TRMN:Naming conventions
 Please read through the policy below to familiarize yourself with our common practices and rules. |
- The following guide is adapted from the document written and executed by Memory Alpha.
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. [[Medusa-class]] and [[Medusa-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 – [[Captain]] and [[captain]] 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).
- 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.
- 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, 1SL redirects to First Space Lord.
- 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 MEDUSA.
- 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 [[Manticore/Ships]] 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
- Ship names. Articles about ships should always include the prefix and the name, along with the hull classification symbol in parenthesis. (Examples: HMS Merlin (CA-270) and GNS Covington (CLAC-01)) 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. (Examples: {{hms}} and {{gns}})
- Lists. Use the plural form of the subject. (Example: Naval Directives)
If you have another specific issue that should be added to this list, please bring it up on the talk page.