Lylat Wiki:Quality Standards

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What makes a good article? When it is edited by many editors? When it contains information that is accurate, verifiable and relevant? When it links to and is linked by other atricles?....

How about all of those! Welcome to Lylat Wiki's Guide to producing good articles (stage 4 of Template:LW:5StFA). On this page, you will find almost every topic on how to make a decent article, and how to make a good article from a decent one. This is not for starting a new article, or for expanding a stub. Those are Template:LW:SAA and Template:LW:Stubs.

• A good article - is considered to be among the best of the wiki, but has not been selected, or at one time was selected, to be a featured article.
• A decent article - is considered to be on it's way to being good, but still requires fixing and expanding before being so.

The following three pages are major contributors to the topics covered here. We think these wiki's for having there information available.

• SMW:MarioWiki:Maintenance
• bp:Category:Notice_templates
• wikipedia:Template:Multiple_issues

Language

inappropriate tone or style

Articles should be written in an encyclopedic tone. Any of the following tones should be considered in appropriate unless there is a specific reason why it is that way, and the reason is clearly marked or visible.

1. advertisement
2. biased
3. biography - auto, unreliable citations
4. written like a travel guide
5. like a resume
6. a howto
7. essay
8. reads like a story

word usage

Articles should use the correct words. Which means no or little of:

1. colloquial terms or jargon - including gaming terms, scientific, or slang, without an appropriate link to explain the meaning.
2. containing weasel words - Words that appear to be specific, but aren't.
3. wording promotes subject - is written in such a way that it promotes the subject, rather than inform about it.
4. unencyclopedia

Point of View

Articles need to be written in a 3rd Person Point-of-View. They need to be written in a in-universe.

1. first-person or second-person
2. fiction vs. fact
3. in-universe
4. globalize
5. not neutral

conflict of interest

Articles need to be written in such away that doesn't cause it to conflict with itself. It should also not be written by the person it is written on.

confusing

Articles should be written in a clear and precise manner.

context

Articles need to contain only the information related to the title, and nothing outside of the articles context.

contradiction

An article should not say one thing in part, and then say the opposite in another. Should this happen, please put Template:Tl on the article, possible in the section where the contradiction is.

example farm

Unless there is a good reason, an article should not exist to simply be an example of something. This means no:

1. Demonstrating of Templates,
2. Filling up Random Categories
3. Using Random Files.

If you are trying to do an experiment, please keep it to a subpage of your userpage, or Lylat Wiki:Sandbox

clean up

Because an article can be written by anyone, and since we are all individuals, Not every article will be up to someone's spelling and/or grammar. If you find an article that needs some linguistic love, please either edit it yourself or mark it with Template:Tl.

Time

Due to Lylat Wiki being an encyclopedia, and since no one has any clue when an article will be read, it is considered best to write in the past tense, unless there is a very good reason why it should be otherwise. Please be wary of the following:

Template:Tl

Writing an article to with the preference towards current events, helps understand what's going on write now, but what happens when the event is over?

Template:Tl

is the events in i timeline, that are better in a prose-form?

Template:Tl,

an event is going on, or has gone on, in which details of the article are no longer accurate. This is not for current events, where infromation is coming in for rapidly.

Template:Tl

Event(s) are happening, that causes an article to repeatedly be out-of-date, and thus, will be changed many times over its course.

unbalanced

In the event an article is largely one-sided, and can not easily be fixed by one editor, place Template:Tl on it, and work on fixing it with other on the relevant discussion page.

Verification

Any information can be put on a wiki, and Just as easily removed. With that kind of inconsistency and questionable reliability, it is best to verify something you put on the wiki with a reputable outside source. Just the same, if you see something on the wiki, you believe would be better said if it could be verified, please mark it so, or find a way to verify it yourself and post the link on the article. See Template:LW:CP and Help:Citing Sources for more info.

The following are possible situations related to citing sources, and how to handle them.

Missing citations

In the event an article has little to no citations, please put Template:Tl at the top of the article, and Template:Tl near any statement that you believe needs citing. This should be done, even if the entire article is to your knowledge of the truth, since it may not be to someone else's.

wrong citation style

If one or more references in a #References section are of the wrong style (e.g. references an archived website, but instead is styled for a print article, or is even not styled at all), please place Template:Tl along with the ref #'s, if available.

citations may not verify text

In the event a piece of text has a reference ^[number], but the supplemental information doesn't really verify the statement, please place Template:Tl at the top of the article, and give more details as to why you believe this to be so on the article's respective talk page.

criticism

If an article presents the opinion of a critic, copies or features a criticism of the subject, then it must not be written to be a critic of the criticism, nor a critic of the subject matter itself. Presenting the criticism helps develop a fuller understanding of a topic, but it should not change the tone or point of view of the article. If you find a section that does so, please tag it with Template:Tl

If you wish to provide a critical review of a subject, please do so at your user page or at a community page, which ever is more appropriate.

accuracy disputed

Think an article contains unlikely statements? Think it says something that needs needs more references, even if there are some already there? Calling the accuracy into question, for these or any other reason, happens when you place Template:Tl on top of the article.

needs expert

Feel a page needs more verification? in doubt of an article's related scientific or game-play knowldge? Think we should bring an expert in on the subject? Then place Template:Tl on the article, and maybe a expert will get to it... if they aren't to busy be an expert :P.

hoax

When a visitor comes to our wiki, they are expecting us to be honest about the subject matter. Providing truthful information backed by reliable sources help us keep that trust. However, providing false information, truthful information with fictionalized sources, or anything similar compromise the integrity of the wiki.

• If you see a page providing false information among true infomation, please tag it with Template:Tl near the false information, and Template:Tl at the top.
• If you see a page providing nothing but false information, please place Template:Tl at the top of the page.
• If any references you check out prove to be fictionalized (e.g. doesn't exist, from a april fool's website, etc.) please place Template:Tl. Please do no put Template:Tl as this may be a first party reference. For more, please see #Types of References.

Policy

external links conflict guidelines

External links that are part of an Article, or in a #External Links section, need to be related to the subject of the article. In the event that they don't, please mark it with Template:Tl if you feel this is so, but wish to see if others agree.

Fanon

Fanon is a fan-made theory to cover a gap in the plot, missing detail in game design/development, or something similar, but lacks concrete evidence to prove it. We want to be there to support the starfox community(ies), but fanon can detract from quality of the wiki. Please follow Template:LW:Fanon if you believe you have found a piece of fanon on the wiki. We do not wish to insult anyone, but if a theory is not supported by official evidence, we will need to question it.

too narrow of audience for details

Is an article written too technical? or too in-depth? will only one-type of audience benefit from it, at the expense of many others? if so, please place one of the following on the article, too bring this to others attention.

• Template:Tl
• Template:Tl
• Template:Tl

Types Of References

In order to make sure we show an unbaised point of view, it is often best to resources from at least 3 different sources. Depending on your situation, any or all of the sources needs to comes from one of three locations.

1. First-party - is something that said or when on in the games themselves.
2. Second Party - is something found on an official publication, website or archive there of.
3. third Party - is a reputable source created by a fan of the series, an expert in a scientific field, a game review site, etc.

A "good" article is one that features a decent blend of all three. In the event you believe an article needs more of a specific type of reference, then please more it with one of the following:

1. Template:Tl
2. Template:Tl
3. Template:Tl

Style & Content Guide

Articles need to be designed with 2 things in mind: wikipedia:accessibility and wikipedia:findability. Everything on the article, and often in other pages too, needs to be easily findable through search engines (google included) and through the browser.

• To be accessible: Means not to be available to even those with impairments on their hearing or seeing.
• to be findable: Means it is easy to find the information on a given page.

How an article accomplished is as follows:

1. sectionalized: using === header tags, a section is carved out of the page for a specific area of content. The section title needs to be coherent and accurate reflection of the content bellow.
2. multiple ways of displaying info: There are multiple ways people observe, learn, and understand information. This also means, that if information is stored in an image, there needs to be a text base equivalent for those who are hard of seeing, have reduced bandwidth, images disabled, etc.

Sections that are often found on

introduction

An introduction needs to be a summary of the article, as well as a paragraph giving general information that is relevant, but does not necessarily fit into any of the lower sections exclusively.

An introduction can be marked with the following:

1. Template:Tl
2. Template:Tl
3. Template:Tl
4. Template:Tl

lacks historical info

In order to get a better understanding of a subject, it is sometimes best to see how they got there. For us, this manifest itself in two ways:

1. Template:Tl - What was the creator thinking when he came up with a character?
2. Template:Tl - how did a character get to where they are? how did a ship get designed? how did the item bomb come into existence?

quotes

Quotes are always fun to throw around, but how do you know when there is enough? well, put one of the following down, and discuss it with your fellow editors.

1. Template:Tl
2. Template:Tl

plot

We all like to know generally what happened in a game, but what if you are in the middle of playing you look up how to do something, and by accident, you read to much. When this happens, the plot has been spoiled for you.

including the plot is important for an article - we need to know what when on, in order to get a full understanding of the subject.

1. Template:Tl - in the event too many details are given, and it detracts from the quality of the article.
2. Template:Tl - if there is little to know information of the plot, and it is important to the article.
3. Template:Tl - a template to hide important plot details you don't want people to know, should they care for something like this.

rewrite entirely

If an article is really, really bad, please put Template:Tl on it. this will prompt users (hopefully) to rush in, trying to edit the article to make it better.

If you have vollunteered to mass rewrite an article, first THANK YOU, from the entire Template:LW:Admin. You have no idea how much work you are saving us, and we probably we'll never get to properly show you gratification. Second, please post Template:Tl on top of the article, in order to give notice to other that a mass edit is going on, and in order to prevent edit wars, they may wish to wait on their contributions. But please remove the notice when you are done.

trivia

A trivia section should contain Template:* bulleted lists of little tidbits of information. These each should still follow our spelling and grammar rules. There is just no need to put it in prose, unless it really does work out better that way.

• Template:Tl - to recommend it be prose.
• Template:Tl - to recommend it be a bulleted list

needs reorganized

Think an article needs to be reorganized? is it missing sections that you know should be there? Then mark it with one of the following templates:

1. Template:Tl

list of non-notable stuff

In the event an article has decrease in quality to the point of not containing anything notable and being no more than a list, please place Template:Tl on it.

Linking

One of the beautiful things about wikis, are there ability to wikipedia:hot-link to other articles. But how often should something be hot-linked? and how many links should an article have?

• Well, first, if you are linking to a word multiple times in an article, please only do so once per scroll-height - i.e. the amount you can see on a page without scrolling up or down.
• Second, only link words that are not commonly used. So, no "is", "as", "of", etc.
• Third, if you wish to link outside of the wiki, please link in accordance with Template:LW:IWP.

Terminology

In the event you find a page that needs some linking help,

• A page without links going to out to other pages is known as a dead-end. Please mark it with Template:Tl.
• A page without linking going into it is know as a Orphan. Please Mark Template:Tl on any page you find that you believe needs more links towards it.

to disambiguation pages

A disambiguation page exists to guide visitors of the wiki to specific articles, that have similar titles to other articles. Disambiguation pages aren't meant to be the receiving end of a link from another page. If you find a page that has one or more links to a disambiguation page, please place Template:Tl on the page or fix the links to the proper page yourself.

wikify

If a page needs some help linking to others, please place Template:Tl on it.

Other

These are some other things that can come up about an article. If these questions are raised, an the article survives, then it is a testament to it's quality and the efforts of those who helped make it.

incomplete

An article is missing a rather large piece, or maybe many small ones. this could be Walthough missing a stage, a gallery missing screenshots, whatever. If feel this is so, then please, place Template:Tl on the article, and place why it is so on the talk page of the

notability questioned

Should an article be part of the wiki? place Template:Tl and find out....*evil laugh*

Multiple issues

Should it be, that an article has multiple issues within it, that placing all the templates would take up to much content space, please remove all addition maintance templates, and place Template:Tl on it, and be sure to preserve the dates the article was originally marked for each marking.

Related pages

Five steps to making a featured article
Stage 5: Becoming a featured article
Stage 4: Becoming a good article
Stage 3: Becoming a decent article
Stage 2: Becoming a stub article
Stage 1: Becoming a new article