DigimonWiki talk:Manual of Style

Standardization (Lanate)
Actually, I only double-cited because I wasn't sure which one should take precedence - Next technically showed the evolution first, but then again, the anime is the main pillar of the franchise.

Would you agree to prioritizing by anime, then manga, then cards (special ones, like the win ratio), then storyline videogame evolutions? Or some other order?

For duplicate refs:
 * I use . The anime seasons are 1 through 5 (or X), while the manga are V, C, D, and N. I'm doing it overkill for right now, and will trim it back down later where it is not needed. For movies, the episode part would be M1 or M2, depending on whether it is the first or second movie, but really, that's just my own personal system.

I can also agree to do the full names; I used them originally on wiki because most readers would only recognize the nickname. However, anyone on this wiki should be expected to spend the time to read about the real names.

Finally - for listing other Digimon, instead of linking to the lists, I'd like to try to standardize that the Digimon's species always links to the species article, and then characters are given "Species (Media)" as the article title, like Teletraan does. That way, for lists, we can just type something like Agumon.

Instead of cluttering the reflist with the japanese attacks, we can use the nihongo template:
 * Dancing Leaves (木の葉乱舞)

gives
 * Dancing Leaves (木の葉乱舞)

KrytenKoro 06:28, 20 May 2008 (UTC)

If the dub name is reasonably close to the literal translation, the final input is unnecessary. Also, if the only given name is still in Japanese or chinese, like Ravemon's sword, skip the romaji section like so:
 * Chououmaru (『鳥王丸』)

KrytenKoro 06:35, 20 May 2008 (UTC)

Finally, I try not to use  unless there is truly a section issue, like how Agumon divides it's evolutions between Original, X, and New forms. With most uses in the infobox, it is unnecessary, as word wrap will do the job for us. If br is used, I tend to remove the spaces before and after it.KrytenKoro 07:06, 20 May 2008 (UTC)


 * Okay, I can see how commas would be insufficient in Vmon's case. How about the following, and mark which ones you have comments to make on. We should also try to run this by the other major editors, and perhaps make it an add-on or replacement for the MoS.


 * 1) Anime takes priority in lists, then manga, then games, then cards. Similarly, the dub always takes precedence, though if there is a significant difference between the English and Japanese version (like the ages in adventure), it needs to be mentioned.
 * 2) Japanese and English differences in infoboxes are separated with (Ja:) and (En:), with commas between the criteria (such as voice actors) in one section, and  between Ja and En. Ja is listed first, as it came first. Voice Actors, for example, are listed under language, then with the season in parentheses.
 * 3) Digivolution is cited to the first instance of the evolution, as determined by #1.
 * 4) Species are split into individual articles, while characters are named by "Species (Season)", regardless of duplicates.
 * 5) Human characters are named by their full names, with their nickname in quotations between given and sur names. T.K. and J.P. should not have spaces between their initials.
 * 6) Species articles (not characters) should illustrate the origin of the character's name and design, using both the obvious (Gato is spanish for cat), and any creator interview info we can get a hold of. Character's are just said to be "A Gatomon", and all the general species info is left for the other page.
 * 7) General MOS: No space between the "==" and the text of a header, but space before the "|" of an infobox, and after the "*" of a list. Single space after a period, and no extra spacing in the entries of an infobox.
 * 8) Use Nihongo template for all Japanese characters, unless they are used purely for pictographic representation. Format is Dancing Leaves (木の葉乱舞)
 * 9) If dub translation is reasonably close to the literal translation, omit the "lit." input. If the dub or available translation is simply a Japanese word (esp. in cases where an attack is in janji, not kana), omit the Romaji input.
 * 10) Sources for attacks need to be given, at the least in comments. Attacks should be listed under "Special Attacks/Techniques" and "Normal Attacks/Techniques", as differentiated on DVR and the manga; attack sections should be headed like Normal Attacks.
 * 11) In a species article, if a character appeared in a movie but not a season, the movie title header is included as part of the season header. So, instead of ===Digimon Tamers=== and ====Battle of Adventurers====, it is just ===Digimon Tamers: Battle of Adventurers===.
 * 12) Character articles should preferably be of the format given in List of characters in Digimon Tamers, with tamer and partner in one "main" link, and then organized by world, then group.
 * 13) All links to wikipedia articles should be rerouted to wikipedia, unless they are silly ones like 1986, in which case they should be de-linked.
 * 14) We should try to use the white-background toie images where possible, and then card or bandai images (unedited). I don't know if we should encourage fan-recolors, when it's cleaner and better-looking to just show the card.
 * 15) All "Digi-" whatever should be capitalized, except "digivolve", as it is a verb.
 * 16) Titles, like Digimon Next, should be italicized in all instances.
 * 17) Info from script or Digimon Analyzer's (like Bokomon), needs to be sourced like evolutions, but with Digimon Frontier, "A Molehill out of a Moutain" [56]; Bokomon: "KaratsukiNumemon are squishy and have shells." Reffing for digivolutions is done as mentioned above.
 * 18) Digivolutions, families, and types are seperated by  . We might also consider putting Variations/Subspecies into the infobox, in which case it to is seperated as such.
 * 19) Unused fields in an infobox should be deleted.

Standardization (KKoro)
Ooh, I have some questions about maybe creating a standard between the two of us as we do updates so that we don't accidently cross wires and blow up the site. I feel like I've maybe been cutting out some of your edits... So, yeah. My first question: Do we double cite? I know for the Gaogamon page you double cited for Data Squad and Next. I understand the reasoning for that, but isn't one simply enough? I thought the purpose of the citing is to give proof of the data; while two can be better, it's also bulkier. Wouldn't one suffice? Also, for the lists when you put the partner, I was putting full names there whenever possible, but I see that you're only putting first. Is there a reason for that? Should I only put first names? I have a personal preference for putting the entire name whenever possible. Lanate 05:56, 20 May 2008 (UTC)
 * I agree with most of what you said. I actually prefer, however, using   over using commas, because I felt that commas looked ugly as the amount of evolutions increased (with V-mon as an example.  I would rather dislike putting all of his evolutions with commas).  I also use   when dealing with parentheses, for the same reasons.  I was going to experiment with using an asterisk with the  , to create a more list-y feel.


 * I was staring at the Next figures, but I couldn't recognize any of them. I'm sorry.  What I do agree with, however, is 22-21a being Elecmon.  By the way, have you played any of the Wonderswan games?  I'm playing through them right now and noting what digimon I see.  I think it'll take me a couple months, but I feel I can add a wealth of updates to those... in term of appearances, if not actual storyline.  XD  Should I mention that I don't know any Japanese?


 * Oh, that reminds me. For appearances, I was limiting myself to listing only anime and manga (because I felt the video games was too much), but only for those with roles which exceed more than, say, a five-second cameo appearance.  Would you agree to that?


 * I have a feeling that we (mainly you at this point) will be able to whip this place into shape. :)  Lanate 02:37, 21 May 2008 (UTC)


 * Some comments.


 * 2: Japanese and English differences in infoboxes are separated with (Ja:) and (En:), with commas between the criteria (such as voice actors) in one section, and  between Ja and En. Ja is listed first, as it came first. Voice Actors, for example, are listed under language, then with the season in parentheses.  <-- I noticed that a lot of Voice Actors have deceased next to their names.  Is that necessary?  A link to their bio is enough to find alive/dead status.  Adding deceased takes up more room and makes the info box cluttered.


 * 5: Human characters are named by their full names, with their nickname in quotations between given and sur names. T.K. and J.P. should not have spaces between their initials. <-- The space annoys me. I can pull up two screen shots which have T.K. without a space if you need proof.  Full names in English, however, don't include Japanese names except in rare instances.  For all of Digimon Adventure, the eight Digidestined had their Japanese names as their true names, with their dubbed names as nicknames.  However, we can't assume the same for the rest of the seasons.  Thus, I'd like to defer to the first rule in determining what defines a full name.  Takeru "T.K." Takaishi is T.K.'s full name, due to visual proof, but Junpei "J.P." Shibayama can't be proved (unless a screenshot or other official material can be obtained) and his character page should be titled J.P. Shibayama unless said information can be found.


 * 7: General MOS: No space between the "==" and the text of a header, but space before the "|" of an infobox, and after the "*" of a list. Single space after a period, and no extra spacing in the entries of an infobox. <-- This is me lamenting my apparent archaicness, because I still use two spaces after a period/exclamation point/question mark, as is required on manuscripts.


 * 13: We should try to use the white-background toie images where possible, and then card or bandai images (unedited). I don't know if we should encourage fan-recolors, when it's cleaner and better-looking to just show the card. <-- There's a trend to use Digital Empire's stuff. Can we stop that?  It's just bad form, and I know they do recolors.  Also, based on a discussion with Ned Scott, I hold a stance that no recolor should be used.


 * I want to modify some of the current infobox rules. Currently, the parameter "appears" has the description "any anime/manga/game in which this digimon character appears in", but I honestly believe that that will exponentially increase the size of the infobox, especially the video game addendum.  Would it be better to limit it to relevant appearances?  I don't mind mentioning cameos until the profile, but I believe the "appears" parameter should only include those appearances which are more than "he appears in a crowd" types.  The parameter "to" currently disallows video game digivolutions; there should be a distinction between storyline evolutions (Machinedramon devolving into SkullGreymon in Digimon World DS) and gameplay evolutions (Agumon turning into Belphemon in Digimon World Data Squad).  We could hash out what's considered gameplay and what's considered storyline another time.  I also want to disavow most, if not all, TCG evolutions except pictoral depictions (such as Win Ratio), because I consider most of them gameplay.  I know there may be exceptions, so I want to hold off a bit.  A huge part of me also wishes to insert CD drama evolutions into the list pages canon evolutions, if not those of the characters themselves.


 * Oh, one quick question. Is The Golden Digimentals canon or not?  There's conflicting reports (Seraphimon/Magnadramon appear on Patamon/Gatomon pages, but the List of Chosen Digimon calls them non-canon.  A decision needs to be made.


 * I do recommend sending this to all of the major editors for input. St06.mzapanta, Digi9346, and, of course, Ned Scott should all be included.  Lanate 05:20, 21 May 2008 (UTC)

Other
We need a part in the infobox for a Digimon's nickname, like "Crow of Silver" for Ravemon.

We need an article on Chrome Digizoid.

If getting information from a fan site, we need to check with the owner first for permission. If translating from the official site, we need to source it to there.

Should we include the known "number" of a Digimon, or its "size" (20 Gigs, etc.)?

wikipedia:Wikipedia_talk:WikiProject_Digimon/Archive_10

Game-ish attacks, like "Heal Confusion", unless specific to the Digimon, should probably not be noted on the Digimon's article; instead, just list them on the game's page. However, I could see it working if they are separated and listed under "Game Techniques", or something.

I have not had a chance to play the Wonderswan games, and won't be able to unless there are roms and emulators online.

I think cameo Digimon should be mentioned as well, but no more than "Etemon appeared at the Autumn Leaf Fair in Episode 97".KrytenKoro 04:18, 21 May 2008 (UTC)

Comments
(Deceased) addendums, I believe, are vandalism. It certainly happened a lot as vandalism on wikipedia. Remove them with extreme prejudice.

The space in TK and JP was added by an editor on Wikipedia, and I had a discussion with him about it where I proved that not only is the specific character's names spelled without them, but no MoS requires a space, as he claimed. However, he refused to clean up his mess, so again, remove the spaces with extreme prejudice.

I agree that no fan-recolor should be used.

Infobox appearances should be limited to when the Digimon has a substantial or at the least speaking role. Appearances in the section can include anything.

About 2 spaces after a period: The editor swallows that anyway when it displays it, so all it really does is take up data. The guidelines given by Dantman when we began the transwiki ask for only one space to be used, for that reason.

I agree completely with your Digivolution comments.

The Golden Digimentals is technically non-canon (due to some stupid writing decisions over in Japan which could have been fixed ridiculously easily, and made for an actually better season). However, Seraphimon and Magnadramon are still valid digivolutions that are depicted in storyline, of the Adventure Patamon and Gatomon characters, and should be considered as such.

I'll try to write up a draft of a Manual of Style over the next few days (I also need to be applying for summer jobs), and pass it around the other major editors. After that, I'm pretty much going to be on autopilot cleaning up the species and manga articles. If I disappear for a while, I'm probably on the DMC wiki, which I've basically rewritten.

Hey! Do we want to introduce userboxes, like on the FF and DMC wiki's? Also, should we try to have a radio section for songs from the franchise?KrytenKoro 05:49, 21 May 2008 (UTC)


 * I started a draft here. Let's try to finish it, and then we can pass it around the other active users for approval.KrytenKoro 09:29, 21 May 2008 (UTC)