User:The Dark Fiddler/ProposedSpeculationPolicy

This article is a proposed policy for Bulbapedia. Please discuss the proposed policy and suggest possible changes on the article's talk page.

What is speculation?

Speculation is any unconfirmed rumor or presumption made by a user without a source or citation to back up the claim. This can include information such as a Pokémon evolving or being captured in the anime, or a new feature being added in an upcoming game.

A common type of speculation is speculation regarding future events. This can include information such as a Pokémon evolving or being captured in the anime, or a new feature being added in an upcoming game.

However, speculation is not limited to guesses about upcoming events. Guesses about why design decisions were made (e.g. why an unused item in a Pokémon game was never used) are also speculation.

What is not permitted?

As a general rule, Bulbapedia does not permit speculation in the mainspace.

For example, new episodes of the Pokémon anime typically air in Japan every week. But until the air date of a specific episode is officially revealed, guessing the air date based on the episode's number is speculation, so not permitted. Just because it is usually possible to guess what an episode's air date will be before that date is announced does not mean that it is acceptable to add such a guess to Bulbapedia. These guesses will occasionally be wrong, but should not be made even if they are not.

It is important to understand the distinction between not knowing information and asserting that a claim is false. Often, speculation will turn out to be correct, but that is irrelevant as to whether it should have been included on Bulbapedia before it was known. Bulbapedia only attempts to describe what is currently known, not speculate what might be known in the future.

Origins

The origins of designs, names, etc. are usually speculation, as they are rarely officially described. While Bulbapedia does allow speculated origins to be listed on pages, unsourced origins should normally be phrased to reflect this uncertainty. Conversely, officially sourced origins should be phrased in a definite manner.

For example, the Oblivia region is believed to be based on the Oki Islands, but this has not been officially confirmed, so the wording of the origin section of its article should reflect that (using phrasing such as "may be based on"). Conversely, the Kalos region has been officially described as being based on France, so the origin section of its article should be definite about the origin, and cite the source where this origin was confirmed.

Voice actors

Voice actors should only be listed as voicing a specific character if this is officially confirmed. This can include credits in the work itself, promotional material for the work, voice actor resumes, statements by voice actors or directors themselves (including private communication), among other sources.

Assuming that a voice actor voiced a specific character based on the sound of their voice is generally not permitted. If you suspect that a particular voice actor voiced a particular character but do not have evidence for that belief, ask the voice actor in question—if they confirm it, you can add that information to the page.

Within the anime, it is not normally necessary to confirm each voice actor for every single episode. Instead, it is typically safe to assume that the same voice actor continues to voice the same character in successive appearances, unless there is reason to believe otherwise. If a character is absent for a substantial period of time, it may be necessary to re-confirm that it is the same voice actor. Note that this does not apply across media: if an anime character appears in a video game, that character's voice must be confirmed separately for that video game, unless the video game recycles voice clips from the anime.