WiKirby:Naming policy: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 15:07, 8 July 2020

The choosing of a name for an article is a big deal, particularly since article names will appear first to the reader's eyes when searching for information or reading the article itself. As such, there are important considerations to make when choosing a name for an article. The following is the WiKirby Naming policy.

Basic format

When naming a new article, the title should match the official name of the subject as closely as possible. This includes any oddities regarding spelling or punctuation that are present in the official source. If these oddities result in a name that is not easy to type (such as I³ and Extra Planet β), redirect pages should be created that match the title as closely as possible (e.g. "I3" and "Extra Planet Beta" for the above examples).

For articles that are not based on official names, the article's title should have its first word capitalized and subsequent words in lowercase (unless the subsequent word in question is a name like "Kirby").

Abbreviations of names (such as Bandee in place of Bandana Waddle Dee) should never be used as main article titles, nor should they be used in article text except in cases where saving space is necessary, such as in some tables, or to avoid overuse of the name in a paragraph.

Use of parentheses

On occasion, article titles may need to have qualifiers in their titles, to differentiate articles with the same name from each-other. (e.g. Kirby, Kirby (species), and Kirby (series)). There are a couple different policies in place regarding which article can go without a parenthesis qualifier depending on the following factors:

If any one particular subject has much greater prevalence or weight than the others, (such as Parasol the copy ability versus the less-prevalent Parasol (enemy)) the dominant article should be the one without parentheses in its title. In this case, it is recommended that a disambiguation page be created with the common name followed by the phrase "(disambiguation)". (such as Kirby (disambiguation))
If subjects are more-or-less equal in weight, (such as Grass Land (Kirby's Dream Land 2), Grass Land (Kirby's Dream Land 3), and Grass Land (Kirby's Epic Yarn)) none of the main articles should go without a parentheses qualifier, and the main title should serve directly as the disambiguation page (e.g. Grass Land).

Regardless of weight and prevalence, internal links to an article with a parentheses qualifier should be piped to prevent that qualifier from appearing to the reader in most cases. Exceptions mainly involve the use of links in the {{About}} and {{Distinguish}} templates.

Qualifier standards

While the editor is at some degree of liberty regarding what to put in a parentheses qualifier, there are a few standards regarding them:

For articles about specific games, the full name of the game should be used (e.g. "(Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards)" instead of "(Kirby 64)" or "(Crystal Shards)".
For copy abilities, use the qualifier "(copy ability)".
For more common terms, use lowercase words such as "(enemy)", "(item)", or "(object)".
For articles relating to the anime series Kirby: Right Back at Ya! use the qualifier "(anime)".

Priority in naming

In accordance with the Localization policy, article names should correspond to official localized nomencalture whenever possible. Sometimes, however, there are several localized names, no localized names, or no official names at all for the subject matter. When naming an article, the following procedure should be used for the subject:

In-game names. Newer names have higher priority in most cases.
Nintendo-published promotional material, including instruction manuals, website blurbs, and Nintendo-published strategy guides. If there are multiple names used among these sources, those that are most distinctive and commonly used take priority.
Any officially licensed non-Nintendo-published strategy guide. If there are multiple names used among these sources, those that are most distinctive and commonly used take priority.
Internal file names. Use only as a last priority, as these names tend to be either shorthands or early development names. However, these may be used as additional sources to back up names from point 3. These are also preferable to non-English names.
Any non-English official name, following the four above priorities as with English names. Romanized Japanese names take priority here.
Conjectural names. Use only if there is no official name of any kind to be found.

In the case of internal file names, the {{DataTitle}} template should be used after the title in the article text to mark it as taken from internal game data.
In the case of a foreign title, the template {{ForeignTitle}} should be used to mark it as from a different localization.
In the case of no official title, the template {{Title}} should be used to mark it as conjecural. Conjectural titles should be basic descriptors of the subject in question, and not too much of a stretch from its appearance.
In the case of music, the latest title should be used only as it applies to its original incarnation, and not any remixes.

In all these cases, articles should be re-evaluated and renamed as appropriate whenever new names are discovered or given out. In the event of multiple official names, other names not used as the title should be mentioned in the article, and redirect pages should also be created to accommodate them. Names in languages other than English should be handled in the "Names in other languages" sections of articles, and use of them in main article text is discouraged.

WiKirby's help and policy

Basic help