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. As reminders:
 * You do NOT have to ask to make a page.
 * You do NOT have to personally identify as something to make a page for it. (As long as you are able to accurately understand the concept.)
 * A pronoun set is not a gender. Any "gender" pages that are just defined as someone who uses a given pronoun set will be deleted. We do not make pages for individual pronoun sets.
 * This is not a social media platform. Do not make a page to promote discord servers, social media accounts, or other websites.
 * You are responsible for making sure your page meets the standards listed here and in the page guidelines. If there are major sections that are wrong or missing, or the page is incomprehensible then it will be deleted.

Article Text and Sections
All articles must be written in English. American spelling should be used unless it is in a direct quote. The first sentence must be a definition of the term. Any other information is secondary to the definition. 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 formatting. The definition cannot be a quote.

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 pronoun for a hypothetical person in English is "one". When writing, slang, colloquial expressions, and a casual tone 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, in which case explain what that terminology means and/or link to the relevant articles. 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 it is important to the formation of term (such as the case with allosexual) in which case put it in the "history" section.

Swear Words and Sensitive Content
Swear words in articles 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.

Words that are vulgar strictly because they are LGBT+ slurs CAN appear uncensored. Though they should be used sparingly when not being used as a reclaimed identity.

Terms related to sex (both 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).

If necessary you may include the template at the top of the page to warning for potentially upsetting content on a page. Do NOT include "content warnings" in any other way.

History
History sections are optional but highly recommended. If a history section is provided it should 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 for this section (unless the source is the page in question). When writing a history section for an existing page do not assume the person who created the page on this wiki created the term.

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

Do not create a history section just to say "the history of this term is unknown". At the very least give an approximate time frame or the first known example of its use.

If you created the term in question to not include any sort of "internal dialogue" or detailed explanation of your thought process behind why you created the term. If you want to include information on why the term was created do so from a neutral outsider perspective (not the perspective of you, the creator).

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. Captions should be written in full sentences and must be capitalized. The main image should appear at the top of the page. Image must sized such that their longest side is either be 180 pixels (the default) or 220 pixels, no other sizes are allowed except in special cases.

Do not add flags that are specifically for sub-groups in the article (eg: do not add a transgender lesbian flag on the lesbian page, any flags on that page should primarily be for lesbians, not for highly specific sub-groups of lesbians). Any flags or alternate flags added to a page must represent the entire group that the article is about, or at the few least an extremely large and significant part of the group (see: butch lesbian flag on the butch page). This includes flags for LGBT+ sub-groups based on ethnicity, nationality, religion, politic affiliation, or ideologies. Some exceptions to this rule exist in specific special cases.

Flags (Written Section)
A written flag section should include who designed the flag, when, and color meanings if any exist. Sources are required for this section. This information should not be in the image's caption. Do not include precise geometric descriptions of the flag. Describing the layout of the flag should only be done when said layout is relevant to the meaning.

If you must distinguish between two flags do so using the creator's names, the primary colors used, the number of stripes, and/or other identifiable characteristics of the flag. Never refer to flags as "the flag at the top of the page" or "the flag shown on the right" or make any other reference to the flag's placement on the page.

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 create a flag section just to say "there is no flag". If there is no flag then do not say anything about it at all.

Do not assume that no flag exists just because one doesn't appear on the page. Google searching "[insert identity] flag" is the absolute bare minimum amount of research. When writing a flag section for an existing page do not assume that the person who uploaded the flag to the wiki is the creator of the flag.

If the flag section is short you can combine it with the history section, particularly if the term and flag were created on the same day.

Flags (Alternate Text)
An alternate text description is optional and might be impractical for particularly complex flags.

If you wish to add an alternate text description of a flag do so in an object manner, and do so as quickly and concisely as possible. Do not go into exact detailed/geometric descriptions of flags unless the flag has particularly unusual shapes that cannot be described any other way.

When listing stripes colors the colors should always be listed top to bottom on horizontal flags and left to right on vertical flags. Do not use excessively fancy color words unless necessary.

The following are some examples, of how some flags would be described:
 * The asexual flag: "A flag with four stripes. They are black, grey, white, and purple."
 * The androgyne flag: "A flag with three vertical stripes. They are pink, purple, and blue."
 * The bisexual flag: "A flag with three stripes. They are pink, purple, and blue. The middle stripe is narrower than the others."
 * The achillean flag: "A flag with three stripes. They are blue, white, and blue. In the center is a stylized drawing of a green carnation."

Etymology
Etymology sections are optional. Only include this information if the etymology of the term is known and is interesting. Do not point out things that are exceptionally obvious. (eg. Do not point out that "cat-" in catgender means it's related to cats, and "-gender" means it's a gender.)

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) For genders, do not mention groups that the gender is "mainly (but not exclusively) used by [insert group here]" or similar (eg: do not say something like "the majority of people who identify as bigender are AFAB"). Most of the time these "trends" are unprovable and it does nothing but discourage people outside that group from using the term. Do not mention this unless the identity is explicitly intended for or is exclusive to a given group.
 * 3) Do not talk about how a term is new or is not well known (eg: do not say "This identity is new, so very few people know about it/use it.") This is unnecessary, can quickly become outdated, and does nothing but discourage people from using the term.
 * 4) Do not include an "also see" section. If other terms are relevant or related they should be mentioned in the body of the article, making it unnecessary to but them in an "also see" section.
 * 5) Do not make WIP pages. They will be deleted.
 * 6) Do not include WIP sections. They will be removed.
 * 7) 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".)
 * 8) Do not beg the reader to do something (Do not say "please respect people's identities").
 * 9) Do not add "notes from the creator".
 * 10) Do not talk about how people can identify however they want. This does not have to be said.
 * 11) Do not address the reader in any way. Articles should be written purely as an accumulation of knowledge with no intended reader.
 * 12) 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 title of the article must be the first word in the article (or as close to the first word as it can possibly get). Any alternate terms, alternate spellings, and abbreviations must be placed immediately after it.
 * The first sentence must be a definition of the term. Any other information is secondary to the definition. The definition cannot be a quote.
 * The title of the article must be bolded. Any alternate terms or spelled must also be bolded. Only the first mention of these names 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 occasional 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. Only add a link to the first mention of the topic. 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 and Name Used
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 most common name. If there are multiple names that are roughly equal in popularity then the title should be the name that was coined first.

Additionally for the titles of articles:
 * Do not put alternate terms or spellings in the title. (As in, the title is "polysexual", not "polysexual/polisexual".) Just choose one.
 * For sexual and romantic orientations the title should always be the adjective form of the word. (As in, the title is "asexual", not "asexuality", or "biromantic", not "biromanticism".)
 * For non-monogamous identities the title should be the adjective form of the word (The title is "polyamorous", not "polyamory"). However, if the article is about a concept, not an identity, then the adjective form of the word should NOT be used. (The title is Hierarchical Polyamory, not Hierarchical Polyamorous.)
 * For page titles with multiple words all words should be capitalized. This includes words after dashes (eg: Non-Binary).
 * Only capitalize separate words. Do not capitalize parts of a compound word. (eg: Do NOT put CatGender.)
 * Do not use an en-dash or em-dash in the title of an article. Use a hyphen in all cases that a dash is needed.

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.
 * Do not use slang words, casual shortening of words, or casual abbreviations.
 * The oxford comma should always be used whenever relevant.
 * 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 if possible. Words like "we" and "our" are in the first person.
 * 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" at any point in the article (except in quotes). 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.

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", "NBs", 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.