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Formatting[]

  • Use common sense.
  • Italics should be used for all game names, and titles of external works.
  • The name of the article should be Bold in the introduction.
    • This can also be achieved with a link to the same article. Linking to the article name, rather than using bold, ensures that the word remains linked if the page is transcluded.
    • Bold should not be used for emphasis in prose.
  • The first letter of most in-game subjects should be Capitalised. The in-game capitalisation of words should always be followed. In case of words written in-game as all caps, follow the style of similar titles.
  • The use of whitespace, either between paragraphs or as indents, helps to break up large walls of text and make things easier to scan through quickly.
  • Avoid (parentheses)/slashes. Reword sentences so they are not used. Most parentheses can be replaced with commas, and most slashes with the word "or".
  • Avoid abbreviations. They look unprofessional, and may not be understood by all readers. The obvious exception is abbreviations used as names within the game itself, such as FBI, SWAT, STAG, Wesley Cutter Intl, etc.

Spelling[]

See also: Saints Row Wiki:Manual of Style#Language
  • The spelling of game related words should always match the in-game spelling. Example: "Neighborhoods" are an in-game concept which are spelled with a capital N and no "u".

The writers of paragraphs are free to use their own regional spelling. While valid spellchecking for misspelled words is welcome, valid regional spellings should not be changed if the original paragraph is not substantially changed. Feel free to write a paragraph of your own and use your own regional spelling.

Titles[]

Article titles should match in-game capitalisation and spelling. Pluralization of the title should match the in-game text. Example: "Hand Grenade" v "Hand Grenades". This may create awkward links, but it is acceptable to create redirects for the singular term of titles.

Where there are multiple options for the title of an article, the name they are most well known as should be the name of the article.

  • If a character's last name is known, but they are generally only known by their first name, the first name should be used.
    • Case in point: Pierce's last name is Washington, but he is almost always referred to as Pierce, whereas Johnny Gat is commonly referred to by his full name.
  • Spelling and punctuation used in Map, Garage lists, Weapons Cache and Store list titles for all subjects will be used above any other possible titles.

Element Order[]

  • Infobox template or Lead image, if no infobox
  • Intro
  • Disambiguation, if necessary
  • Lead quote, if necessary
  • Overview (formerly "Description")
  • Biography (for characters)
  • Gameplay (for missions)
  • (Other headings, varys between articles)
  • Tips (optional)
  • Trivia
  • Quotes/Transcript
  • Gallery
  • References
  • Navigation boxes
  • Rating template

Headings[]

Headings should be as short as possible, and should not contain punctuation or styling
One word is best, if possible. Try to use headings which are used in similar articles, rather than making up new headings.

Default headings in the New Page layout are section which all articles should have, and as such should be left in new articles, even if they are currently empty. These headings are Trivia, Gallery and References. However, other empty headings should not be added to articles, unless you are planning on adding information to those sections immediately.

  • "See also" should be avoided. If there are similar topics, they should be mentioned in prose as being similar.
  • "Mission appearances" should not be used. The subjects's involvement in each mission should be written as prose in the overview section, and include a reference to each mission. This is much more useful than simply listing that the character appears in a mission.

Infoboxes[]

While infoboxes are used as a standardized way to quickly reference information, they are not a replacement for adding information to the body of the article.

All details mentioned in infoboxes should be expanded upon elsewhere in the article.

For example, in character articles, vehicles driven by that character should be mentioned in the article, with full details about when they drive the vehicle.

Introduction[]

The introduction is not a summary, it is a single sentence communicating exactly what the article is about.

The introduction should state the name of the article, the categorisation of the subject, and games in which the subject appears.

Think of it as an answer to the question "What is this subject?", to answer this question, you would give a statement about what it is and where it appears, not a detailed paragraph about the subject. If the readers wants to know more, they can move on to the Overview section and the rest of the article.

  • The intro should be as concise as possible, and should specify exactly what the article is about, so there is no confusion.
  • The intro should link to the games in which the subject appears, so the reader immediately knows if the article applies to them.
  • The word "feature" should be avoided, as it is a general term, use specific category keywords such as Activity, Mission, Vehicle, Weapon, Character, etc

Disambiguation[]

Disambiguation lines, such as "did you mean" links to other articles, should appear under the intro.
The reason for this is because it makes no sense to offer an alternative before introducing the current article.

Overview[]

The first line of the overview section should be important details about the subject not covered by the intro line.

In character articles, overview section should be used for a general overview of the character, which may include a physical description, in addition to a history section, which outlines their history and their position at the beginning of the game; and a biography section, which outlines their involvement in the events in the game.

Every fact about a character should be referenced with a mission or cutscene name, with the exception of the physical description, which should match any images in the article. Images should be used as references for non-obvious features, such as tattoos which can only be seen in certain views.

Gang and character articles should remain focused on the subject at hand. Gangs should be an overview of the gang's activities, not what individual gang members do. For character articles, events unrelated to that character should be omitted.

Tips[]

The Tips section is optional, and should only include specific tips which may not be obvious and greatly aid completion.

General tips belong on Tips, only tips specific to the subject should be used in articles.
For instance: "Repair your vehicle if it gets damaged" is common sense and not a worthwhile tip in an article.

Trivia[]

Certain measures should be taken when pages start to gather increasingly long trivia sections, particularly for character pages:

  • Character studies and personal observations about traits and behaviour should be reworded and moved to an "Overview" subsection such as "Personality", rather than the "Trivia" sections.
  • Character pages that have a lot of trivia should be arranged by games, with subheadings. For an example, see Johnny Gat#Trivia.
  • Where possible, related trivia should be grouped together.
  • Do not add speculation without good reason and presenting clear facts. For more information, see Saints Row Wiki:Manual of Style#Opinions.
Quotes do not belong in the Trivia section.

Any quotes in the Trivia section should be moved to a Quotes section, and use the quote tag. This includes all "(Character) may say..." quotes.[1]

See also Saints Row Wiki:Notability

Quotes[]

Most pages, especially character and mission pages, should include a Quotes section. Only use a quote before the TOC if it is a defining quote about the subject.

Quotes should always state when the quote occurs. If it is in a mission, it is sufficient to name the mission. If it is some form of random dialogue independent of missions, the conditions should be stated. For example "Shaundi, after running over a pedestrian".

Quotes should be included exactly as they appear in the game's subtitles. Any mispellings should be preserved, and marked with {{sic}}.

Mission objectives should be included exactly as they appear in the on-screen text. Target words listed in colour should be made bold in infoboxes, and use {{color}} in articles.

Per the Top 10 list:Quotes or Trivia poll, the Quotes/Transcript section should be below the Trivia section. The reason for this is that there is more likely to be useful information in the Trivia, and the Quotes/Transcript section is likely to be longer.

Gallery[]

{{gallery}} should be used for all galleries.

References[]

References should be used as often as possible, especially on character pages, to be used to link each event with the mission name.

  • Example: While it is possible to write "In Mission72, Bob told Alice to meet with Carol", it reads better to say "Bob told Alice to meet with Carol", with a reference to Mission72.

Using references/citations in this way allows easy fact-checking by anyone, as they know which mission to go to to double-check everything is correct.

{{cite}} tags should be placed next to any facts which require citations, either mission citations, or otherwise. Fact tags should not be removed without adding a reference.

Facts which are referenced with links to videos, articles or interviews should link to the primary source of the information, not to a blog or other secondary source.

Generally, anything which is quoted from the video or interview should not be altered, and any specific facts which are stated in the video or interview should not be changed without an alternate source. In any case, new information should be added as an addition to the article, instead of a replacement.

When editing sections containing references, ensure that the changes match the cited source. If the changes do not match the citated source, they should be included afterwards, with a citation given for the new information.

All events should be accompanied with a reference to the mission or cutscene in which the event occurred or was learned.

When multiple consecutive facts are mentioned in the same mission, it is acceptable to include the reference at the end of the paragraph. If a paragraph contains facts mentioned in multiple missions, a reference should be included after each fact. In cases where various facts from the same mission are interspersed with facts from other missions, references to the same mission should be used for each fact, or the paragraph rewritten so related facts are together.

In most cases, cited information should never be removed.

  • Most articles created before a game's release should have a citation to where that information was learned. "the game has been released" is not a sufficient reason to remove these references.
  • Citations for information acquired before the release of a game should be reworded to describe that the subject was first known through a pre-release source.
  • Pre-release "proof" references may be replaced by screenshots, with the references repurposed as "first revealed" references in the trivia section.

References naming another article subject, particularly missions, should contain a link to that article.

In most cases, references should be used in favour of mentioning the source in prose. Mentioning things shown in missions or trailers, should always use a reference linking to the mission or trailer, instead of just naming the trailer in the article.

Where there has questionable information which has since been confirmed, such as information which has been marked by a {{cite}} tag, or questioned on the talk page, a reference should be added indicating that the statement is true, and linking to the talk page where a discussion about the confirmation has occurred. In most cases, specific additional information should be added to the article for clarification.

Linking[]

All mentions of a subject in an article should link to an article about that subject.

  • Where the subject is mentioned multiple times in the same paragraph, only the first mention should be linked.
  • In a later paragraph in the same article, the subject can be linked again, so that readers do not have to scroll up to find the first link on the page.
  • If a valid subject does not yet have an article, it should be linked. If the subject does not require a dedicated article, a redirect may be created to a related topic. If the subject is only related to the current article, the link may be removed.

When linking to general topics, such as vehicles or weapons, it is acceptable to link to either the category of that name, or the related page for that game

When linking to names which are disambiguation pages with multiple articles, it is best to link to the specific page, but is permissible to link to the disambiguation page is the term is used in a way that refers to both. Referencing to the events of the Stilwater Caverns stronghold, while not referring specifically to actually to the Stronghold mission itself may link to the disambiguation redirect.

Avoid piped links wherever possible

  • Keep links simple, at all costs.
  • Do not link to mission names with unrelated prose. Instead, add the mission name as a reference
    • Do not use [[Three Way|the previous mission]], as this is bad for Search Engine Optimisation.
  • Punctuation goes outside of links.
  • Do not use valid alternate names in piped links, use redirects instead - that's why they exist. In-game alternate names should be used at appropriate times, such as unlockables which are referred to by a different name on the unlock screen.
  • When linking to character names, it's is acceptable to link to either the first or last name of the character, where appropriate, and the redirect should be used when linking so that it can easily be determined which name is used more frequently.
  • If subjects have alternate names, redirects should be created with those names. This will help provide meaningful search results.

See also: Saints Row Wiki:Redirects

Exceptions

  • Links with disambiguating titles may use piped links
    • Example: [[Downtown (Stilwater)|Downtown]]
  • Linking to a "in Saints Row X" article
    • Example: [[Unlockables in Saints Row 2|Unlockable]]
  • Linking to a section.

However, when linking to [[Sad Panda (vehicle)|Sad Panda]] vehicle or similar, the category word should not be part of the link, because it is not part of the name. This also applies to [[Downtown (Stilwater)|Downtown]] District

There are many other exceptions. Ultimately, the question is:

Does this link need a pipe? Can the link exist without a pipe?

External links[]

The purpose of external links should be to provide supporting evidence, not to encourage the reader to go to that site.

While it is encouraged to link to wikipedia, other wikis or websites for more information on things outside the Saints Row Universe, spamming links to other sites is not welcome.

A link should never say "Go to blah for more information". All relevant information should be stated in the article, and a link given to that site, preferably as a reference when not linking to wikipedia or wiki dedicated to that subject.

Do not write "Go to wikipedia to find out the definition of a Rim Job". Instead give the definition of a Rim Job, and make the word "Rim Job" link to the wikipedia article on Rim Jobs.

In the case of news, press releases are preferred, because gaming news sites often publish information given in press releases as if performed an interview themselves. This is plagiarism, and we should not support it by linking to these sites.

Do not write "On April 1st, this was posted: <link>". Instead, state the revealed information, and use the press release or interview as a reference.

Images[]

Any image related to the subject may be added

  • Promo images
  • Screenshots
  • Extracted game images
  • Images from modded games, only if showing something in the original game.

See Saints Row Wiki:File Policies for more information about Files, Filenames and Images.

Requesting images[]

Articles which need images, such as a vehicle which has screenshots from Saints Row 2 but none from Saints Row, should be marked with {{image}}, including details of what is needed.

References[]

  1. The reason for using the quote template is so that it can easily be seen which quotes need audio files uploaded. Hiding quotes in the trivia section without the quote template is detrimental
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