Xeno Series Wiki talk:Manual of Style

Date format
I propose to change the current date format (mainly used for release dates of games) from the American-style "Month DD, YYYY" to a more robust "YYYY/MM/DDDD" or "YYYY-MM-DDDD". This has the advantage of actually making sense and being easier to read. Alternatively, I'd also be happy if we switched to "DD Month YYYY", just anything but the American system. Would like to hear other opinions before I change the articles (and possibly put this in the Manual of Style to guarantee it stays uniform). Reggimato (talk) 19:39, 18 April 2022 (EDT)
 * Edit (more like an append): I found out that "~" uses "DD Month YYYY" regardless of user preference, therefore I'd propose we stick with that so it stays uniform. Reggimato (talk) 19:42, 18 April 2022 (EDT)
 * I support 'DD Month YYYY' — it's unambiguous, widely used, arguably easier to read at a glance than YYYY-MM-DD, and makes sense. Rtg142857 (talk) 05:31, 19 April 2022 (EDT)
 * Yeah, "DD Month YYYY" is probably the best choice. I made a template Date that handles the formatting (and also the flags). Could be useful if we change our mind later. Reggimato (talk) 06:30, 19 April 2022 (EDT)
 * Since I've heard no objections, I'll edit this into the MOS later. Reggimato (talk) 06:27, 4 May 2022 (EDT)

I agree that we ought to pick a date format and enshrine it in the MoS as what we use everywhere, though I myself am indifferent as to what gets selected. I will also note that 1. I can change the wiki's automatic date display format (which would affect things like talkpage signatures) (edit: maybe not, I can't find it now but I thought I saw it somewhere previously) and 2. I don't think it should necessarily be required for talkpage signatures to follow this (only content pages). STM (t) 19:53, 18 April 2022 (EDT)

Translation quality
I'd like to add this passage somewhere. Maybe under "writing style", or maybe in its own "translations" section.
 * When translating text from other languages:
 * Do not simply paste in a machine translation (e.g. Google Translate), especially for Japanese.
 * Avoid translating only part of something. Save your work somewhere if you don't have the time to finish it, but "all-or-nothing" is the preferred method for pages. Among other reasons, partial translations make it hard for things like templates to detect whether a page should be marked as "needs translation" or not.
 * Try to avoid copying a translation from elsewhere. We'd rather not depend on the accuracy of other sources. In a perfect world, all of the wiki's translations would be made "in-house".

Discuss. STM (t) 18:45, 4 May 2022 (EDT)
 * Looks good to me, although maybe something should be added for prioritising official translations if and when they exist. Common sense, but still probably worth a mention. Rtg142857 (talk) 08:07, 5 May 2022 (EDT)
 * Don't have anything more to say, looks all good to me. Reggimato (talk) 07:57, 9 May 2022 (EDT)
 * I think we've had more than enough time to discuss now. Reggimato (talk) 06:26, 27 May 2022 (EDT)
 * Yeah okay I'm adding it. STM (t) 09:14, 27 May 2022 (EDT)

Info on guiding page splits/merges
There's been some consternation recently about whether certain pages should be split or not, so I'm suggesting this addition to provide guidance on the topic.


 * Sometimes it can be debated whether two subjects should share a page, or whether they should have individual pages. Keeping them on separate pages is the default action because this makes it easy to comply with our spoiler policy, but sometimes it makes more sense to merge the two into one page. If all three of these are true, then merging should be considered:
 * One page redirecting to the other (in either direction) is not a spoiler in and of itself.
 * The game makes little or no attempt to hide that the two subjects are the same.
 * The subjects are not of equal importance when compared to each other.
 * Of course, every case is unique, and the less clear-cut situations will need discussion to judge consensus.

Yup. STM (t) 11:45, 13 November 2022 (EST)