Help:Style guide

This style guide aims to outline some basic formatting guidelines for this wiki. This guide covers many different areas of editing on this wiki, and serves to introduce newer editors to the style of the site, as well as establishing some basic standards to encourage consistency and practicality in editing. This article is a guideline, and does not aim to dictate the behaviour of editors, but rather to encourage consistency and establish a reference for those uncertain of the wiki's style.

The standards set out in this page are not set in stone, although they are mostly common to those found on many other well-established wikis, including Wikipedia. Because this page represents a guideline for the entire community, if you disagree with or question something found here, please discuss it on the guide's talk page, rather than simply editing the guide.

Writing
It is important to keep a good standard of writing on the wiki. The quality of the writing is almost as important as the information itself, and correct spelling and grammar is critical to presenting the wiki as a quality source of reliable information.

In general, all non-talk page contributions to this site should take the form of an essay or article. If a page reads like a personal blog, an excited game review or a text message, it needs to be fixed.


 * Write from an impersonal perspective. Do not use "I" or "we" when writing articles.
 * State just the facts. - Try not to use too many words like "fantastic" or "awesome". Try not to include personal perspective. Try replacing "This is a really awesome card, you should get it now!!!" with "This is a very effective card for any deck."
 * Be neutral. - Try not to include individual opinions in articles. If there are conflicting opinions on a matter, mention them both. Don't take sides, or tell the reader what to think - simply supply the information for them to decide for themselves.
 * Check your spelling and grammar. - Do your best to use correct grammar, and don't use abbreviations like "u" instead of "you" - although the generic you is adviced to be avoided as well. Don't use run-on sentences. Always check for errors before saving your edit.
 * You may use American or British spelling in original writing, but choose words that will be familiar to English speakers of any nationality. Try to use the same spelling within a page. Always match the spelling of specific card titles or text.
 * Common grammar mistakes or points of confusion can be found at Help:Grammar.

Capitalisation
Capitalisation should aim to obey the normal rules for the English language (sentence case), while also including capitalisation from the game itself. As a rule, the most important thing is to obey one or the other. However, it should be noted that even within the game itself usage is not always uniform.


 * Card titles - Card titles should always follow the capitalisation found in-game (and in the wiki's data pages). For example, use "Cone of Cold", not "Cone of cold" or "cone of cold".
 * Classes, races and titles - These should not be capitalised except when used as a proper noun, or at the start of a sentence. For example, use "The orc warlock Gul'dan", rather than "The Orc Warlock Gul'dan". This is standard English grammar.

Dates
This wiki welcomes editors and readers from many parts of the world. For this reason dates should be written in a form that is unambiguous and clear to readers following any date convention.


 * When stating dates numerically, such as in tables and templates, the preferred form is YYYY-MM-DD (for example, 2013-11-22). This format is unambiguous and facilitates sorting.
 * When stating dates in shorthand, as in most article sentences, the preferred form is D-M-YYYY (for example, 22 November 2013). This format is unambiguous and agrees with the wiki's date format, as seen in signatures.
 * Most importantly, the use of either MM-DD-YYYY or DD-MM-YYYY is strongly discouraged. These forms are highly ambiguous and may convey different dates to readers accustomed to different conventions. A date such as 10-12-2013 could mean 12 October 2013, or 10 December 2013, depending on the expectation of the reader, and presents no possible means of determining the intended date. For this reason an unambiguous format is preferred.

Section headings
Create section headings using == (two equal signs). Sections within sections should generally each add one extra equal sign, to produce nesting sections. Do not use = (a single equal sign), as this is the size of header for the page title itself.

Capitalise section headings as you would a normal sentence in the English language. This means capitalising only the first letter of the heading, and the first letter of certain words, such as "Hearthstone" or "Blizzard". For example, use "Strategy and tactics" rather than "Strategy and Tactics". Section headings should following the wiki's normal rules for capitalisation. Note that this is contrary to what you'll read in most media, but is a standard on wikis, including wikipedia.

Creating new articles
Be careful and thoughtful when creating a new article.


 * Check the article doesn't already exist. - Check for similar names, different spellings, etc.
 * Check the article's subject isn't already covered on another page. - Search related pages to see if the subject is already written about.
 * Consider whether the subject merits its own page. - Many details of Hearthstone are small and simple enough that it may be easier for readers to read about them as part of a larger article. Only create a separate article for a subject if its content is substantial, or it doesn't naturally fit into another larger article.
 * Consider links, and how readers will find the article. - Ideally, include links to the new article from other pages. You can also add a brief summary or dummy section on a larger page, which then links to the new article for more information. Choosing an appropriate name for the article is also important, allowing readers to find it easily.

Naming

 * Choose an article's name carefully. - Consider the different possible names, and try to decide the best one for the article. Try to choose a name readers will expect to find, or think to search for. This makes it easier for readers to find the page.
 * In general, use the singular for article titles. - For example, use "class" instead of "classes", and "quest" instead of "quests". There are some exceptions to this, such as certain card lists.
 * Capitalise article titles as you would a normal sentence in the English language. - Article names should follow the same rules as section headings.

Talk pages

 * New topics should be placed at the bottom of the page. - This can be easily done by clicking the '+' symbol next to the 'Edit' button at the top of the page.
 * Sign your comments. - Add your signature to any comment you post on a talk page, by typing four tildes ( ~ ) at the end of your comment. This will automatically be converted to your username and the current time and date, like this: User (talk) 11:51, 22 November 2013 (UTC). If you don't sign your comments, it will be harder to read the page, but your identity and time of posting will still be recorded.
 * Indent replies. - When posting a comment in reply to what someone else has written, indent your comment by adding an additional colon to the start of your comment. This makes it easier to distinguish separate comments.
 * Start each new section with a section heading. - This helps keep discussions separate. Use a short heading to explain what the section is about, such as "New table". Using the + plus sign next to "Edit source" or "Create source" on the top right gives you a form which does this automatically using a section title you provide.
 * Be civil, and respectful to your fellow editors. Assume good faith. - Respect other editors' opinions, even if they are different from your own. Assume good faith by expecting that any editor who takes the time to edit a page is doing so with the intention of improving the wiki.
 * Do not modify fellow editors' comments. - While all editors should expect their contributions on content pages to be edited by others, the opposite is true on talk pages. Part of respecting fellow editors is allowing their words to be seen as written during discussions. One of the very few exceptions to this rule is when proposed content is hosted in talk pages for collaboration.
 * Do not modify your comments after the fact. - Similar to the last, do not edit your own comments after the fact to distort the flow of discussion. Very minor edits, mainly adding links without changing wording, are acceptable within reason. Generally, the better option is to simply make a new comment.

For examples of proper indentation, see Wikipedia:Indentation. For more extensive guidelines, see Wikipedia:Talk page guidelines.

If you post a message on a talk page, you might like to add that page to your watchlist, so that you can easily see when further comments have been made.

Do not have the same conversation on multiple talk pages. If you wish to gain the attention of readers from multiple sources (such as when proposing merging two pages), post the discussion on one page, and direct readers from the other to that discussion.

Using different talk pages

 * Use article talk pages to discuss changes to that article
 * Use user talk pages to leave messages for that user

Philosophy

 * Be bold - If you see something that needs doing, do it. Do your best to adhere to the guidelines on this page, and be respectful of other editors, but do not let that deter you from improving the wiki. Edits can be easily reverted, so it's very hard to do anything that can't be fixed.
 * …but please be careful! - Always do your best to consider the consequences of your edits, and whether they are the correct thing to do. See something you can't understand? It may be an error that simply requires fixing. Or, it may be part of a larger situation which you aren't aware of. If in doubt, check around, and see if you discover a reason for the state of the page. Check that page's talk page and review the edit history, especially for comments which might explain things.
 * Be considerate, civil and respectful to your fellow editors. Assume good faith. - We're all working on this wiki together. While opinions and approaches may vary, we should all be trying to achieve the same goal - the improvement of this wiki. Try to leave personal preference and disagreements out of it. Assume good faith by expecting that any editor who takes the time to edit a page is doing so with the intention of improving the wiki.
 * If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly and redistributed at will, then do not submit it here. - Understand that anything you post will most likely be edited, adjusted and eventually changed beyond all recognition - even if the edit you made was good. In some cases, your edits may be reverted. Try not to take this personally, but try to understand the reasons for the changes, and assume good faith on the part of those editors. If you're unable to understand an edit, or believe it to be mistaken, you can always post a (polite) message on the user's talk page, or the talk page for the article, asking for clarification. Understand that you are contributing to an evolving resource of information, a communal construct comprised of the edits of numerous editors, none of whom can individually claim to own the wiki.

The wiki is like an enormous city of knowledge, composed of an uncountable number of pages, sentences, words and characters. It is made possible only through the combined efforts of all its editors, whether long-time contributors or simply passing readers who took a moment to fix a grammatical error or correct some out of date information. Over time, this trickle of contributions will build to something far greater than any one editor alone could have achieved. Enjoy being part of this collective phenomenon, this small component of the global wikisphere, and this unique community of editors.