Bulbapedia:Manual of style

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This is an instruction manual that addresses the conventions adopted by Bulbapedia in titles, articles, and linking. Please read it before you contribute to the Bulbapedia project. Note, however, that this document is not updated frequently; survey prevailing conventions as well as reading these guidelines.

Article titles

The conventions for titles dictate that all proper nouns are capitalized, as are all locations, and names unless specifically not capitalized. Titles are not written like book titles with most words capitalized; note the title of this page as Manual of style, not Manual of Style.

Uniformity in the titling of pages is much appreciated in that it makes for a much more professional appearance with regards to the public perception of Bulbapedia. Any page title that includes a name should not be stored in a biographical format; i.e., "Gary Oak", not "Oak, Gary" as the page title for Ash's rival. In cases where only a first name (Bill) exists, or where a character is known by a title, such as Professor Oak) more than their proper name, those should be used as the sole title of the page. In the case of Professor Oak, redirects from "Prof. Oak" and "Samuel Oak" may be used.

Also, only link to an article once within a given portion of text; if you say "Ash" more than once in a paragraph, only link it the first time. Instances further apart may be linked to more than once, it is up to you how far apart to place repeated links. For consistency, if most elements of a list are links, then link to an article as many times as needed in that list.

Japanese titles should be romanized in titles, but see the following sections for details.

The é and other special characters

The e-acute (é) is always used in a title where appropriate; pages are titled "Pokémon", not "Pokemon." When the é is used in a title, for instance in Pokémon or Pokédex, please create a redirect from the title that doesn't have the accented é. Pokedex redirects to Pokédex, for instance; this allows for people who don't know how to add the special characters the same access as the rest of us. The same would apply for any other special characters that may occur in a title.

With regards to romanized Japanese titles, omit macrons and apostrophes in the title (but create redirects from the accurate romanization if you so desire).

Critically, avoid using ? and & in titles -- these characters have caused problems for us in the past.

Other technical limitations include mandatory capitalization of the first letter of titles and the identical treatment of space, + and _ as spaces. Use {{Wrongtitle}} to make a note of this.

Naming conventions

Naming conventions in Bulbapedia have been determined to go by English names of characters unless a character is more widely known by his or her Japanese name. An example of this would be Jirarudan for Lawrence III; however, for "main" characters like Ash, English names are always used. Redirects from the name of the other language should be created in order to alleviate confusion. For instance, the page Satoshi redirects to "Ash Ketchum", and the page "Lawrence III" redirects to Jirarudan.

Also, an article titled with a Pokémon name with a very well known instance in the canon will redirect to the article for that character. Therefore, the article Meowth will redirect to Meowth (Team Rocket), and the article Mewtwo will redirect to Mewtwo (character). The articles on the Pokémon in general should be titled Meowth (Pokémon) and Mewtwo (Pokémon) respectively; however, the prevailing convention as of January 2006 is to have a disambiguation page in these cases.

This trend should be continued if possible throughout Bulbapedia for ease of use to all involved. If there is debate as to which name is more proper, contact the Bulbapedia editorial board.

Names of people

All modern persons should have their name given in Western order. The definition of "modern" may vary from culture to culture, for the Japanese, all names from the Taishō period onwards should be given in Western order. Names from the Meiji restoration may be given in Western or Eastern order, use prevailing convention on a person-by-person basis. Names prior to the Meiji restoration should be given in Eastern order.

When a person has a specific preference for the way their name is rendered, or where convention differs, use that instead. For example, Hiromoto SIN-Ichi, Ikue Ohtani, and Rica Matsumoto, instead of Shin'ichi Hiromoto, Ikue Ōtani, and Rika Matsumoto.

Disambiguation

The bracketed terms used to disambiguate articles with titles that would otherwise be the same should be a single short word and lowercase, except when proper nouns are involved. The following are commonly used:

Pokémon
An article for a general species of Pokémon, for example, Bulbasaur (Pokémon). Short link: {{p}}
move
An article for a move, for example, Tackle (move). Short link: {{m}}
ability
An article for an ability, for example, Pressure (ability). Short link: {{a}}
type
An article for an elemental type, for example, Normal (type). Short link: {{t}} {{type2}}
game
An article for a game, or a character from a game, for example, Silver (game).
Special
An article for Pokémon Special characters, for example, Silver (Special).
PiPiPi
An article for Pokémon PiPiPi Adventure characters, for example, Pikachu (PiPiPi).

Opening line

The full name of the subject of an article should appear within the first few words of the article itself. Alternate and popular names may be described later. The name should be given in its original form if it differs from its Anglicized form. Note that a name need not be romanized more than once. Song, episode and movie titles should be translated, not romanized. Some examples follow:

Archaic
Liam Pomfret, better known as Archaic, is the current head of Bulbagarden.
Hirokazu Tanaka
Hirokazu Tanaka (Japanese: 田中宏和 but usually credited in hiragana only) is most well known as the composer of much the theme music used in the Pokémon anime, but he is also the president of Creatures, Inc.
Hiromoto SIN-Ichi
Hiromoto SIN-Ichi (Japanese: ヒロモト森一 Hiromoto Shin'ichi) is a manga artist, born on January 4, 1966.
Professor Oak
Professor Samuel Oak (Japanese: オーキド・ユキナリ博士 Dr. Yukinari Ōkido, Ookido and Orchid are also seen) is a Pokémon Professor and has a home and research lab located in Pallet Town.
Bulbasaur
Bulbasaur (Japanese: フシギダネ Fushigidane; German: Bisasam; French: Bulbizarre; Korean; 이상해씨 Isanghaessi) is a Grass/Poison-type Pokémon.
Aim to Be a Pokémon Master
めざせポケモンマスター (Mezase Pokémon Masutā exact, Mezase Pokémon Master is common; English: Aim to Be a Pokémon Master) was the first opening theme song of the Pokémon anime series, ...

Japanese

Romanization

Basically, please follow the Hepburn romanization scheme and use Ā Ē Ī Ō Ū ā ē ī ō ū for long vowels. Please correct any incorrectly marked long vowels (circumflexes, tildes, doubling, ou and not marking long vowels at all are all not acceptable), except for trademarked romanizations (i.e. Fushigisou, Teppouo insetad of Fushigisō and Teppōo).

  • I-macron (Ī ī) and e-macron (Ē ē) is to be used when romanizing Japanese words of foreign origin, hence kōhī for コーヒー but Iizuka for いいづか. A hint to look out for is whether or not a () is used to lengthen it.
  • O-macron (Ō ō) is to be used for both おう (as in しんいちろう Shin'ichirō) and おお (as in おおづか Ōzuka)
  • E-macron (Ē ē) is rarely used, except with the interjection ええ and some foreign loanwords; normally, use ei.
    • Please take note that verbs such as 思う omou and 呪う norou do not have long vowels.
      • However, subjunctive forms such as 思おう omoō and 呪おう noroō do have long vowels.
  • zu is to be used for both ず and づ; ji is to be used for both じ and ぢ.
  • With ん, there is some free choice whether to use n or m when followed by labial consonants p, b, f and m. Follow popular or established convention on a word-by-word basis, hence, Namba for ナンバ but Hanba for はんば.
  • To simplify matters, always romanise ポケモン as Pokémon, when ポケ is an abbreviated form of Pokémon, romanize it as Poké.

Romanizations and translations should be italicised.

Items, locations, and specific terminology

  • Items and all words in them are always capitalized; they are considered proper nouns for the purposes of Bulbapedia. "Leftovers", "Escape Rope", or "Water Stone" are all correct as written; a page would not be titled "Water stone".
  • Locations should also be capitalized in a manner consistent with English grammar; Ruins of Alph has the A in Alph always capitalized.
  • Specific terminology is different; leveling up has a lowercase L, as would "starter Pokémon" have a lowercase "s" (but, of course, a capital P in Pokémon.)
  • Specific element types are called "Water-type" and "Rock-type" when used as nouns and their subject pages are Water (type) and Rock (type), respectively. Squirtle is a "Water type" is not correct; Squirtle is a Water-type is.

Remember that consistency with these conventions is very important, and your cooperation is appreciated.

Regarding specific topics

Topics such as the anime should link to the page "Pokémon anime"; topics for the game should either link to that game's generation or its specific page. Topics about the Manga should link to Pokémon manga, and so on; linking to just "anime" or "games" or "manga" is incorrect. Please take note of the already-existing pages regarding a topic and be sure to try and link to them; it makes for less fixing of broken, bad, and misdirected links. The staff of Bulbapedia is trying to keep options open to expand beyond a Pokémon context and into a more general encyclopedia topic; using the specific titles for Pokémon topics instead of making them overly vauge helps in organization.

Style of writing; editing, bias, and opinion

Please remember that Bulbapedia is designed to be an encylopedia, and as such should contain the best possible level of literary style. Check for spelling and grammatical errors before entering a page; if you notice factual or spelling errors on a page other than the ones you have created, feel free to correct the problems. This is, after all, an open project. Another thing to remember is that slanted articles, towards or against a point of view, look sloppy and should be avoided. Try to take any possible bias out of your articles, even if it's difficult to write about Ash's Pikachu with a straight, honest, objective style. Injecting one's opinion ties in closely with bias; ensure that your feelings or opinions about a character do not come out solely, making it appear as if the article is editorializing. Saying "the fans hate Ash" is opinionated and unwanted in the Bulbapedia project; saying "numerous fans have a strong dislike of Ash due to his tendency to show weakness and ineptitude" is perfectly acceptable, because it's a fact.

Episode numbering

The Bulbapedia rules of episode article titling dictate that the order in which the episode aired in Japan is its title. Episodes prior to the Advanced Generation are titled EP001, EP002, and so on, with the numbering system being that of, again, Japanese-aired episodes. Note that Holiday Hi-Jynx and Snow Way Out are not considered episodes.

Episodes of Advanced Generation are titled AG001, AG002, and so on. Note that AG101 is Vanity Affair - the skipped episode is AG101 (unaired). Consequently, to resynchronise with popular counting, the flashback episode is counted as AG120.

Side story episodes are titled H001, H002, and so on, in the order they were aired in Japan on the Weekly Pokémon Broadcasting Station, a.k.a. Shūkan Pokémon Hōsōkyoku.

Titles as aired in English should redirect to the page of the respective episode page, i.e. the page The Battle for the Badge would redirect to EP063. Special episodes and movie articles will be titled using their English title, with redirects going from their translated Japanese title. If no English title is available, the best possible translation should be used.

Lists of Pokémon in episode articles

201
Spoiler warning: this article may contain major plot or ending details.
201

Pokémon belonging to main characters should appear at the top of the list, in the order Ash-Misty-May-Brock-Tracey-Jessie-James, in the order they were obtained/revealed. Ash's Pikachu, Meowth (Team Rocket), Misty's Togepi, Jessie's Wobbuffet, James's Chimecho, and James's Mime Jr. should precede all others.

Other character's Pokémon should also be grouped together in the order they were obtained/revealed. Semi-regular characters' Pokémon (characters which recur in more than one episode, excluding two-part episodes) should precede guest characters' Pokémon. Wild Pokémon should appear in National Dex order.

Each character's Pokémon should be listed separately:

When a Pokémon debuts - consider the television series, their openings and endings, and the movies to be separate continuities in this case:

When a Pokémon is obtained:

When a Pokémon evolves:

When a Pokémon leaves:

When a Pokémon returns:

Reference list:


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