Sandman Wiki:Manual of Style

The Sandman Wiki: Manual of Style sets forth the format to be followed for writing, titles, articles, and linking. This page is especially useful for first-time editors of Sandman Wiki. Please keep in mind, that respect for your fellow users is paramount here. Don't be overtly negative about the efforts of others, just do your best to improve content where possible.

Grammar, Spelling, and Punctuation

 * Proper spelling is essential! When editing, be mindful of spelling mistakes and typographical errors made by contributors, if any are discovered, please correct them. Similarly, if you are unsure of how to spell a word, it is worth looking it up (dictionary.com) to determine the correct spelling before posting your edit. Proper English must be used at all times; and a neutral point of view maintained. Think of each article as an encyclopedia entry, your personal opinion is not required, only the facts.
 * Grammar and flow are important in each article. Bad grammar detracts from the message you are trying to get across. Good grammar means writing so that your choice of words is understandable and follows the basic rules of sentence construction, punctuation, and spelling. Maintaining a neutral and formal voice throughout each article is desirable. Slang, profanity, stream of consciousness, and patchwork editing are undesirable.
 * Proper punctuation is a must. It's one thing to say, "Let's eat, Grandma!" It is a completely different thing to say "Let's eat Grandma!"

Page Names

 * Title Case should be used in all page names; capitalization of the first letter of each word excepting internal prepositions.
 * All Character pages will be filed by the first name, NOT in biographical format, there are too many characters with only one name to make a biographical format practical, therefore Edwin Paine rather than Paine, Edwin.
 * Issue names are to be written in title case, the first word and the principal words are capitalized. Prepositions within the title such as in, on, the, at, or conjunctions such as, and, or, are written with lowercase letters. Never use all caps for a page title.

Linking
Linking to a character page on this wiki is seen in source code as double brackets. Example: Dream. '''If you are going to link to a page, make sure it exists. If it does not, create the page! Links to no where are to be avoided. '''

Images

 * Pictures used on character pages should be from official sources. Do not use cosplay images.
 * If you find a clearer or more accurate picture than the one already in place, it can be replaced by simply upload a new image to that file name instead of creating a new file name. This will eliminate the increase in unused images on this wiki.
 * Do not overuse images where they may be unnecessary. Stub articles, for instance, only require one image. For longer articles, it may be desirable to use multiple images. Do not be overzealous, however, and please consider the purpose of each image.
 * Do not stack images. If more than one image is to be used for an article, make sure they are staggered from a left-to-right orientation alternately, images should not be stacked one atop the next.
 * Naming images is important. Try to use a short filename when uploading; perhaps citing both the image content and the issue or story arc and only upload relevant and high-quality images to the wiki.
 * When sizing images for an article, 250 pixels will be more than adequate for most purposes. You can input this by entering the size in the source code view on the article editor. Simply replace "XXXpx" with a suitable number. No image really needs to be more than 280px.
 * Attribution. When images are uploaded, an attribution should be specified. This can be done by clicking on "More Options" within the upload window and selecting one of the options.

New Article
When creating a new article for this wiki, please make sure you are writing it and not simply cutting and pasting someone else's work. There are certain things you should include to make your article the best it can be.
 * Link from - An article that doesn't contain any links is known here as a "Dead link" page. This means that after reading it, the reader has nowhere else to go. To solve this try to include links to relative articles in yours, e.g. if you mention another character, link to the character; if you mention a location such as The Dreaming, link to that page
 * Links to - Articles that have nothing linking to them are called "Orphaned pages," such pages are less likely to be read. To avoid this, create links in RELATED articles such as a relevant artist, location, or minor character pages.
 * Links to nowhere – Linking pages is desirable, linking to a page not yet written is not. Creating a dead link is pointless, if you feel a person, place, or thing in a given article deserves a link but the page does not yet exist, create the page, don't simply link to nothing, and hope someone else will do the work.
 * Categories - Every Article or Page must have at least one Category. If in doubt of which category to use, examine similar page(s) to see the categories that have been used.

Layout
An infobox should accompany each character and each publication article. Since publications are here collected as graphic novels, there is no need to enter each issue individually.


 * Infobox
 * Fill in as many data areas as possible, the image included should be a good quality. The accompanying image should be no more than 800px wide.
 * Intro
 * A short descriptive paragraph intended to introduce the topic. This intro should follow immediately after the infobox so that it is positioned correctly on the rendered article.
 * Synopsis
 * A short summary of the plot or biography depending on which type of article it is.