [[Ceramic Bloon|Ceramic]] [[Bloon]]</nowiki></code> ([[Camo Bloon|Camo]] [[Ceramic Bloon|Ceramic]] [[Bloon]]) makes it difficult to tell at a glance that each word links to a separate article. Two adjacent links is acceptable, but anything more than that should be revised. Consider using more specific links (e.g., <code><nowiki>[[Camo Bloon|Camo]] [[Ceramic Bloon]]</nowiki></code>) or rephrasing the article to introduce one of the links earlier.
 
===Foreign languages===
*Include the romanization of any foreign text written in a non-Latin script (e.g., Hangul or Cyrillic).
**If it is in the body of the article or in a table, use the {{temp|hover}} template to write the text in the native script in-line, with the romanization displayed when hovering over or tapping on the template.
**If it is in the article's title or a section heading, only use the romanization.
**If a word in a foreign script is itself a transliteration of an English word or name, then use the original English word instead (e.g., [[Fēijiāngjūn Quincy]] instead of "Fēijiāngjūn Kūnxī").
*If foreign text does not have an official translation, then place an unofficial translation next to it in parentheses and italics. This mainly applies to voice clips in foreign languages and content exclusive to the [[Qìqiú Tǎ Fáng 6|Chinese version of ''Bloons TD 6'']], not content that already has an official English equivalent.
{|class="wikitable"
!Foreign text
!Usage
!Result
|-
|C'est la guerre !
|<code><nowiki>C'est la guerre ! (''That's war!'')</nowiki></code>
|C'est la guerre ! (''That's war!'')
|-
|아싸, 지렸다리~
|<code><nowiki>{{hover|아싸, 지렸다리~|Assa, jiryeotdari~}} (''Oh yeah, I was awesome~'')</nowiki></code>
|{{hover|아싸, 지렸다리~|Assa, jiryeotdari~}} (''Oh yeah, I was awesome~'')
|}


==Spelling==
===Quotations===
*Because ''Bloons'' games are not very consistent with their usage of American English vs. British English spelling, this wiki allows either spelling standard to be used by editors.
*This wiki has two templates for quotations: {{temp|quote}} and {{temp|blockquote}}.
*If the article's title requires a specific standard (i.e. [[Town Center]] or [[Large Calibre (BTD6)|Large Calibre]]), then the text of the article must use the same standard; otherwise, the spelling is up to the editor.
**{{temp|quote}} is for informal text, usually shorter than blockquotes. This should be used mainly in cases where it makes sense to attribute the quote to a single author, such as a developer, a game character, or update notes posted by a developer.
*If an article is already clearly written in one spelling standard, then any additions/changes should be consistent with what the article uses. For example, if an article has clearly established its use of British English by other editors, then any additions/changes to the article must also be in British English from that point onwards. Editing an article to make the spelling more consistent is constructive, but changing all the spelling from one to the other without reason is unconstructive and edits of this nature will be reverted.
**{{temp|blockquote}} is for formal text, such as game descriptions on store pages. Usually, these are placed below section headers that state where the quote is from, so they often do not need to list what the source is (because it would be redundant).
*If an article links to another article with a title that uses a different spelling standard, the link text should ''not'' be changed to match. For example, [[Large Calibre (BTD6)]] should ''not'' render links to [[Town Center]] as "Town Centre".
*Note that this only applies to spelling. [[Blooncyclopedia:Dates and timestamps|Dates and timestamps]] should always be formatted as DD/MM/YYYY regardless of the spelling standard used.


==Numbers==
===Numbers===
{{hat|Note: In the visual editor, these symbols can be inserted from the symbols toolbar by clicking on the "Ω" button. In the source editor, they can be inserted from the "special characters" tab.}}
{{hat|Note: In the visual editor, these symbols can be inserted from the symbols toolbar by clicking on the "Ω" button. In the source editor, they can be inserted from the "special characters" tab.}}
When not transcribing in-game text directly, numbers and quantities should be formatted in specific ways.
When not transcribing in-game text directly, numbers and quantities should be formatted in specific ways.
*Numbers with more than three digits should always be delimited with commas, e.g. "1,000" instead of "1000".
*Numbers with more than three digits should always be delimited with commas, e.g. "1,000" instead of "1000".
*Use unspaced en dashes (<code>–</code>) instead of hyphens for ranges of numbers, ranges of dates, or comparing two numbers (such as score tallies).
*Use unspaced en dashes (<code>–</code>) instead of hyphens for ranges of numbers, ranges of dates, or comparing two numbers (such as score tallies).
*Use hyphens (<code>-</code>) for negative numbers, as in "-15%", or notating [[upgrade]] tiers, e.g. "0-0-0 [[Dart Monkey (BTD6)|Dart Monkey]]".
*Use hyphens (<code>-</code>) for negative numbers, as in "-15%", or notating tower [[upgrade]]s by tier number, e.g. "0-0-0 [[Dart Monkey (BTD6)|Dart Monkey]]".
*Use multiplication signs (<code>×</code>) instead of the letter "x" for multiplication or for quantities in lists of numbers.
*Use multiplication signs (<code>×</code>) instead of the letter "x" for multiplication or for quantities in lists of numbers.
{|class="wikitable"
{|class="wikitable"
Line 54: Line 90:
*Blue Bloon ×2</pre>
*Blue Bloon ×2</pre>
|}
|}
==Article titles==
{{main|Blooncyclopedia:Article titles}}
*If a subject in a game has name that prominently displays somewhere that directly represents the subject (such as a tooltip or line of text below its icon), its article title should have exactly the same name, including capitalization inconsistencies, unusual punctuation, et cetera. Do not use the name format in any peripheral source, such as character dialogue, update notes, or an in-game description of another subject.
*Otherwise, format the title in singular and in sentence case.


==Headers and sections==
==Headers and sections==
*The lede section of the article should be a concise summary of the subject. It should not be more than a few paragraphs long; specifics should be written in other sections of the article if it would make the lede too long (i.e. a mechanics section, layout section, etc).
*The lede section of the article should be a concise summary of the subject. It should not be more than a few paragraphs long; specifics should be written in other sections of the article if it would make the lede too long (e.g., a mechanics section, layout section, etc).
*Major sections should start with level 2 headings (<code><nowiki>==</nowiki>Heading<nowiki>==</nowiki></code>). Level 1 headings (<code><nowiki>=</nowiki>Heading<nowiki>=</nowiki></code>) should never be used; it is reserved for the article's title and is automatically inserted by the software this wiki uses.
*Major sections should start with level 2 headings (<code><nowiki>==</nowiki>Heading<nowiki>==</nowiki></code>). Level 1 headings (<code><nowiki>=</nowiki>Heading<nowiki>=</nowiki></code>) should never be used; it is reserved for the article's title and is automatically inserted by the software this wiki uses.
*Like article titles, headers should be written in sentence case; only the first word and proper nouns should be capitalized.
*Like article titles, headers should be written in sentence case; only the first word and proper nouns should be capitalized.
Line 75: Line 116:
*Trivia sections should ''never'' have sub-headings. If there's enough information on a specific trivia point for it to have its own section, then it's ''not trivial'' and should have its own section elsewhere.
*Trivia sections should ''never'' have sub-headings. If there's enough information on a specific trivia point for it to have its own section, then it's ''not trivial'' and should have its own section elsewhere.


==Spacing and line breaks==
===Templates under headers===
*Line breaks should be used to break up text into more digestible paragraphs. Too few breaks causes paragraphs to become excessively long and difficult to parse, but too many line breaks disrupts the flow of the text. The exact size a paragraph "should be" is subjective, but in general, a paragraph should be just long enough to develop an idea or point and are usually at least two sentences long, often 3–5 sentences long. One-sentence paragraphs should be used sparingly.
*When placing any of the following templates directly under the appropriate header of an article or section, use the following order unless the description of a template says otherwise:
*If a topic would require a lot of short paragraphs, such as describing an [[upgrade]] that has many distinct effects, use a bullet-point list instead of a paragraph. Bullet-point lists in the lede are acceptable.
**'''Hatnotes'''
*Don't insert more empty space between paragraphs. In the source editor, a paragraph break is created by inserting one blank line between paragraphs, but inserting more than one blank line creates a much larger gap between paragraphs that is unnecessary.
**'''Notices'''
**'''Quotations'''
**'''Right-floating elements''' (mainly infoboxes and images)


==Linking==
==Other namespaces==
*In general, articles should only be linked to once in a single page, though links can be repeated if in a section much later in the article. If the word "monkey" is used 10 times in a page, then only the first occurrence of the word should be linked, and maybe a later one too if the article is long and has multiple major sections.
===Categories===
*In the source editor, try to optimize links as much as possible. For example, you can use <code><nowiki>[[Monkey]]</nowiki>s</code> instead of <code><nowiki>[[Monkey|Monkeys]]</nowiki></code> to render the link text in plural form. (See [[Help:Links]] for more information.)
**If you need to link to a subsection and it has a redirect, just link to the redirect instead of using a piped link. For example, use <code><nowiki>[[Paragon power]]</nowiki></code> instead of <code><nowiki>[[Paragon#Power|Paragon power]]</nowiki></code> when linking to the section about Paragon power. That way, the link doesn't need to be updated in case the section is split into its own article at a later point.
*Avoid having multiple links directly adjacent to each other (what's called a "sea of blue"). For example, <code><nowiki>[[Camo Bloon|Camo]] [[Ceramic Bloon|Ceramic]] [[Bloon]]</nowiki></code> ([[Camo Bloon|Camo]] [[Ceramic Bloon|Ceramic]] [[Bloon]]) makes it difficult to tell at a glance that each word links to a separate article. Two adjacent links is acceptable, but any more than that is excessive. Consider using more specific links (e.g., <code><nowiki>[[Camo Bloon|Camo]] [[Ceramic Bloon]]</nowiki></code>) or rephrasing the article to introduce one of the links earlier.
 
==Foreign languages==
*Foreign text written in a non-Latin script (i.e. Hangul or Cyrillic) should be romanized.
**If it is in the body of the article or in a table, the romanization should be added using the {{temp|hover}} template, which will display the text in its native script in the body and its romanization when hovered over or tapped on.
**If it is in the article's title or a section heading, it should just use the romanization.
**If a word in a foreign script is itself a transliteration of an English word or name, then use the original English word instead (i.e. [[Fēijiāngjūn Quincy]] instead of "Fēijiāngjūn Kūnxī").
*If foreign text does not have an official translation, then an unofficial translation should be placed next to it in parentheses and italics. This mainly applies to voice clips in foreign languages and content exclusive to the [[Qìqiú Tǎ Fáng 6|Chinese version of ''Bloons TD 6'']], and should ''not'' be used for content that already has an official English equivalent.
{|class="wikitable"
!Foreign text
!Usage
!Result
|-
|C'est la guerre !
|<code><nowiki>C'est la guerre ! (''That's war!'')</nowiki></code>
|C'est la guerre ! (''That's war!'')
|-
|아싸, 지렸다리~
|<code><nowiki>{{hover|아싸, 지렸다리~|Assa, jiryeotdari~}} (''Oh yeah, I was awesome~'')</nowiki></code>
|{{hover|아싸, 지렸다리~|Assa, jiryeotdari~}} (''Oh yeah, I was awesome~'')
|}
 
==Categorization==
{{main|Blooncyclopedia:Category guidelines}}
{{main|Blooncyclopedia:Category guidelines}}
*Category titles follow the same rules as article titles, except they should always be plural if possible.
*Category titles follow the same rules as article titles, except they should always be plural if possible.
*Category pages should contain a brief summary of what the category means.
*Category pages should contain a brief summary of what the category means.
*A category should not be added to an article if it belongs to a subcategory of it. ''[[Bloons Card Storm]]'' should not belong to both [[:Category:Windows games]] and [[:Category:Games]], for example.
*An article should not belong to a category if it already belongs to a subcategory of it. For example, [[Quincy]] should not belong to [[:Category:Monkeys]] when he already belongs to [[:Category:Heroes]], since Category:Heroes is a subcategory of Category:Monkeys.


==Other namespaces==
===Stats===
===Stats===
{{main|Blooncyclopedia:Stats guidelines}}
{{main|Blooncyclopedia:Stats guidelines}}
Line 124: Line 141:
{{main|Blooncyclopedia:Gallery guidelines}}
{{main|Blooncyclopedia:Gallery guidelines}}
Gallery articles collect images and audio for the subject and present them in a more structured manner than media categories.
Gallery articles collect images and audio for the subject and present them in a more structured manner than media categories.
===Update histories===
{{main|Blooncyclopedia:Update history guidelines}}
Gallery articles list changes to games and game elements in software updates.


==Once and only once==
==Once and only once==
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