Ikariam talk:Manual of style

Applying style
Some pages don't use everything we wrote in the MOS. If you find a page with a large table which needs to be formatted according to the MOS, let me reformat it. It takes me less then one minute. Also, if you want me to add a column with generic info or remove a column, just report a page using a report tool or leave me a message. rmedic 11:23, October 21, 2009 (UTC)


 * The MOS was just started (and not finalized) because of those pages - so we cant expect all older pages to meet the new standards yet, until we 1st decide what the standards should be, and then have to go and apply them to all pages (as we can). -- 15:59, October 21, 2009 (UTC)

Spelling
I think that we should use the British spelling for everything (ex. Well construction instead of Well Digging) and that' s because most people outside the US and UK have an English-speaking account only in the Test server test.ikariam.org (like me), which uses the British spelling. However, we should put redirects for any American-spelled word and put them in in the articles. Ifaigios 21:04, November 3, 2009 (UTC)


 * The only problem with that is there are some (like me) that no longer have an account on the .org or the Test server (and at the moment they are in a flux on their spellings - they used to say Well Digging and changed it to Well Construction and the .com kept it at Well Digging. If the Test server is going to keep changing names / spellings, then this is not the way to go, because we will be doing nothing but changing spellings every patch, if they keep this up.
 * Do not get me wrong I will agree to this if all agree to it -- I am just pointing out the only problem I can see with this idea - at the present time. -- 20:38, November 3, 2009 (UTC)


 * The Test servers follows the spelling of all the other .org servers. However, don't forget that the Team Leader of every community can change the translation anytime, so maybe the .com servers will be changed in the future. For example, in the Greek servers where I play, the Phalanx initially wasn't changed to Hoplite, because in Greek, Hoplite means Marksman/Carabineer, so there would be a confusion with the Sulphur Carabineer. But finally they have changed thier mind and they translated the word normally, without having to wait for a new patch for the new translation to be applied.


 * And finally I think it' s good for someone to have an account in the Test-server to see first and be familiarized with the changes every new patch brings.
 * Ifaigios 21:04, November 3, 2009 (UTC)


 * I did start my account (when I came back to playing again) on the test server until Patch 0.3.2 was released on the .com servers. We did at 1st start renaming the pages until we realized that .com did not change their names, and some of the .org non-test server names do not match the Test server names.


 * This is why I removed some of my ideas on the main page of the MOS, because I did not want people to think my proposals were rules yet until we can discuss / agree / disagree / vote on official policy.


 * p.s. I will start a new account whenever the next patch goes online on the Test server.
 * -- 21:43, November 3, 2009 (UTC)

Originally, on the main page of the MOS I had proposed the idea that we use both US and UK, meaning we do not change the way things are spelled (US or UK) so long as they are spelled correctly in that language, this is why most of our pages are still in the UK spelling Sulphur, Sulphur pit, and Sulphur Carabineer while Sulfur is the redirect. Well Digging is the Original spelling so it should remain and Well Construction is the redirect. Again, this is / was just a proposed idea. -- 20:47, November 3, 2009 (UTC)

US English vs UK English
This is really extremely simple. Seeing as there aren't all that many differences, either kind works, because we can all either look it up, or just know what it means. But please, don't use shorthand without a definition (unless its really obvious to everybody) and try your best to spell everything right! 71.35.151.37 19:20, November 28, 2009 (UTC)


 * The reason we have this section (in general) is in the future to prevent edit wars over the few words that are not the same Sulfur vs Sulphur or Color vs Colour (we have had these wars back in our beginnings, back in 2008 when the wiki 1st started. Back then everything was spelled in the UK English because .com was just starting and did not have many pages translated over to US English, but now .com and .org have Wine Cellars and Wine Press reversed from each other - so which way do we go .com or .org etc --  00:56, November 29, 2009 (UTC)

Time to add something
I think that finally it's time to enter some guidelines here. I suggest:


 * 1) The headings format to be with spaces before and after the heading.

eg. == Archer == instead of ==Archer==


 * 1) Using of the American spelling of in-game names (from us.ikariam.com), with an exception for sulphur
 * 2) Using names as exactly spelled in-game, eg. Governor's Residence, not Governor's residence
 * 3) Rest of pages, with multiple-word names that are 'not mentioned in-game, to have all their starting letters in lowercase (except for the first)
 * 4) Categories to be in plural

Do you agree on these so that we can add them to the MOS? Ifaigios 09:51, June 4, 2010 (UTC)


 * I agree -- 18:03, June 4, 2010 (UTC)