Red Faction Wiki Editing Guide

From Red Faction Wiki
Revision as of 05:41, 1 February 2024 by Goober (talk | contribs)

This page will detail established conventions and standards that should be adhered to for pages on our wiki.

Golden rule: If you have valuable information to contribute, please do so - even if you're not sure the best way to present it. We can always handle formatting later, getting the information on the page is the most important part.

Guiding Principles

The Red Faction Wiki endevours to be the internet's most extensive source of accurate and reliable information pertaining to the Red Faction series and universe.

Broadly, the wiki should cover all of the below groups of information:

  • Series/universe lore and canon: Accurate, verified information void of speculation to the greatest extent possible. Where any amount of speculation is necessary to effectively convey a subject, it must be clearly identified as such, and never stated as fact.
  • Technical information: Tutorials, editor documentation, file format documentation, etc. - essentially anything a person might need to know if they're curious about the game at a technical level, or wish to create custom content for it.

Naming Conventions

Page Titles

Specificity

In general, page titles should be what a given topic is known and/or referred to as in existing media. If a topic has another name (or a more specific name, such as weapons with a model number), that should be included on the page but generally not in the page title. If the topic in question has an infobox, the infobox title should have the full "proper" name for the topic.

Example: Rocket Launcher is the name of the page, but URL-6T Ultor Tactical Rocket Launcher is the "proper" name for the weapon, so that's what is included in the title of the infobox.

Disambiguation

Sometimes, multiple distinct topics will have the same name, a good example is that both Red Faction and Red Faction: Guerrilla have a weapon named "Rocket Launcher". In cases such as this, preference for the page name Rocket Launcher should be given to the earliest released title (in chronological order) - in this case, RF1. As a result, RF1's weapon gets the page title Rocket Launcher, while RF:G's weapon gets the page title Rocket Launcher (RF:G).

Note: When this occurs, references of, in this case "Rocket Launcher (RF:G)", on wiki pages should be formatted to appear without the disambiguation tag. In this case, this would be accomplished by linking to the RF:G Rocket Launcher like this:
[[Rocket Launcher (RF:G)|Rocket Launcher]]

When disambiguation tags associated with an RF title are necessary, always ensure they are consistent where possible. Here are our standard disambiguation tags:

  • (RF1)
  • (RF2)
  • (RF:G)
  • (RF:A)
  • (RFNG)
  • (RF1M)
  • (RF2M)
  • (RF:GM)
  • (RF:B)
  • (RF:O)
  • (AFOM)
  • (FR)
  • (D4)
  • (RF:C)
  • (RF:BEAST)

Disambiguation may also be necessary in cases not specifically related to titles. An example is the character of Parker, vs the sector of Parker. In such cases, a disambiguation tag should be chosen that is as clear as possible, short/concise, and adheres to established wiki standards (if any relevant ones exist).

Page Layouts

Bold Page Names

The first time the page's name is mentioned in the article (which will typically be in the introduction), it must be bolded. If the topic the page is focused on has a more specific name than the name of the page, bold the entire specific name.

Example: The introduction on the Rocket Launcher page has "URL-6T Ultor Tactical Rocket Launcher" bolded.

Introduction Sections

Apart from very few exceptions (like index pages), any content pages on the wiki should have an introduction section which clearly and concisely describes the topic of the page.

Examples:
Red Faction has an introduction section that describes the game and very briefly categorizes its legacy.
Geo-Mod has an introduction section that describes the entire topic, including the two distinct versions of the engine.
Nanotech Grenade Launcher has an introduction section that plainly describes what it is.

Trivia Sections

Trivia sections are a common tool to convey information relevant to a topic, which could be interesting, but does not fit elsewhere on a page. Trivia sections are allowed on the Red Faction Wiki, but should not be used as a "catch all" for information that would be better presented elsewhere. Before putting anything in a page's trivia section, you should try to fit it into the body of the page. If it truly doesn't fit anywhere else, put it in the trivia section.

Additionally, trivia sections should not contain unfounded and/or purely speculative information.

Template Usage

Check Category:Templates for an up-to-date listing (by subcategory) of all standard templates in use on the wiki.

Infoboxes

Infoboxes should be used as much as is practical. Some of the most common infobox templates we use are listed below, but please visit Category:Infobox Templates for a full listing.