User:Cooper Kid/Help:Style Guide/References

This references style guide will hopefully help people adhere to a consistent standard of style and formatting throughout the Team Fortress Wiki reference articles. Covering all situations would take a long time, and the following is only meant to be a reference for the Team Fortress Wiki's specific guidelines.

Article Titles

There are currently ten reference pages; one for each of the nine classes, and one for more general references. They are as follows:

• List of references
• List of references (Scout)
• List of references (Soldier)
• List of references (Pyro)
• List of references (Demoman)
• List of references (Heavy)
• List of references (Engineer)
• List of references (Medic)
• List of references (Sniper)
• List of references (Spy)

These articles cover all current references in the game; as such there are no plans to create any new reference articles in the near future. New references should be added to the most appropriate current article.

Information

It would be impractical to scrutinise references to the same extent as trivia here on the wiki; as such any reference with sensible reasoning can be added. When in doubt, discuss the possibility of a reference on the article's talk page.

Each reference should be explained briefly, but not so briefly as to confuse the reader. Information should be clear and utilise links to relevant material, preferably on Wikipedia. Each reference should be clearly separated from the next by a line break.

Links

Due to the encyclopaedic nature of reference articles, each entry should be treated as a separate entity; as such overlinking is not inappropriate. However, they should not be overused. The following example refers to the "Bravehurt" achievement for the Demoman:

• Example: This is a reference to the 1995 film Braveheart, set in 13th century Scotland.

The subject of the reference is the film Braveheart, so it is not necessary to link "13th century" or "Scotland":

• Amended: This is a reference to the 1995 film Braveheart, set in 13th century Scotland.

Links to Wikipedia should be used when an appropriate article is not available on the TF2 Wiki. Template:w must be used at all times to link to Wikipedia articles.

Formatting

As a general rule, bold text should be used to highlight the main subject of each reference. This can be anything from an achievement or a weapon to a hat or a spoken phrase.

Italic text is used primarily to highlight the names of media titles such as films, books, songs, or games.

Any quote, word or phrase being referred to should be encased in "inverted commas".

Introduction

All references articles must contain an introduction. This should briefly explain what a reference is, and indicate the main subject of the article.

Content

These are body sections strongly recommended to be used. If content for the article fits one of the following sections, that section should be created and content should be placed there. Sections should be ordered as they appear here. Sections not mentioned should appear at the end of the article, but not before the Sources or See also sections.

Achievements

Achievements should be listed alphabetically, using Template:Show achievement. Each one should have its own individual explanation directly below.

Weapons

Weapons can be displayed, along with their respective item icons and descriptions, using Template:Achievement. A description must be included if the weapon has one; however the stats of the weapon (red or blue text) should not be included. Weapons shared between four or less of the classes (i.e. less than half of them) should be listed on each of their respective class reference pages; weapons shared by five or more can be listed on the general all-class reference page. Weapons should be listed in alphabetical order.

Hats & Miscellaneous items

Hats and miscellaneous items should, again, be listed in alphabetical order. The achievement template can be used, and again a description of each item must be included if it has one. Items shared between four or less of the classes (i.e. less than half of them) should be listed on each of their respective class reference pages; items shared by five or more can be listed on the general all-class reference page.

Taunts

Taunts should be listed alphabetically, using the name of the weapon they were first implemented with as a section title. For example, the Demoman's Pain Train taunt is listed as a Grenade Launcher taunt, as it was applied to the Grenade Launcher first. Other weapons which the taunt can be used with can be indicated in italic text below the section heading.

Responses

Responses can be separated into ten headings; one for domination lines for each class, and one generic "Other Responses" section at the end. There is no specific order for listing the responses under each heading, so use an order which looks reasonably sensible if possible. Each response should be listed as a link to its respective sound file.

Media

This section includes anything referring to the Meet the Team videos or the Official TF2 Blog. It should be separated into sub-sections for each individual source.

Sources

Any references which cannot be sourced through links in the reference description should have sources cited. These can be listed in this section.

See also

This section is merely a list of the other reference pages. Template:References nav can be used here, along with any other navboxes appropriate to the subject.