Star Trek Online Wiki
Explore
Main Page
All Pages
Interactive Maps
STO wiki
Sandbox
About STO
STO basics
Wiki guidelines
Wiki policies
Communications
Community portal
Community talk
Suggestion Box
Admin noticeboard
Discord #wiki-talk
STO User Hub
In-Game Chat
Quick links
Playable starship
Starship traits
Sets
Abilities
Damage (space)
Player rank
Reputation
Specialization
Seasons
Mission Journal
TFOs
Endeavors
Lobi crystals
Factions
Starfleet
Klingon Empire
Romulan Republic
TOS Starfleet
Dominion
DSC Starfleet
FANDOM
Fan Central
BETA
Games
Anime
Movies
TV
Video
Wikis
Explore Wikis
Community Central
Start a Wiki
Don't have an account?
Register
Sign In
FANDOM
Explore
Current Wiki
Start a Wiki
Don't have an account?
Register
Sign In
Sign In
Register
Star Trek Online Wiki
20,301
pages
Explore
Main Page
All Pages
Interactive Maps
STO wiki
Sandbox
About STO
STO basics
Wiki guidelines
Wiki policies
Communications
Community portal
Community talk
Suggestion Box
Admin noticeboard
Discord #wiki-talk
STO User Hub
In-Game Chat
Quick links
Playable starship
Starship traits
Sets
Abilities
Damage (space)
Player rank
Reputation
Specialization
Seasons
Mission Journal
TFOs
Endeavors
Lobi crystals
Factions
Starfleet
Klingon Empire
Romulan Republic
TOS Starfleet
Dominion
DSC Starfleet
Editing
STOWiki:Manual of Style
Back to page
Edit source
View history
Talk (1)
Edit Page
STOWiki:Manual of Style
Warning:
You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you
log in
or
create an account
, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.
Anti-spam check. Do
not
fill this in!
{{shortcut|STOW:STYLE}} {{guidelines}} {{guideline}} This guideline discusses best practices with regard to the writing style. We strive to achieve a consistent style across all articles. This however is only a guideline, not a policy. Violations against these suggestions should be corrected, but not frowned upon (see also [[Project:Please_do_not_bite_the_newcomers|Please do not bite the newcomers]] guideline). == Tense == All articles discussing in-game elements or aspects are written from a [[2409]] perspective. That means, that in general we use the present tense, as a contemporary encyclopedia does. Articles about [[Cryptic Studios]] or other meta-elements like the [[C-Store]] are written in a contemporary style, i.e. present tense for ongoing and current developments, past tense for completed and past developments and future tense for announcements etc. Articles that are specific to the [[STOWiki]] like the [[Main Page]], these guidelines or talk pages should also use the present tense where appropriate. == Neutral style == Outside of [[:Category:Guides|guides]], [[:Category:Mission walkthroughs|walkthroughs]] and talk pages, which are intended to give room for personal and subjective opinions, adhere to a neutral point of view. E.g. do not evaluate an item or ability when presenting it upfront. You may however add some information on its usefulness and relation to others of its kind in a ''Notes'' sub-section. This however should be backed not only by your personal opinion, but by external references like a profound forum discussion or a developer interview. Of course you can also present original research, but base your findings transparently on numbers, that everyone can reproduce. == Addressing the reader == Using second-person pronouns (''you'', ''your'') is discouraged in articles with an in-game (e.g. items, skills, NPCs) or meta-game (e.g. a developer article, user interface, C-Store) subject. Try to find a neutral point of view and talk about the player in the third person. For example ''"the player's starship"'' instead of ''"your starship"''. Also try to differentiate between the player and the character. So in an article you might want to elaborate on ''"the character's health"'' instead of ''"the player's health"''. In guidelines, project pages and talk pages using second-person pronouns is however strongly encouraged. == Article titles == In general, we prefer singular, lower case article names, if the game does not use the article title as a proper name. Article titles must not contain capitalized words unless they are proper nouns, such as "Federation", "Cardassian", "Sulu", ranks (when used as part of name), and "Spacedock" in the phrase "Earth Spacedock" (because it is itself a proper noun consisting of more than one word, each of which must be capitalized. Item names may be capitalized as they are in the game. So for example an article would be named ''[[bridge officer]]'', not ''bridge officers'' or ''Bridge Officers''. Items are capitalized as in the game: ''[[Tribble of Borg]]'' instead of ''tribble of borg'' or ''Tribble Of Borg''. Locations are generally capitalized: ''[[Sol System]]'' instead of ''Sol'' or ''Sol system''; ''[[Fluidic Space]]'' instead of ''fluidic space''; ''[[Alpha Quadrant]]'' instead of ''alpha quadrant'' or ''Alpha quadrant''. Article titles must not contain ranks for characters in the game. For example, ''[[Jorel Quinn]]'' instead of ''Admiral Quinn''. The first occurrence of the article title (or a variant thereof, e.g. plural) in the article itself must be in '''bold'''. An exception are NPCs, who are always addressed with their rank in-game For example, in the article for [[Zihr]] starts with "'''Ensign Zihr''' is..." instead of "Ensign '''Zihr''' is...". In order to distinguish identically named entities like the [[Accolade]] ''{{accolade|Lucky}}'' and the [[Trait]] ''{{trait|Lucky}}'' the respective articles get separate prefixes. {| class="wikitable" ! Article Type ! Prefix ! Example |- | NPCs (non-player characters) | (None) | [[Golos Vell]] |- | Starships | (Prefix) (Name) | [[U.S.S. Oakland]] |- | Missions | Mission:(space) | [[Mission: Stranded In Space]] |- | Items (all) | (None) | [[Disruptor Dual Pistols]] |- | Skills (all) | Skill:(space) | [[Skill: Tactical Team Leader]] |- | Trait (all) | Trait:(space) | [[Trait: Leadership]] |- | Injury (all) | Injury:(space) | [[Injury: Minor Concussion]] |- | Accolade (all) | Accolade:(space) | [[Accolade: Affluent]] |- | Guide (all) | Guide:(space) | [[Guide: Basics]] |} === Lists === An exception from the article naming guideline on plural forms are lists. The most prominent example is the [[list of missions]]. === Categories === Categories should adhere to the usual article naming guidelines, but in fact many are not. The [[:Category: Federation Starships]] is such an example. Since it is a lot of work, to rename an established category with many members, users are encouraged to pay special attention to creating new categories. == Linking == For the following article types, the corresponding template must be used when linking to it: {| class="wikitable" ! Article Type ! Template ! Example |- | NPCs (non-player characters) | (None) | <nowiki>[[Malcolm Sissel]]</nowiki> |- | Starships | [[Template:USS|<nowiki>{{USS}}</nowiki>]], [[Template:IKS|<nowiki>{{IKS}}</nowiki>]], [[Template:IRW|<nowiki>{{IRW}}</nowiki>]] | <nowiki>{{USS|Oakland}}</nowiki> |- | Missions | [[Template:mission|<nowiki>{{mission}}</nowiki>]] | <nowiki>{{mission|Assimilation}}</nowiki> |- valign="top" | ALL Items | [[Template:item|<nowiki>{{item}}</nowiki>]] | <nowiki>{{item|Body Armor - Energy Dampening|Mk II|common}}</nowiki><br /><nowiki>{{item|Livanian Beet||common}}</nowiki> |- | Abilities | [[Template:ability|<nowiki>{{ability}}</nowiki>]] | <nowiki>{{ability|Evasive Maneuvers}}</nowiki> |- | Skills | [[Template:skill|<nowiki>{{skill}}</nowiki>]] | <nowiki>{{skill|Science Team Leader}}</nowiki> |- | Traits | [[Template:trait|<nowiki>{{trait}}</nowiki>]] | <nowiki>{{trait|Cold Dwelling}}</nowiki> |- | Injuries | [[Template:injury|<nowiki>{{injury}}</nowiki>]] | <nowiki>{{injury|Minor concussion}}</nowiki> |- | Accolades | [[Template:accolade|<nowiki>{{accolade}}</nowiki>]] | <nowiki>{{accolade|Affluent}}</nowiki> |} * ''LINKING:'' Should a new entry be created on the STO Wiki? Or should it be linked to the Memory Alpha wiki? If it is a link-worthy article, but is only mentioned in passing, then link to Memory Alpha [[ma:Star Trek|like so]]. Otherwise, create a new article and/or add content to the article. * ''ONLY LINK ONCE:'' While we encourage linking as much relevant information as possible to new articles, only one link per page is necessary. So if the Romulans are referenced more than once, only the first reference may be linked. == See also == * The guideline on [[Project:Formatting|formatting]]''
Summary:
Please note that all contributions to the Star Trek Online Wiki are considered to be released under the CC BY-NC-SA
Cancel
Editing help
(opens in new window)
Templates used on this page:
Template:Accolade
(
view source
)
Template:Guideline
(
view source
)
Template:Guidelines
(
view source
)
Template:Shortcut
(
view source
)
Template:Trait
(
view source
)
Follow on IG
TikTok
Join Fan Lab