Mass Effect Fanon:Manual of Style

The Mass Effect Fanon wiki's Manual of Style requires that all articles follow the rules stated below. This official policy acts as a guide to ensure that all articles are uniform with certain encyclopedic standards. Most of the rules are required unless otherwise noted.

In-universe
All in-universe articles should be structured as follows:


 * 1) Title
 * 2) Introduction
 * 3) Biography
 * 4) Behind the scenes
 * 5) Appearances
 * 6) See also
 * 7) External links
 * 8) Categories

Note: An article will not always have all of the sections, nor is it required for an article to do so.

Out-of-universe articles

 * 1) Title
 * 2) Introduction
 * 3) Publisher's/Author's summary
 * 4) Plot summary
 * 5) Excerpts (optional)
 * 6) Chapters/Segments
 * 7) Appearances
 * 8) Behind the scenes
 * 9) Cover gallery
 * 10) See also
 * 11) External links
 * 12) Categories

Note: This list is more flexible than the in-universe articles, as it applies to articles about fan fictions, reference guides, and other fan works and non-in-universe subjects. It does not refer to out-of-universe people.

In-universe
"In-universe" applies to material belonging to the Mass Effect universe. For example, a character in a fan film or novel is in-universe, as it is part of the story of Mass Effect. Some out-of-universe terms are also inappropriate in-universe. For example, the year system in which people use in the Mass Effect series is called BCE/CE, not BC/AD. All in-universe content must be written in the historical past tense with a third-person perspective. This is used to give the wiki a more professional look and feel.

Out-of-universe
"Out-of-universe" applies to material that belongs to the real world as opposed to the in-universe world, meaning it is written with a real-life perspective. Such material includes, but is not limited to, voice actors, authors, developers, franchises, series’, books, and other articles and materials that would acknowledge a subject is fictional.

Out-of-universe articles use both present and past tense. For an article's synopsis of a fan fiction piece, or other such fan works, present tense would be used, treating the story as if it was currently ongoing. For example, a synopsis would say "Shepard walks to Councilor Anderson's office," as opposed to "Shepard walked to Councilor Anderson's office." Information about a work's development, namely the history of how that work came to be, need to be written in the past tense.

Point of view
All articles are to be written with a neutral point of view, meaning that views, facts, and other relevant types of information about the subject are represented fairly and without bias. An example of a POV article would be "Shepard's Quest is the greatest story in the world!" This is POV because the statement is a personal opinion. Both in-universe and out-of-universe articles, as well as article templates and categories need to follow this. It is an important principle when attempting to maintain an encyclopedic atmosphere.

The easiest way to know whether something requires a neutral point of view is to determine whether the piece of information in question could have multiple opinions, both in and out-of-universe, that need to be presented, but not asserted. All significant points of view are presented as opposed to simply the most popular one, and the most popular view or an intermediate view should not be asserted to be correct. This does not, however, mean that the article cannot inform the reader which view was more popular in-universe (or out-of-universe, depending on the context). It simply means that the article should not assert that the most popular one is the correct one. Readers need to be left to form their own opinions.

It is important to note that a neutral point of view is still a point of view, simply one that does not agree or disagree with a particular claim, or other relevant piece of information. Because of this, a neutral point of view should not be confused with a total lack of or elimination of point of view.

Headings
"Heading" refers to the sections found within an article. They are created using the equal sign in order to generate larger names with either a solid gray line or simply large black letters, depending on the amount of equal signs used. To make a heading, use the  code (the number of equal signs may vary depending on the specific section) rather than the bold markup. For example:

If headings are marked in that way, a table of contents will automatically be generated from all of the headings in the article depending on the amount of headings that are provided. Sections will be automatically numbered in the table of contents for users with that preference set, and words within properly marked headings will be given greater weight in searches. Headings also help readers by breaking up the text and outlining the article in an organized fashion.

Only the first letter of the first word of a heading title and proper nouns in a heading are to be capitalized, with all other letters remaining lower case. Furthermore, links are not to be used in headings. Overuse of sub-headings should also be avoided.

Spelling
While we acknowledge that the readers and editors of this wiki speak many varieties of the English language, this wiki mandates standard American English spelling, grammar, punctuation, and word usage. The reason for this is not bias towards an American standard, but rather because this is the variety of English used in the first printings of most canon primary sources.

If the title of an article differs in different varieties of English, the American title should be the article title, with alternate names being used as redirects,

It is certainly the hope of the users of this wiki that all who want to contribute here have the opportunity to do so, but at the same time we must make it clear that this is the English Mass Effect Fanon Wiki. If English is not your primary language and/or you have trouble speaking the English language, you could consider | creating a Mass Effect Fanon in your language.

Ranks and titles
A rank's name is not to be capitalized if it refers to the rank, not a person. For example "Anderson was a well-known captain" is correct, whereas "Anderson was a well-known Captain" is not.

If the word refers to a person, it should be in capitals. For example, "As an experienced leader, Captain Anderson led a great crew."

Numbers & Measurements
Numbers should be expressed as simply as possible. While the administration will provide some leeway as to how that guideline is interpreted, assume that there is a possiblity that someone with poor eyesight might read your article. For this hypothetical person, it would be simpler to read 6 million rather than 6,000,000. On the other hand, if the number in question has a lot of digits and very few zeroes, it might be simpler to present it in numerals. The administration reserves the right to decide the simplest way to present a number.

Measurements should be expressed in either US customary or SI units. When presented in an infobox, they should be abbreviated (for instance, if a character is 5 feet, 6 inches tall, that height should be expressed as 5'6".) If presented in the body of an article, the unit may be written out or abbreviated.

Trivia sections
While we are aware that some people like to create "trivia" sections in their article, it is the policy of this wiki that they should be used sparingly.

Categorization
Fan fiction segments, as defined above, are required to be placed into Fan-work segments or their own story-specific chapter category. This is to ensure ease of organization and navigation in finding chapters. For example, if a novel is titled The Last Commander, the segments/chapters would belong in "Category:Chapters of The Last Commander."

Furthermore, it should be noted that novels, novellas, and short stories are required to be at least 40,000, 7,500, and 1,000 words long, respectively, in narrative content in order for their articles, as distinguished from narrative segments above, to be categorized as such.

Manual of Style help
Following these guidelines may seem like a hard task for users who are new to wikis and the encyclopedic format. We understand that, and it is perfectly normal that some people may be confused. To ease this confusion, the community is more than willing to help anyone who needs it and asks for it. That last point, asking for it, is very important, because we have no way of knowing if you want help unless you seek it.

Never be afraid to seek help from anyone and everyone with your articles here on Mass Effect Fanon!