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| − | + | {{ma nav|Policies and guidelines}} |
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| + | {{policy}} |
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| + | This page is a list of guidelines on how to name pages. |
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| + | An article's name should be as ''precise'' and ''simple'' as possible. In general, the name should be the most complete, commonly used name for the subject. In the case of multiple names, it is expected that {{ma|redirect}} pages be created for the alternate names. |
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| − | Generally, article naming should give priority to what the majority of English speakers would most easily recognize with a reasonable minimum of ambiguity, while at the same time making linking to those articles easy and second nature. Beyond this general statement, the most important sections to read are the first few sections: '''Simplicity''', '''Precision''', '''Capitalization''', and '''Pluralization'''. |
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| − | The purpose of these |
+ | The primary purpose of these policies is to simplify the process of choosing a name for a new article. When writing an article on any subject, the names, words, and phrases that you think should be linked to further information should be <nowiki>[[bracketed]]</nowiki>, so that they form links to new articles. |
| + | Remember that like most of our rules, these conventions are not absolute. However, if there is a doubt about how a page should be named, it's best to follow the convention first. |
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| − | It is important to note that these are conventions, not rules written in stone. As Memory Alpha grows and changes, some conventions that once made sense may become outdated. But when in doubt, follow convention. |
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| − | ==General |
+ | == General conventions == |
| + | * '''Links are case-sensitive.''' <nowiki>[[Akira class]]</nowiki> and <nowiki>[[Akira Class]]</nowiki> link to different pages, an additional reason to make sure you are using the preferred capitalization. |
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| + | ** '''Exception:''' The first letter of a link may be lowercase – <nowiki>[[Warp drive]]</nowiki> and <nowiki>[[warp drive]]</nowiki> link to the same page. Complicated constructs using pipe links are unnecessary in this case. |
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| + | * '''Lowercase second and subsequent words.''' Unless the title of the article is a proper noun, all words except the first should be lowercase, not capitalized (i.e. {{w|Letter case#Headings and publication titles|sentence case}}). For example, use <nowiki>[[Photon torpedo]], not [[Photon Torpedo]]</nowiki>. |
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| + | * '''Use singular nouns.''' Because the wiki engine will allow you to append suffixes after a link, it's best to use the singular form of all words, unless the subject is generally always in the plural form. For example, use <nowiki>[[economics]] and [[photon torpedo]], but not [[photon torpedoes]]</nowiki>. |
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| + | * '''Use the most encyclopedic name.''' Generally, the most encyclopedic name for an article is the most complete and commonly used name. |
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| + | ** '''Use redirects.''' Use redirects for any other names or commonly used shorter names for the subject. For example, [[Quark's]] redirects to [[Quark's Bar, Grill, Gaming House and Holosuite Arcade]]. |
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| + | * '''Be precise.''' Ambiguously-named articles will likely create confusion for readers. '''See also:''' [[Memory Alpha:Disambiguation|Disambiguation]]. |
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| + | * '''Use spelled-out phrases, not acronyms.''' Well-known acronyms can be used as redirects for easy linking, like [[NASA]] or [[LCARS]]. |
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| + | * '''Don't create subpages.''' Although the wiki engine accepts the slash ("/") character in article titles, refrain from using it to suggest a hierarchy of articles. A name like <nowiki>[[Federation/Starships]]</nowiki> would be an example to avoid. |
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| + | * '''Avoid special characters.''' There are a number of characters that are not accepted by the {{ma|MediaWiki}} engine in article titles. The following characters should not be used: |
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| + | :: " # $ * + < > = @ [ ] \ ^ ` { } | ~ |
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| ⚫ | |||
| − | === Lowercase second and subsequent words === |
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| + | * '''Episode and novel titles.''' All episodes have "(episode)" at the [[Help:Linking to episodes and films|end of their title]], and if a novel has the same title as the subject it is about, you should [[Memory Alpha:Disambiguation|disambiguate]] by adding "(novel)" to its title. (Example: "[[Day of Honor (novel)]]") |
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| − | ''Convention:'' Unless the term you wish to create a page for is a proper noun or is otherwise almost always capitalized, do not capitalize second and subsequent words.<br/> |
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| + | * '''Languages.''' Languages often share their names with the culture or species that it is native to. In these cases, suffix the language name with the word "language" – but only when necessary. (Examples: [[Romulan language]], but [[Klingonese]]) |
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| − | ''Rationale and specifics'': See [[Memory Alpha:Naming conventions (capitalization)]] and [[Wikipedia:Wikipedia:Canonization|Wikipedia:Canonization]]. |
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| + | * '''Species names.''' Always use the name of an alien species in singular form (e.g. [[Andorian]], not [[Andorians]]). For examples like [[Vulcan]] for which there are several definitions, use a [[Memory Alpha:disambiguation|disambiguation]] page. |
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| − | === Prefer singular nouns === |
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| ⚫ | * '''Planet names.''' In all cases, use the most common version of a planet's proper name, (e.g. [[Earth]] instead of [[Terra]] or [[Sol III]], and [[Qo'noS]] instead of [[Klingon homeworld]]). In cases where no other name is known, use the standard "name, Roman numeral" convention (e.g. [[Malcor III]]). |
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| − | ''Convention:'' In general only create page titles that are in the singular, unless that noun is ''always'' in a plural form in English (such as [[economics]] or [[trousers]]).<br> |
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| + | * '''Ship names.''' Articles about ships that have standard prefixes should include them in the article title. (Examples: {{USS|Voyager}} and {{IKS|Bortas|Vor'cha class}}) Note that although in text the name but not the prefix is italicized, this is not indicated in the article name, so an [[Memory Alpha:Inline templates|inline template]] is used. The inline templates also take care of the rare cases where separate articles are needed for different ships, for example: {{USS|Enterprise|NCC-1701-D|-D}} goes to the article about the USS ''Enterprise'' (NCC-1701-D). |
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| − | ''Rationale and specifics'': See [[Memory Alpha:Naming conventions (pluralization)]] |
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| + | * '''System names.''' Generally, use "XXX system" as the name of an article about a star system. Do not capitalize "system". (Example: [[Sol system]], not ''Sol System'') |
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| + | * '''Lists.''' Use the plural form of the subject. (Example: <nowiki>[[Federation starships]]</nowiki>) |
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| ⚫ | |||
| − | === Use English words === |
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| − | ''Convention:'' Name your pages in English and place the native transliteration on the first line of the article unless the native form is more commonly used in English than the English form.<br> |
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| − | ''Rationale and specifics:'' See: [[Memory Alpha:Naming conventions (use English)]] |
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| − | === Use common names of persons and things === |
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| − | ''Convention:'' Use the most common name of a person or thing that does not conflict with the names of other people or things. <br/> |
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| − | ''Rationale and specifics'': [[Memory Alpha:Naming conventions (common names)]] |
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| − | === Be precise when necessary === |
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| − | ''Convention:'' Please, do not write or put an article on a page with an ambiguously-named title as though that title had no other meanings.<br> |
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| − | ''Rationale and specifics:'' See: [[Memory Alpha:Disambiguation]] |
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| − | === Prefer spelled-out phrases to acronyms === |
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| − | ''Convention:'' Avoid the use of acronyms in page naming unless the term you are naming is almost exclusively known only by its acronym ''and'' is widely known and used in that form ([[NASA]] and [[radar]] are good examples).<br> |
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| − | ''Rationale and specifics:'' See: [[Memory Alpha:Naming conventions (acronyms)]] |
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| − | ===Do not use an article name that suggests a hierarchy of articles=== |
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| − | Since [[List of Federation Starships]] could just as well be considered a subdivision of [[Federation]] as of [[starships]], do not use a name like [[Federation/Starships]] (a so-called subpage). |
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| − | === Be careful with special characters=== |
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| − | Some special characters can not be used, or can, but give problems. For example you should not use a piping character (|), an asterisk (*), an ampersand (&), or curly braces ({}) or square braces ([]) in a name. See [[Wikipedia:Naming conventions (technical restrictions)]]. |
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| + | [[Category:Memory Alpha guidelines|Naming conventions]] |
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| − | Also, for naming pages the restriction to ISO-8859-1 is strict, no characters that are not ISO-8859-1 may be used. See [[Wikipedia:Wikipedia:Special_characters|Wikipedia:Special_characters]] for a list of non-ASCII characters that are allowed. |
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| + | [[de:Memory Alpha:Namenskonventionen]] |
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| − | |||
| + | [[it:Memory Alpha:Convenzioni di nomenclatura]] |
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| + | [[nl:Memory Alpha:Naamgevings richtlijn]] |
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| − | |||
| − | === Historical names and titles === |
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| − | '''Convention:''' In general, use the most common form of the name ''used'' in English (not necessarily the name ''translated'' into English) and [[Memory Alpha:Disambiguation|disambiguate]] the names of monarchs of modern countries in the format <nowiki>[[{Monarch's first name and ordinal} of {Country}]]</nowiki> (example: [[Edward I of England]]).<br> |
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| − | ''Rationale and specifics:'' See: [[Wikipedia:Naming conventions (names and titles)]] and [[Wikipedia:History standards]] |
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| − | |||
| − | === Use plain numbers only for years === |
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| − | ''Convention:'' In general the use of number-only page names should only be used for [[Timeline]] entries. So call it <nowiki>[[NCC-1701]], not [[1701]], and [[One]], not [[1]]</nowiki>. That way, if we ever want to add a page about what happened in the year 1701, we won't have a collision with the other uses of numbers.<br> |
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| − | ''Exception:'' A very small number of episodes have had only numbers in their titles, like [[TNG]]: "[[11001001]]" and [[VGR]]: "[[11:59]]". These are the sole exceptions to the rule. |
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| − | === Languages=== |
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| − | ''Convention:'' Languages which share their names with some other thing should be suffixed with "language", in the case of spoken languages. If the language's name is unique, there is no need for any suffix. For example, [[Romulan language]] and [[Vulcan language]], but [[Klingonese]] and [[Sanskrit]]. |
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| − | |||
| − | === Ship names === |
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| − | ''Convention:'' Articles about ships that have standard prefixes should include them in the article title; for example, [[USS Voyager|USS ''Voyager'']], [[IKS Borta|IKS ''Bortas'']]. Note that although in text the name but not the prefix is italicized, this is not indicated in the article name, so pipe links are used, e.g. for the above <nowiki>[[USS Voyager|USS ''Voyager'']], [[IKS Bortas|IKS ''Bortas'']]</nowiki>. In the rare case where separate articles are needed for different ships of the same name, append the registry number in parentheses; for example, [[USS Defiant (NX-74205)|USS ''Defiant'' (NX-74205)]], [[USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D)|USS ''Enterprise'' (NCC-1701-D)]]. Articles about ships that do not have standard prefixes should be titled as (''Name'') <nowiki>({Nationality} {ship type})</nowiki>; for example, [[Prakesh (Cardassian warship)|Cardassian warship ''Prakesh'']] (<nowiki>[[Prakesh (Cardassian warship)|Cardassian warship ''Prakesh'']]</nowiki>. |
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| − | |||
| − | === Klingon Names === |
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| − | |||
| − | === Bajoran Names === |
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| ⚫ | |||
| − | |||
| − | === Planet Names === |
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| ⚫ | |||
| − | |||
| − | ===Lists=== |
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| − | ''Convention:'' Put a list of Xs as [[list of Xs]], rather than [[Xs]], [[famous Xs]], [[listing of important Xs]], [[list of noted Xs]], [[list of all Xs]], etc. |
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| − | |||
| − | ---- |
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| ⚫ | |||
Revision as of 16:43, 19 November 2015
Please read through the policy below to familiarize yourself with our common practices and rules.
If you have any questions, suggestions, or complaints, please post them on the talk page.
This page is a list of guidelines on how to name pages.
An article's name should be as precise and simple as possible. In general, the name should be the most complete, commonly used name for the subject. In the case of multiple names, it is expected that redirect pages be created for the alternate names.
The primary purpose of these policies is to simplify the process of choosing a name for a new article. When writing an article on any subject, the names, words, and phrases that you think should be linked to further information should be [[bracketed]], so that they form links to new articles.
Remember that like most of our rules, these conventions are not absolute. However, if there is a doubt about how a page should be named, it's best to follow the convention first.
General conventions
- Links are case-sensitive. [[Akira class]] and [[Akira Class]] link to different pages, an additional reason to make sure you are using the preferred capitalization.
- Exception: The first letter of a link may be lowercase – [[Warp drive]] and [[warp drive]] link to the same page. Complicated constructs using pipe links are unnecessary in this case.
- Lowercase second and subsequent words. Unless the title of the article is a proper noun, all words except the first should be lowercase, not capitalized (i.e. sentence case). For example, use [[Photon torpedo]], not [[Photon Torpedo]].
- Use singular nouns. Because the wiki engine will allow you to append suffixes after a link, it's best to use the singular form of all words, unless the subject is generally always in the plural form. For example, use [[economics]] and [[photon torpedo]], but not [[photon torpedoes]].
- Use the most encyclopedic name. Generally, the most encyclopedic name for an article is the most complete and commonly used name.
- Use redirects. Use redirects for any other names or commonly used shorter names for the subject. For example, Quark's redirects to Quark's Bar, Grill, Gaming House and Holosuite Arcade.
- Be precise. Ambiguously-named articles will likely create confusion for readers. See also: Disambiguation.
- Use spelled-out phrases, not acronyms. Well-known acronyms can be used as redirects for easy linking, like NASA or LCARS.
- Don't create subpages. Although the wiki engine accepts the slash ("/") character in article titles, refrain from using it to suggest a hierarchy of articles. A name like [[Federation/Starships]] would be an example to avoid.
- Avoid special characters. There are a number of characters that are not accepted by the MediaWiki engine in article titles. The following characters should not be used:
- " # $ * + < > = @ [ ] \ ^ ` { } | ~
Specific conventions
- Episode and novel titles. All episodes have "(episode)" at the end of their title, and if a novel has the same title as the subject it is about, you should disambiguate by adding "(novel)" to its title. (Example: "Day of Honor (novel)")
- Languages. Languages often share their names with the culture or species that it is native to. In these cases, suffix the language name with the word "language" – but only when necessary. (Examples: Romulan language, but Klingonese)
- Species names. Always use the name of an alien species in singular form (e.g. Andorian, not Andorians). For examples like Vulcan for which there are several definitions, use a disambiguation page.
- Planet names. In all cases, use the most common version of a planet's proper name, (e.g. Earth instead of Terra or Sol III, and Qo'noS instead of Klingon homeworld). In cases where no other name is known, use the standard "name, Roman numeral" convention (e.g. Malcor III).
- Ship names. Articles about ships that have standard prefixes should include them in the article title. (Examples: USS Voyager and IKS Bortas) Note that although in text the name but not the prefix is italicized, this is not indicated in the article name, so an inline template is used. The inline templates also take care of the rare cases where separate articles are needed for different ships, for example: USS Enterprise-D goes to the article about the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D).
- Klingon names. In most circumstances, it is not necessary to specify a Klingon by their full family title. (Example: Worf, not Worf, son of Mogh) This applies to other alien cultures with similar practices.
- Bajoran names. As in accordance with Bajoran tradition, the precedence should go first to the family name, and then the given name (e.g. Kira Nerys).
- System names. Generally, use "XXX system" as the name of an article about a star system. Do not capitalize "system". (Example: Sol system, not Sol System)
- Lists. Use the plural form of the subject. (Example: [[Federation starships]])
If you have another specific issue that should be added to this list, please bring it up on the talk page.