LGBTQIA+ Wiki:Style Guide

This document provides guidelines for the style and presentation of LGBTA+ Wiki articles. Before you start writing an article read the new page guidelines to make sure the page is relevant, and allowed on this wiki.

Article Text and Sections
All articles must be written in English. American spelling should be used unless it is a direct quote. The definition of a term should preferably be more than a single sentence. A short paragraph or two is preferable. Do not directly copy/paste the definition from somewhere else without additions or alterations, because 99% of the time it does not meet our criteria for articles.

The text of articles should be written in the third person, in a formal style. The word "you" should never be used. Remember that the formal pronouns for a hypothetical person is "one". When writing, slang, colloquial expressions, and casual writing should be avoided. Obvious grammatical and spelling mistakes are not allowed. (See the spelling and grammar section for more information.)

When writing you should assume that the person reading your page has little to no knowledge of this term, the LGBT+ community, and internal LGBT+ politics. Explain your topic from the ground up, do not use overly complex terminology unless it's necessary. Present your article objectively. You should describe what the term is, who identifies with it, and why. Do not bring up "discourse" or similar things in the article unless that discourse is important to the formation of term as we know it (such as the case with allosexual) in which case put it in the 'history' section.

Swear words are only allowed if they are part of an identity's name (see: genderf*ck), in which case they should be censored with an asterisk on the vowels. Swear words are also allowed if they are part of someone's username, in which case they can appear uncensored. Terms related to sex (the biological concept and the act of sex) are not swear words so long as the words used are suitable for a medical setting (no slang terms).

History
History sections are optional. If a history section is provided it must include who coined the term, when they did so, and on what site, as well as any other interesting information about the origin of this term. Sources are required.

Articles should not include speculation on the origin of a term.

If a history section is short it can be combined with the flag section.

Flag and Images
Include a pride flag if one exists. Do not link to a flag. The image must appear on the page. High quality PNGs are preferred.

All images must be captioned. The main image should appear at the top of the page. Image should either be 180 pixels in width (the default) or 220 pixels in width. The height should be whatever height allows for one of those lengths.

A written flag section should include who designed the flag, when, and color meanings if any exist. Sources are required. This information should not be in the image's caption.

If you reference a flag in the text you MUST include a picture of the flag. Do not create a flag section is there is no image in the article. Do not say "there is no flag". If there is no flag then do not say anything about it at all.

If the flag section is short you can combine it with the history section section.

Do Not Include
These are sections that should never be put in an article:
 * 1) Do not mention the "possible pronouns" or "recommended pronouns" for a gender. Any gender can use any pronouns.
 * 2) Do not include an "also see" section. If other identities are relevant they should be mentioned in the body of the article, making an "also see" section unnecessary.
 * 3) Do not make WIP pages. They will be deleted.
 * 4) Do not include WIP sections. They will be removed.
 * 5) Do not talk to other users within an article or ask other users to do things within the article. (Do not say "idk how to add images can someone else do it" or "if someone else wants to make the flag please do that".)
 * 6) Do not beg the reader to do something (Do not say "please respect people's identities").
 * 7) Do not talk about how one can identify however they want. This does not have to be said.
 * 8) Do not address the reader in any way. Articles should be written purely as an accumulation of knowledge with no intended reader.
 * 9) Do not say "it doesn't have a flag". If it doesn't have a flag then don't bring it up at all.

Text Formatting

 * The first sentence must be a definition of the term, and must include the title of the article (making it the first word if at all possible), any alternate terms, alternate spellings, and abbreviations should be placed immediately after it.
 * The title of the article must be bolded. Any alternate terms or spelled must also be bolded. Only the first mention of the name should be bolded.
 * Do not bold any words other then the cases above.
 * Words in other languages should be italicized.
 * Titles of books, movies, games, and other media should be italicized.
 * Do not italicize random words. Italics should only be used for speech emphasis or in the cases listed above.
 * Do not type any words in all caps or in non-standard type registers.
 * Do not replace letters in words with numbers, symbols, or slashes.
 * Do not do any other things that would prevent a text to speech program from being able to read the text.
 * Double quotes ("...") are preferable in most cases. Single quotes ('...') should be used for inner quotes (quotes inside quotes).
 * Do not add unnecessarily large spaces between paragraphs. One press of the enter key is enough.

Links

 * Add links to the first instance of a different topic mentioned in the article.
 * Do not add excessive links to the same article. Multiple links to the same article should only be done on long pages where there is a significant amount of space since the previous link.
 * If possible, avoid placing two links directly next to each other such that they look like one link.
 * Do not add links to pages outside this wiki. Instead use sources.

Title

 * For sexualities the title should always be the adjective form of the word. (As in, the title is "asexual", not "asexuality".)
 * For page titles with multiple words all words should be capitalized.
 * Do not put alternate terms or spellings in the title. (As in, the title is "polysexual", not "polysexual/polisexual".) Just choose one.
 * When there are alternate names for a term that can be used interchangeably, the title of the article, and the name used in the article should be the more common name, or (if there are two names that are roughly equal in popularity) the name that was coined first.

Spelling and Grammar
Writing should be in formal English. Spelling and grammatical errors are highly undesirable, as they can create the impression of an unprofessional or inaccurate text.

Most of this should go without saying but just to be clear:
 * Always use full sentences.
 * Capitalize the beginning of each sentence.
 * Capitalize proper nouns. (Names of genders and sexualities are not proper nouns).
 * Do not capitalize random words. (Names of genders and sexualities are not proper nouns).
 * Put a period at the end of all sentences.
 * Do not use exclamation points.
 * Use proper apostrophes for contractions.
 * The oxford comma should always be used whenever relevant.
 * Do not use slang words, casual shortening of words, or casual abbreviations.
 * The months in all dates should be spelled out. Do not use month abbreviations. Do not use numbers for months. Dates should always be stated as month, day, year. (Example: November 26, 2020.)
 * American English spelling should be used.

Point of View and Pronouns Used
All articles should be written in a formal, third person, present tense.
 * Never write in the first person. First person quotes should be avoided.
 * Use the pronouns "one" and "they" when talking about a hypothetic person.
 * Even if the gender of a hypothetical person is established "they/them" pronouns should still be used. Other pronouns should only be used if the pronouns used are directly relevant to the topic of the article (see he/him lesbian).
 * When talking about a single, hypothetical person, the use of the singular "themself" is acceptable.
 * Never use the pronoun "you" to talk about a hypothetic person. Use "they" or "one".
 * Do not use neopronouns to talk about a hypothetical person. Use "they" or "one".
 * Never use "he or she" or "s/he" or anything similar.
 * When talking about a flag's meaning do not use words like "our" or "we".

Language Use
Here are several more specific language use cases:
 * The word non-binary should be spelled with a dash. (The exception is when the word is part of a larger word such as deminonbinary.)
 * Do not say "NB" or "enby". Say "non-binary".
 * Do not say "enbys" or "non-binarys". Say "non-binary people".
 * Do not say "transmen"/"transwomen" or "trans-men"/"trans-women". Say "trans men"/"trans women". The same applies when talking about cis men/women.
 * Do not shorten the words masculine and feminine to "masc" and "fem".
 * Do not use the words "folk", "folket", "folks", or "folx". Just say "person" or "people".
 * Do not use "&" in place of "and".
 * For numbers twelve and less, they should be spelled out (with the exception of dates). Numbers 13 or greater should be written with numerals.
 * When talking about identities, especially genders, avoid using doubtful language such as "they believe they are...".
 * Don't misgender people when talking about them in history section. If in doubt use the person's name or use they/them pronouns.