South Park Archives:Wiki Expectations

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The Wiki Expectations gives wiki editors a guide on how wiki pages should look. It also provides details on our editing specific policies. For our social and general rules, please see the policies page.

Content

  • All content must be related to South Park. For example, Family Guy has been referenced several times throughout the show. It is okay to add content about those references but not okay to add content about Family Guy's episode plots, character details, etc.
  • In general, content should be written in a style appropriate for an encyclopedia.
    • Write in full sentences; do not use informal, slang terms, or contractions outside of quotes.
    • Do not censor words or images unless intentionally done so by South Park Studios (e.g. "You Got F'd in the A" and its foreign-language titles, or Rebecca (Towelie's Girlfriend)).
    • Descriptions should be clear and precise.
    • Speculations or uncertain facts should be avoided.
  • All content must be objective. Use the South Park Archives Discord server to discuss your opinions. For example, it would not be okay to add "I think Craig is a really cool character and he is the most popular character ever!" to Craig Tucker's page.
  • Use the edit summary as you submit your edit. It lets others know what changed in the article, even if it's just a minor change. This makes it easy for users to back track a page's history.
  • Do not plagiarize content from Wikipedia or any other sources. Write it in your own words. The goal is to write the key ideas in your own words so that you don't plagiarize. This improves your overall credibility.
  • Do not be overly specific when writing, only as specific as necessary.
  • If you are new to wikis, you may want to read the tutorial on FANDOM Help.
  • To learn the basics of editing a wiki, go to the page editing guide.

Writing Conventions

Article Title Precedence

Often on South Park there will be the need to create articles for different subjects, all with the same title. When we do so, one of the articles will get a plain title, and the others will have an addition to them. The following list is an order of precedence for how these are decided.

  • Episode
    • Example: Professor Chaos
    • Episode articles should NEVER have anything in their title besides the name of the episode.
  • Character
    • Example: Professor Chaos (Character)
    • Characters take precedence over other types of articles, but not over episodes.
    • Characters with the same name as an episode should have (Character) appended to the title.
    • Characters with the same name as another character should have ("Episode Title") appended to the title.
  • Every other page

If you're ever have doubt with how to title a page, please ask an admin.

Language

  • American English is preferred, as it is the spelling and grammar that South Park uses.
  • Colloquialisms, slang, l33t speak and other informal styles are not acceptable.
  • Users can use short hand on non-content namespaces only.
  • The following words should be avoided: Interestingly, Surprisingly, Coincidentally. These can be overused, so similar words should be used alongside explaining why the subject matter is interesting, for example.
  • Furthermore, using "(subject) is a direct reference to.." is redundant. "Direct" is already implied from the subject matter being referred to in an episode, game etc. It is suitable to use "(subject) is a subtle reference to…" but this should not be overused, as references can be often subtle.

Linking

  • Do not overlink. Generally, a page should be linked to, from a given article only once, on its first occurrence. Links may be repeated if the first link is far up the page or if the manner the word is used in makes it necessary.
    • The exception to this would be episode titles, which should always be linked to each time they occur, regardless of how often they occur.
  • If a link is not to this wiki put the URL like this: [http://southparkstudios.com South Park Studios]. It will look like this: South Park Studios.
  • If the link is to a page in this wiki, use [[Eric Cartman]] link. It will look like this: Eric Cartman.
    • Pipe-linking: Links may appear as different words than the name of the page that they link to. For example, if you write only "Butters" and want to link his page, you'll do it this way [[Butters Stotch|Butters]]. You can write anything you want after "|" as it will always link to the page that comes before it.
    • Extra link text: Everything written after "]]" will expand the link. For example, if you want to link the plural of a page, instead of writing [[E-Scooter|E-Scooters]], you can write [[E-Scooter]]s.
  • To link to other wikis within wiki.gg, use [[wgg:wiki name:article name|intended name]].
  • To link to Wikipedia, use [[Wikipedia:article name|intended name]].
    • Wikipedia links should only be used on Trivia pages or Trivia sections of the other articles. They should not be used anywhere else.

Attribution

  • Do not add any attributions (like "written by XYZ") or dates ("written on 14/02/09") to articles. An accurate record of all contributions to an article is available via its "History" page.

Formatting

Bold

  • Bold the article name the first time it appears in the article itself. Any alternative names should also be bolded at their first occurrence.
  • Avoid using bold formatting for general emphasis.

Italics

  • "South Park" should be italicized, but only if it's referring to the show and not the location.
  • Italics should be used for the titles of books, movies, shows, and games (along with their downloadable contents).

Emphasis

  • Do not use ALL CAPS.
  • Avoid bolding words for general emphasis.
  • Avoid using double emphasis (e.g. combining bold and italics).
  • Use emphasis sparingly and only when necessary.

Underlining

  • Underlining article content should be used sparingly and only in special cases.

Character Names

Episode and Song Titles

  • Episode and song titles should be put in quotations only. This rule also applies for episodes from other TV shows.
  • Punctuation, such as commas, should be outside of the closing quote.
    • Good Example: Craig appeared in "Tweek x Craig", where he fixed his bike.
    • Bad Example: Craig appeared in "Tweek x Craig," where he fixed his bike.

Categories

Categories are used for both organizational and navigational purposes. When adding categories, make sure that the category belongs in the article. Also always check the description for each category before adding it.

  • Always pay attention when adding a category, categories need to be written and capitalized properly in order for them to work.
  • Categories should carry at least three articles. Please consult with an administrator prior to creating new categories. While categories are great for organization, the also present unintended side-effects.
  • Episode specific categories don't belong in character articles and vice versa.
  • Do not make-up unneeded categories, they will be removed from the article and deleted.
  • Do not recreate or restore categories/category pages deleted by administrators.

Characters

  • If an article is about multiple characters (groups, couples, etc), only add categories that apply to all members. For example, do not add the Cartman Family category to The Boys page only because Cartman belongs in that category or add Male characters and Female characters categories to a couple's page.
  • Please respect the canon when adding categories. Do not make up things. For example, do not add the "4th Graders" to a character's page based on ideas like: "they look like a 4th grader" or "they have the appropriate height of a 4th grader".
  • Characters' ages, birthdays, and dates of birth must be backed up by a valid and credible source. There are no exceptions to this rule and this should be considered a zero-tolerance offense. If you don't have a valid source, then you do not know the information, regardless of how 'sure' you may think you are. If you are unable to format a citation, contact an administrator for assistance.

One-off/Minor Categories

One-off characters, One-off Locations, Minor characters, and Minor Locations categories should only be added based on their appearance on the show.

For example, if a location appears in only one episode, but also makes appearances in South Park video games (ex: South Park: The Stick of Truth), the page will have the "One-off Locations" category and not "Minor Locations". However, if a location appears only in video games, then it will be categorized under Video Game Exclusive Locations without the "one-off" or "minor" categories. The same thing applies to characters.

Alter Egos

  • Alter egos pages should be treated as separate characters. Please categorize the pages according to what the characters want to be with their alter egos. A perfect example is Butters' alter ego Marjorine, which has the "Female Characters" category.
    • According to Wikipedia: An alter ego means an alternative self, which is believed to be distinct from a person's normal or true original personality.

Manual of Style

These are a list of styles for major article groups which editors should construct as far as possible:

Files

Images

  • Images should be named appropriately, relating to the image's contents. Images will be renamed or removed if the name contains random numbers or letters such as "711_image-15.jpg" or "Screenshot 2019-12-05 at 6.00.08 PM.png". Names should relate to the image's contents or purpose such as "Casa Bonita location.png" or "Park-county-courthouse-judge.png".
  • All files you upload should be used somewhere on the wiki. Admins often do cleanups around the wiki, so unused files might end up being removed.
  • Do not upload multiple images in a short amount of time without the approval of an administrator first.
  • Other versions of the character (alter egos, other costumes) should only be added to the infobox if a transparent image exists.
  • Do not upload duplicate images. Check the episode galleries to see if your image has been already uploaded. If you want to upload a better version of an image, go the file page, and replace the image if it's the same format (png, jpg, etc.). If your image has a different format, please contact a content moderator/administrator to delete the old image.
  • Episode galleries should not contain more than 115 images.
  • Images added to episode galleries should be in the highest quality available, just like the current images. They should also be added in the correct order.

Videos

  • Videos from the official South Park Studios channel or other official channels (HBO Max, Comedy Central, etc) should only be added into the wiki. Use the source code {{#ev:youtube|video ID|360}}.

Disambiguation Pages

Disambiguation pages are pages that are meant for a list of pages with similar titles. For example, the disambiguation page Cash For Gold (Disambiguation) links to Cash For Gold, "Cash For Gold (Locations)", and Cash For Gold Sign Holders. By using this new template, we've linked all these articles back to Cash For Gold (Disambiguation) for easier navigation and the ability to find other related articles. To use this new template, do the following:

  • First, verify that the page is linked from a disambiguation page.
  • Second, take note of the full page name of the disambiguation page.
  • Third, add the template below to the top of the page you wish to link back to the disambiguation page:
    • {{LinkDisambig|DISAMBIGUATION PAGE TITLE HERE}}
  • Only create a disambiguation page if there are three or more articles with the similar titles.

Example: Entering in {{LinkDisambig|Robert (Disambiguation)}} produces:

For other uses, see Robert (Disambiguation).
  • Do not use this template on the disambiguation page itself or on a page that is not linked from a disambiguation page.
  • If there is a template on a page, such as the Character Template, Episode Template, or Location Template, add the LinkDisambig template below it.

Main Article Linking

Some times it may become necessary to add a short paragraph about something that already has an article. To do so, do the following:

  • First, take note of the page you are linking to.
  • Second, add the template below to the top of the section or paragraph you wish to link back to an article:
    • {{main|PAGE TITLE HERE}}

Example: Entering in {{main|South Park Elementary}} produces:

Main article: South Park Elementary
  • Note: Use this template in the correct spot. It is always best to add it either above the paragraph or just below the section header.
  • Note: Use sparingly. Do not add this template to every singe subsection. If you are in doubt, ask an administrator, we would be glad to help you.

Templates

It is recommended to consult an administrator before creating a new template. They are usually created in order to display material that needs to be shown on multiple pages at the same time.

Please do not create templates for personal use. An Editor Profile infobox has been set aside for users to input information into userpages.

Boosting

Boosting is the process of making either useless or malicious edits just to heighten the count of edits they have made.

  • Do not edit the same article five times or more in a short amount of time (e.g. 1 hour or less). Check multiple times if your edits are right and make use of the "Preview" feature before publishing the edit. Exceptions will be granted on the following conditions:
    • Adding large contents to an article, such as writing entire plots, scripts. We understand that minor spelling or formatting errors can be overlooked given the amount of text required for the article.
    • Editing templates, JS or CSS, where changes cannot be seen until they are saved.
    • Cleaning up of vandalism or spam. If these incidents are becoming persistent, contact an administrator via their talkpages or the Discord server.
  • Users should not create duplicate categories to boost their edit count. An example of this would be creating the category: "Episodes with Kyle Broflovski" and "Episodes With Kyle Broflovski" in the same article page.

References

  • Always cite your reference when adding factual information in an article from a source other than the show, movie, or game.
  • Always cite your reference when adding a character's age.
  • The preferred format of citing your reference is:
<ref>{{cite web |url= |title= |publisher=}}</ref>

Talkpages

  • Talkpages are meant for discussion on how to improve the article. If you want to discuss about the show, use Discussions or the Discord server.
  • Always sign your post using ~~~~.
  • If creating a new topic within the talkpage, use headers with ==Title here== to title your post. If leaving a reply to a current topic, insert : on a new line before any other discussions.

Redirects and Renaming Articles

Please do not create useless redirects or rename articles without at least discussing it in the talkpage.

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