HRWiki:Standards

From Homestar Runner Wiki

Revision as of 04:44, 28 August 2005

This page describes the standards currently accepted for page formatting and composition by the HRWiki community. Please try to follow these standards when creating and editing pages.

General

A few guidelines that it is wise to follow when creating and editing wiki pages:

Always use the Summary box

When editing pages, always fill in the "Summary" box above the Save/Preview buttons before saving, and make sure that you fill it in with something useful describing the edit you made and, if it's not obvious, why. For example, "fixed spelling error" or "added fun fact" or "reverted from troll 127.0.0.1" are all acceptable. Saying "made some changes" or just filling in the name of the page is not helpful, because it's information that we already have. Making your Summaries accurate and useful makes it vastly easier for the rest of us to keep track of Recent Changes and keeps everybody happy.

Use the Minor Edit button appropriately

As a corollary to the above, if you're making a minor edit (e.g. fixing a spelling error or tweaking formatting), check the "This is a minor edit" button below the Summary box before saving the page. On the other hand, if you're making an addition, deletion, or other edit that changes the substance of a page (even if it's just a few words), do not mark the edit as minor. Again, this will make things easier for the rest of us.

Don't link to the current page

In other words, a page should not link to itself. If you're bored, check out the Maintenance page for a list of pages which link to themselves and delete some self links. (Note that most of the pages listed there are actually just stubs with a link to edit the current page. This variety of self-link is OK but feel free to expand upon these articles and remove the stub tag.)

Link once

A given article should only contain one link to any other page. If a page links to Strong Bad in one place, then that should be the only link to Strong Bad on that page. Typically this link should be the first instance of the term in the article. Long tables and lists, however, can contain a link at every instance.

Don't use conversational style

This is an information site. It should read like Wikipedia, not like your diary.

• Check your spelling and grammar. Don't use Internet slang (ex. "How r u?" or "c u 2nite"). If you're not 100% sure about the way a word is spelled, type it into Google or Dictionary.com. If you know that you're not the strongest speller, compose your edits in a word processor like Microsoft Word that has spell-checking built in.
• Easter Eggs and Fun Facts should be written as statements, not questions. If you're not sure about a fun fact, you can use language like "may" or "could be" to indicate ambiguity; however, unsure and unsubstantiated fun facts are usually quickly deleted.
• Don't use "smileys" or "emoticons".
• Don't "reply" to content others have posted. If you think a particular point warrants discussion, post on the article's Discussion page. If you're 100% sure that something should be changed and don't think a discussion is necessary, just change it. Dialogue goes only on articles' Discussion pages or the forum.
• Don't leave notes or instructions to future editors like "Add more information here if you find it". Again, use the article's Discussion page if you want to communicate with other editors.
• Never abbreviate the names of characters, toons, or things on the site (e.g. The KoT or SBEmails). Wherever possible, use the full name of a character the first time they are mentioned. After the first mention, you may refer to "The King of Town" as "the king" or "Homestar Runner" as "Homestar" and so forth.
  • An exception to this rule is the bolded character attributions in transcripts, which should always contain the full name of the character speaking.

Don't sign your edits

All contributions are appreciated, but if every user left their mark on every contribution they made, the wiki would be nothing but signatures. If you've made an edit that you're particularly proud of (such as a transcript or screenshot), the correct place to take credit is on your own user page. If you do not have a user account, we respect your anonymity, but your edits will remain anonymous, too.

Do sign your Talk posts

If you make a post on a discussion page, please sign it. If you have a user account, this is as easy as typing ~~~~ at the end of your post. If you don't have a user account, just sign it with your name or nickname so everybody can tell who's who when reading long conversations. Even better, create an account anyway and use the signature method described. There really is no reason not to if you're going to stick around. Also, please try to keep discussions on the one talk page, not moving it to another talk page and replying.

Toons

The basic format for Toons pages looks like this:

[[Image:<name of toon>_screenshot.png|thumb|Caption for image.]]

A short summary of the Toon's premise followed by the cast
listing.

'''Cast (in order of appearance):''' [[Homestar Runner]],
[[The Cheat]]

'''Places:''' [[Strongbadia]], [[Place]]

'''Date:''' When the toon was released

'''Running Time:''' The toon's length (by minutes)

'''Page Title:''' What appears in the browser's titlebar

== Transcript ==
''{A brief description of the scene.}''

'''CHARACTER A:''' What Character A said.

'''CHARACTER B:''' ''{singing}'' What Character B sang.

''{Cut to some other scene.}''

== Easter Eggs ==
*A bulleted list
*Of all of the toon's Easter eggs

== Fun Facts ==
===Explanations===
*A bulleted list
*Of fun facts about the toon
===Trivia===
*Be sure to keep
===Et cetera===
*Facts in the proper subcategories
*And only use the ones you need
*(See below)

== External Links ==
*[[HR:filename.html|watch "<Name of Toon>"]]
*[[HR:filename.swf|view the Flash file for "<Name of Toon>"]]
*[[Forum:###|forum thread re: "<Name of Toon>"]]

[[Category:Toons]][[Category:Character A Filmography]]
[[Category:Character B Filmography]]

Screenshot

In most cases this should be a PNG image uploaded to the wiki via the Upload file page. It should be optimized for the web and its size should not exceed 100 kilobytes. Its dimensions should be approximately the same size as on the official site and never exceeding 600 pixels in width. JPEG format is generally only desirable for "live action" toons such as Puppet Stuff, and GIF and BMP formats are never desirable. When uploading the file, be sure to give it a meaningful name which describes its content and more importantly, its use on the wiki, as in the example above. "homestar_with_a_hat.png" is not meaningful. "dangeresque_3_screenshot.png" is more meaningful.

Summary

The summary section generally contains at most three things: a short synopsis, a list of the cast, and, if applicable, the page title.

The synopsis should be a brief description of the premise of the toon. It is not necessary to describe the entire plot of the toon or give away the ending, and the synopsis should only be a couple sentences long.

The cast list should take the following form:

'''Cast (in order of appearance):''' [[Character A]],
[[Character B]], [[Character C]] (Easter egg)

Note that everything between (and including) "Cast" and the colon (:) is between the bold markers, and each character's name is separated by a comma and a space. The characters should be listed in the order in which they appear in the toon. If a character appears only in an Easter egg, then denote this as above, with the words "Easter egg" in parentheses. The list of places should be presented in the same manner.

Often it is preferable to link to the characters or places in the cast or place list but not in the synopsis, so as to keep the cast or place list consistent and so as to follow the Link Once rule.

Finally, if the page on which the toon appears has an interesting title, denote it after the running time like so:

'''Page Title:''' A Funny Page Title

The page title is found in the titlebar at the very top of your Web browser window, usually next to the name of the browser, e.g. "A Funny Page Title - Mozilla Firefox" or "A Funny Page Title - Microsoft Internet Explorer".

Transcript

A transcript is a detailed account of a toon's dialogue and action. Its basic format is this:

''{A brief description of the scene.}''

'''CHARACTER A:''' Something witty.

'''CHARACTER B:''' ''{singing}'' Something melodious.

''{Cut to some other scene.}''

As you can see, a line of dialogue begins with the character's name in upper case followed by a colon, all of which is bold. This is followed by a space and then what the character said. When different characters are speaking their dialogue should be separated by a blank line.

If a character does something while speaking a line of dialogue, or if more description is needed for their manner of speaking or inflection (e.g. if they're singing or whispering) the action (if it is not too long to describe in a few words) can be enclosed in curly braces — { } — and made italic, like this: {goes to the refrigerator}. Note that the curly braces themselves are also italic. Short actions like these do not need to be proper sentences.

If there is a scene change or major action (which takes more than a few words to describe), it should be separated from the dialogue by a blank line above and below, and in this case complete sentences and proper capitalization and punctuation are desirable.

There is a special case for Strong Bad Emails. When Strong Bad is reading an email on his screen, its text should be enclosed in <blockquote></blockquote> tags like so:

<blockquote class="email">
<div>subject: bored...</div>
Dear Strongbad,<br />
Does it ever get boring where you live? Right now I am<br />
bored out of my mind.<br />
<br />
With lots of crap,<br />
Callie, Lake Jackson, TX
</blockquote>

The email should be formatted as it appears on Strong Bad's screen, with line breaks, etc. in the same places. If Strong Bad is using his Tandy 400, use <blockquote class="tandy email"> instead of <blockquote class="email">.

Links in transcripts should be limited. There should never be links in dialogue or email sections. Links in annotations between curly braces are not prohibited, but should also be kept to a minimum.

Easter Eggs

An Easter egg (or just "egg" for short) is a secret part of a toon that can only be accessed by performing a particular action (e.g. clicking on a particular word or object) during a toon. Things that happen if you wait awhile after the toon has "ended" are not considered Easter eggs, but rather are noted at the end of the transcript.

Easter eggs should be listed in chronological order (that is, the order in which they are accessible in the toon).

Fun Facts

A fun fact is anything about a toon that is unique or out of the ordinary. Some examples include:

• Something that makes reference to a previous toon or feature on the site.
• Something that makes reference to something in popular culture, e.g. a band, a television show, or word history.

It is difficult to define everything that a fun fact could be. A fun fact might appear in the form of a bit of dialogue, an object in the background of a toon, a graphic or a musical riff.

What fun facts are not is obvious. If something is obvious to 95% of the audience (including first-time viewers), then it is not a fun fact. If a fun fact is questionably fun, or questionably factual, please see HRWiki:STUFF for instructions. Also, the fact must be relevant to the article in question; if the only connection to the article is extremely tenuous, or nonexistent, then the fact is likely to be removed or STUFFed.

When posting fun facts, please refer to the General rules above, particularly the prohibition on conversational style, and place all fun facts at the bottom of the list, please.

Toons should be split into the following categories:

Explanations

If a plot element or joke is very obscure, an explanation might be necessary. This should not explain every single joke, should not explain anything even remotely obvious, and should not include direct references (which have their own subcategories).

Trivia

Facts in this category include trivia about the toon, such as the first time an event happens or verified details about the production of a toon. These are generally more "nitty-gritty" than the facts in the Remarks section.

Remarks

Can be viewed as the "miscellaneous" subcategory. This includes facts that are not direct references, not explanations, not mistakes, and don't really belong in Trivia, but are still notable enough to be added. These include non-obvious "did you notice?" plot details (that are not noted in the transcript) and general comments about the characters and locations in the toon. Some facts can fit under both Trivia and Remarks; it is up to the writer's preference where the fact is more appropriate. (But no fact should appear more than once.)

Goofs

The Brothers Chaps are not perfect. Sometimes, they make mistakes. If there is a plot or continuity error, or if things mysteriously vanish or appear (and it's not obviously intentional or due to a Glitch), then it can go into the Goofs section. (Please do not add anything to the Goofs section if it was clearly intentional as part of a joke.)

Glitches

Similar to Goofs, but limited to mistakes in the Flash software. NOTE: Flash byproducts are NOT allowed, unless they note something humorous or extra. A Flash byproduct is something odd or strange in an .swf version of a toon. This can include missing parts of characters, different things "outside the wall", etc. (See The FAQ for more information).

Inside References

An Inside Reference is when a toon makes a clear reference to a previous Homestar Runner cartoon. A repeated line of dialogue or the return of a non-regular character count as Inside References.

Note: For references, please only add the fact if you are CERTAIN that is a direct reference to exactly what you add. If there's any reasonable doubt, or it's a reference to "(this) and (this) and (this other thing) and (lots of other similar things)", please add it to the Talk page or the STUFF page before adding it to the article.

Real-World References

This is when a toon makes a clear reference to something outside the Homestar Runner universe that took place before the creation of the toon in question. Celebrities, commercial products, famous quotes, and so forth can be Real-World References.

(See note in Inside References.)

Fast Forward

Also known as "Forward Referencing", a fact in the Fast Forward category is something of significance in the toon that is re-used later on, either in a later Homestar cartoon or in the real world (for the latter, also see Sightings).

External Links

External links are links that point to sites other than HRWiki. The links should be in the form of a bulleted list. Most toons have two links, one which links directly to the toon (usually ending in .html) and one which links directly to the Flash file (.swf). If there is currently a discussion taking place in the Forum concerning a toon you may create a third external link pointing to the forum thread. External links typically look like this:

*[[HR:filename.html|watch "<Name of Toon>"]]
*[[HR:filename.swf|view the Flash file for "<Name of Toon>"]]
*[[Forum:###|forum thread re: "<Name of Toon>"]]

Note that links to toons always read "watch <Name of Toon>", links to Flash files always say "view the Flash file for <Name of Toon>", and forum thread links always say "forum thread re: <Name of Toon>". Note that ### in the Forum interwiki link should be replaced by the thread number, found in the url for the thread (http://forum.hrwiki.org/viewtopic.php?t=###).