LGBTQIA+ Wiki:Article Guidelines

(Check out our example page, for a more concise explanation of the formatting.)

The LGBTA+ wikia is intended to be a resource to learn about sexualities and genders, particularly those that don't have much information about them online. You do not have to ask before making pages but it's recommended that you read this page or the formatting guidelines page to ensure your page meets our standards.

Rules

1. Obviously follow the community guidelines. Hate speech will result in an indefinite ban, this including anything that promotes TERF, truscum, or exclusionist ideology.
2. No trolls. Joke pages will be deleted.
3. Any pages that imply fetishes, pedophilia, or similar are LGBT+ will be deleted and the user will be banned.
4. Do not plagiarize. You can paraphrase or quote sources if you can't find a better way to put the information, but try to put things in your own words or add something to it.
5. We do not do any pages that are [specific person]sexual. Any pages like this will be deleted.
6. We try to limit pages that are [specific character]gender, if the definition is just "a connection to [specific character]". Unless the definition is more complex then that the page will likely be deleted.

Sections

These sections are most common sections found in an article. Articles can have any or all of these sections. Sections can sometimes be combined if they're short.

To make this clear, do NOT put a pronoun section on gender pages. ANY gender can use ANY pronouns, so do not mention the "possible pronouns" for a gender.

Definition (Intro):

The definition can be short, but try to write more than a single sentence. A short paragraph or two is preferable. Even if the orientation is easily explained try to write multiple sentences. If you're struggling to write more try explaining what this orientation is not, talk about similar orientations, and why this orientation is different from similar ones. If you cannot write more than one or two sentences please use the article stub tag. The name of the article MUST be in the first sentence and must be bolded. Any alternate terms or spelled should also be in the first sentence and should also be bolded. Use full sentences. (Do not say "Diamoric: an orientation that..." you should say "Diamoric is an orientation that...".)

Images:

Please include a pride flag if applicable. High quality PNGs are preferred. The DeviantArt page Pride-Flags is a good source of many high quality pride flags. All images must be captioned. The main image should appear at the top of the page.

Info Box:

If (and only if) you are making an article for an affinitive orientation, you may use the sexuality info box. Do not use this info box for anything else.

History:

Who coined this term? When and on what site did they do it? Is there any other interesting information about the origin of this term? Include sources.

In some cases only an approximate date can be found. For example, if the original poster deleted their Tumblr account you could find someone who reblogged the post shortly after it was originally posted and find the date there. In cases like this you should say the term was coined "on or before [date]".

How to Find Dates on Tumblr Posts

This is how it will look, the date is underlined in red.

Not all Tumblr themes readily show the date posted. In this case here is how to find the date. This definitely works for Chrome, I'm not sure if it would work the same for other browsers.

1. Right click the page and click "Inspect". OR press Ctrl+Shift+I.
2. With the inspect window open press Ctrl+F.
3. Type "date".
4. Either the first or second instance of the word "date" should be "datePublished". Next to that you will find the date you want. It's in year-month-day format. See the above picture to see what to look for.

Flag:

Who designed the flag and when? What is the meaning of the colors? For the creator and creation date sources are required. For the color meanings sources are not required but are recommended.

If the history sections and the flags sections are both relatively short you can combine them into one section.

Etymology:

Is this term derived from another word? Does this term use roots from another language? This section can be as short as a single sentence. 

Resources:

Obviously, sources are good to have, but are not necessary as it can sometimes be hard to find things like the first recorded use of a term, especially for more obscure terms. If you do include sources please make sure your links are up to date.

Categories

All articles must have at least one relevant category. Some categories have subcategories. If you use a subcategory it must also be tagged with the parent category. (See here for the categories used.)

Formatting

Try to keep the formatting and spelling the same as already completed pages. The diamoric page and the agender are good examples of how a page should be formatted. Also read the formatting guidelines for more details.

Do

• DO bold the title of the article (it should be the first word in the first sentence).
• DO add links to the first instance of a different topic mentioned in the article.
• DO use formal writing. Capitalize the beginning of each sentence and proper nouns.
• DO put a period at the end of sentences.
• DO use the word "one" when talking about a hypothetical person.
• DO add categories.

Do Not

• Do NOT bold anything other than the title of the article.
• Do NOT ink to pages outside of this wiki, instead use references.
• Do NOT capitalize random words (Names of genders and sexualities are not proper nouns).
• Do NOT use exclamation points.
• Do NOT use words like "you".
• Do NOT write things in the first person.
• Do NOT create new categories without asking.

Language Use

• American English spelling should be used unless it's in a direct quote.
• The months in all dates should be spelled out. Do not use abbreviations.
• 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".
• When talking about identities, especially genders, avoid using doubtful language such as "they believe they are..." or "they identify as...". Instead use terms like "they are..." or "their identity is..."
• Don't misgender people when talking about them in history section. If the term was coined on Tumblr or DeviantArt the creator might have their pronouns on their profile. If they don't have their pronouns listed or it's unclear which pronouns to use it's recommended to simply refer to them by their user name.
• Do not use "he or she" or "s/he" or anything similar.
• Words in other languages should be italicized. Their translation should be in quotes. For example: "Diamoric comes from the Greek prefix dia- meaning "passing through" and the Latin word amor, meaning "love"."
• If a Tumblr blog is run by a single person the first letter of the username should be capitalized like a proper name. If the username has a dash in it the first letter of each word should be capitalized. If the Tumblr blog is run by multiple people is can be capitalized but does not have to be.
• All website names should capitalized.
• 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.

What Should Be In A Page

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 and specific terminology unless it's necessary.

Present your article objectively. You should objectively 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.

Prescriptive vs Descriptive Definitions

Prescriptive definitions of terms focus on what a term "actually means" or how it "should" be used. Descriptive definitions, on the other hand, focus on describing how to term is used in practice. For example, a prescriptive definition of bisexuality would say that bi- means two, and therefore bisexuality is the attraction to two genders only, no more and no less. A descriptive definition of bisexuality would see that, while some bisexuals are only attracted to two genders, the general view of gender has changed greatly in the past few decades; many bisexuals are attracted to non-binary people, so bisexuality could be described as the attraction to two or more genders.

On this wiki we should try to strike a balance between prescriptive and descriptive definitions. You should open your article by talking about the most widely used definition of a term. The majority of your article should focus of this most commonly used definition. Whether that usage of the term is prescriptive or descriptive doesn't matter.

To bring up the prescriptive definition of a term you could say something like "Traditionally this term means [prescriptive definition] however, in modern times many people define it as [descriptive definition]". To bring up the descriptive definition of a term you should bring up how other people might use the term that doesn't completely fit the most strict definition of the term. As an example from the agender page: "While some agender individuals completely lack gender, some may call themselves agender their gender is neutral or neutrois, or their gender is unknown or undefinable..." These alternate definitions should should only be a minor part of the article, the majority of the article should focus on how most people use the term.

Do not say that people using a term in a certain way are using it "wrong". Unless the creator has explicitly stated that the term was not intended to be used in such a way. Unless this alternate definition is genuinely wrong and reinforces negative stereotypes about the group in question there is no "wrong" way to use an identity.