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Guideline
This page documents an Encyclopedia SpongeBobia guideline. This is an accepted standard that editors must follow for purposes of improving the quality of content on the wiki.
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Content Layout guide Interaction |
The character policy outlines guidelines related to SpongeBob SquarePants character articles and associated articles.
General
This section outlines general guidelines for character articles and associated articles.
Naming scheme
Patrick Star will be used as an example:
- Character article
- Patrick Star
- Character gallery
- Patrick Star/gallery
- Character appearances
- Patrick Star/appearances
Character names
- 1. Character names should be official and confirmed by an acceptable source unless no official name is available, including incidental numbers, model names, and other production names.
- 2. Character names should only be used exactly as they are included in acceptable sources. For example, Frederick, Fredrick, Alfred, etc. are not applicable names for Fred, as they have not been used in any acceptable sources, unlike the name "Fred."
- 3. Characters who have been given only one clearly specified name that is a personal name, part of a personal name, or a nickname not clearly indicated to not be an actual name should have their article named after it. If a character has been given more than one name under those conditions, but has one used more times in distinct media than any other has individually, that name should be the article name. Otherwise, the most notable production name takes precedent. Names given to a variant of a character in a different gender than regularly portrayed cannot be used as an article name over a production name but still should be used for deciding other names for the article.
- 4. All character articles should have the source of all names listed within the article.
- 5. All characters with any clearly specified personal names, parts of personal names, or nicknames should be listed at ESB:Character names with all their names under those conditions and their sources.
- 6. Any character who has not been given a clearly specified personal name, part of a personal name, or nickname not clearly indicated to not be an actual name should have the Category:Unnamed characters category.
- 7. Any character that does not have any known official name should be named by physical appearance and/or other descriptive attributes, and have {{Unofficial name}} transcluded alongside other maintenance templates by the top of the article.
Infobox
- 1. All characters should have the Category:Characters category, which is generated from the infobox.
- 2. Infoboxes for characters should generally at most only contain one image for each of their regular designs in the main series and its spin-off series, but additional images can be allowed if deemed necessary. Other designs can be present elsewhere in the article and in the gallery.
- 3. Connections should be limited to just primary relationships, instead of listing every small friendship and temporary employment, among others.
Character gallery
- 1. All characters with less than five available images for a gallery should not have their own gallery subpage. Instead, all images should be included on the character's main article. Characters with five available images or more should have their own gallery subpage.
- 2. Character galleries should not include full images from a piece of media if they are already included on the main character article.
Character appearances
- 1. All characters with less than ten appearances should not have their own appearance subpage. Instead, all appearances should be listed on the character's main article. Characters with ten appearances or more should have their own appearances subpage.
- 2. All characters with an appearances subpage should have at least one appearance table that lists their appearances in order. Different tables are needed for different types of media such as episodes, shorts, movies, games, books, comics, etc. Each appearance should list the media name and what the character does in it, no matter how minor.
Layout
This section outlines the layout to be followed on character articles and associated subpages.
Character article
The following two subsections outline the layout to be followed on character articles. The "templates" should be included above the "sections."
Templates
- 1. All character articles should feature the {{Character}} template, which provides an infobox.
- 2. Additional templates should be featured above the infobox in a uniform order as shown below.
- 3. Templates can be omitted if not applicable for the article.
- 4. Maintenance templates intended to be included on the top of articles should be included above all templates shown below.
Layout:
{{D}} - links to a disambiguation page for articles with similar names; this template can be included multiple times if there are multiple applicable disambiguation pages
{{NC}} - links to similar articles that could be mixed up via attributes such as appearance
{{RP}} - links to an article with a similar name that could be mixed up; variants are {{RP2}} for when the second regularly included "the" would not make sense, {{RE}} for linking to an episode article, and {{RPE}} for linking to an article differentiated by being from a different episode; this template and its variants can be included multiple times if there are multiple applicable articles
{{Cquote2}} - includes a quote from the character
{{CTab}} - links to gallery and appearances subpages if they exist
{{Character}} - the infobox for the character
Sections
- 1. All character articles should follow a uniform order of sections and subsections as shown below.
- 2. Main character articles should use the first layout shown.
- 3. Supporting character articles should mostly use the second layout shown, but can use additional sections from the first layout if there is sufficient information.
- 4. Minor or incidental character articles should use the second layout shown.
- 5. Sections can be omitted if there is no sufficient information for them.
First layout:
The lead section should feature a basic description of the character that is generally a few paragraphs long.
Note: The below sections can feature additional subsections not listed if necessary.
==Description==
This should describe the character's appearance.
==Personality==
This should describe the character's personality.
==Occupation==
This should describe the character's main occupations and other brief occupations if relevant.
==Residence==
This should describe the character's main residences and other brief residences if relevant.
==Production==
This should feature information about the character's creation and development and other production-related information.
==Voice==
This should feature information about the main voice actors for the character and other brief voice actors if relevant.
==Biography==
This should feature information about the character's biography, including details about the character's early life, notable actions throughout the franchise, and future outcomes that are shown or predicted in the franchise.
==Family==
This should feature information about the character's family and the character's relationships with them.
==Relationships==
This should feature information about the character's relationships with other characters.
==Abilities and talents==
This should describe abilities and talents that the character has demonstrated in the franchise.
==Weaknesses===
This should describe weaknesses that the character has demonstrated in the franchise.
==Health==
This should describe anything notable related to the character's health shown in the franchise.
==Appearances in other media==
This should feature information about the character's appearances in wider media outside of the franchise's core.
==Reception==
This should feature information about how the character has generally been received.
==Alternate versions==
This should feature information about any other characters made to be alternate versions of the character, such as versions from a different universe. Alter-egos of the character should also be included in this section.
==Trivia==
This should list any notable trivia related to the character.
==International names and voice actors==
This should list the character's international names and voice actors.
==See also==
This should link any other relevant articles on ESB.
==External links==
This should link any relevant external pages.
==References==
{{Reflist}}
Second layout:
The lead section should briefly introduce the character, and contain all available production names with sources.
==Description==
This should describe all variants of the character with distinct production names, in addition to any other frequently used variants and older versions of designs.
This section can feature additional subsections for alternate variants of the character.
===Personality==
This subsection should be reserved only for characters that have been given a consistent personality, and should describe that personality.
==[[ESB:Character names|Names]]==
This section should feature all clearly specified names given to the character that are personal names, part of personal names, or nicknames not clearly indicated to not be actual names. It should be mostly reserved only for minor characters and incidentals unless there is a larger amount of information, such as if the character has been given contradictory names to a consistent name.
===Other===
This subsection should feature additional nicknames that are clearly not used as actual names, but are used to refer to the character regardless, in addition to unclearly specified names given to characters in groups including the character.
==Role in franchise==
This should describe how the character is generally portrayed in the franchise. If a character only appears in one type of media, the section name should differ and have "franchise" replaced with the type of media, such as "series" if not in multiple series, "shorts," "movies," "games," "books," "comics," etc. If a character has only made one appearance, "franchise" should be replaced with the type of media in singular form, such as "episode" if only appearing in one episode, and the section should describe the character's role in that appearance.
==Notable roles==
This should list any and all times that the character has played a notable role. Roles such as distant background appearances are not considered notable roles. If a character has less than ten appearances, and thus does not have their own appearances subpage, this section should instead be named "Roles" and list all their roles regardless of notability. This section should be omitted for single-appearance characters and characters with at least ten appearances who play no notable roles.
This section should feature additional subsections for each series and different type of media, and further subsections within for each appearance that describe the character's role for each respectively. If a character plays the same role in multiple appearances, they can be listed under the same subsection, with the subsection name separating the media names with slashes, and the subsection should be placed according to the original appearance that the other appearances are based upon.
Selected examples are shown below, from the article for Incidental 7:
==={{SBSP}}===
===="[[Squeaky Boots]]"====
===="[[Bossy Boots]]"/"[[Bossy Boots: Puppet Edition!]]"====
==={{TPSS}}===
===="[[Late for Breakfast]]"====
===Movies===
====''[[The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie]]''===
===Games===
====''[[SpongeBob Run]]''====
==Trivia==
This should list any notable trivia related to the character.
==Gallery==
This should feature a gallery of images of the character, and should be reserved only for characters with less than five images available and thus do not have their own gallery subpage.
==See also==
This should link any other relevant articles on ESB.
==External links==
This should link any relevant external pages.
==References==
{{Reflist}}
Character gallery
The following outlines the layout to be followed on character gallery articles.
General layout
{{CTab}}
{{GalleryBox|image.png|character name}} - links to the image category for the character; this template should only be included if a category exists
{{Galleryheading|section name}} - this creates sections for gallery articles; this template should be included multiple times for each section
<gallery widths="180" position="center">
image.png
</gallery>
Sections
- 1. All gallery articles should follow a uniform order of sections as shown below.
- 2. All sections should be created with the {{Galleryheading}} template.
- 3. Additional sections not listed are allowed.
- 4. Sections can be omitted if there are no images for the section.
{{Galleryheading|Episode images}} - images of the character from episodes; if the character appears in more than one series there should instead be multiple sections named after each series in order, such as {{Galleryheading|{{SBSP}} images}}
{{Galleryheading|Short images}}
{{Galleryheading|Movie images}}
{{Galleryheading|Video game images}}
{{Galleryheading|Book images}}
{{Galleryheading|Comic images}}
Other types of media not listed should also be listed under their own sections.
{{Galleryheading|Production images}} - images of the character from production, such as model sheets and other production images
Main and supporting character articles can have all below sections instead be above all above sections.
{{Galleryheading|Designs}} - main designs and variants of the character
{{Galleryheading|Colors}} - alternate colors of the character
{{Galleryheading|Outfits}} - alternate outfits of the character
{{Galleryheading|Forms}} - alternate forms of the character
Character appearances
The following outlines the layout to be followed on character appearances articles.
Layout example
The following is an example of the layout to be followed on character appearances articles:
{{CTab}}
==Episodes==
==={{SBSP}}===
{{Appear/top/image}}
{{Appear/season|1|4}}
{{Appear3|[[File:image.png|150px]]|episode|role in episode}}
{{Appear/bottom}}
==={{TPSS}}===
{{Appear/top/image}}
{{Appear/season|1 (The Patrick Star Show)|4|1}}
{{Appear3|[[File:image.png|150px]]|episode|role in episode}}
{{Appear/bottom}}
==Shorts==
{{Appear/top/short/image}}
{{Appear5|[[File:image.png|150px]]|short|role in short}}
{{Appear/bottom}}
==Movies==
{{Appear/top/movie/image}}
{{Appear8|[[File:image.png|150px]]|movie|role in movie}}
{{Appear/bottom}}
==Games==
{{Appear/top/game/image}}
{{Appear4|[[File:image.png|150px]]|game|role in game}}
{{Appear/bottom}}
==Books==
{{Appear/top/book/image}}
{{Appear4|[[File:image.png|150px]]|book|role in book}}
{{Appear/bottom}}
==Comics==
{{Appear/top/comic/image}}
{{Appear4|[[File:image.png|150px]]|comic|role in comic}}
{{Appear/bottom}}
Appearance list
- The top of the list uses this template: {{Appear/top/image}}
- Appearances for other types of media require an addition to the template, for example {{Appear/top/short/image}} for shorts and {{Appear/top/movie/image}} for movies. A full list is available at Template:Appear/top/doc.
- {{Appear/season}} is used to indicate every season.
- Entries in the template use different templates depending on the type of media, such as {{Appear3|<image>|<episode>|<role-in-episode>}} for episodes. {{Appear5}} is used for shorts, {{Appear8}} for movies, and {{Appear4}} for games, books, and comics.
- The end of the list uses this template: {{Appear/bottom}}
For example, for Squidward Tentacles:
{{Appear/top/image}}
{{Appear/season|1|4}}
{{Appear3|[[File:Help Wanted 058.png|150px]]|Help Wanted|Major; debut; he tells {{Link|Mr. Krabs}} not to hire SpongeBob.}}
{{Appear/bottom}}
Which displays as this:
| Image | # | Episode | Role in episode |
|---|---|---|---|
|
"Help Wanted" (tr • ga) | Major; debut; he tells Mr. Krabs not to hire SpongeBob. | |
An {{Appear/season}} header should be added for every season. For example, for Sheldon J. Plankton:
{{Appear/top/image}}
{{Appear/season|1|4}}
{{Appear3|[[File:Plankton! 194.png|150px]]|Plankton!|Major; debut; he takes control of {{Link|SpongeBob}}'s [[SpongeBob's brain|brain]] to attempt to steal the [[Krabby Patty]] [[Krabby Patty secret formula|secret formula]].}}
{{Appear/season|2|4}}
{{Appear3|[[File:Imitation Krabs 110.png|150px]]|Imitation Krabs|Major; he disguises himself as a [[Robot Krabs (Imitation Krabs)|robot]] version of {{Link|Mr. Krabs}}.}}
{{Appear/bottom}}
Which displays as this:
| Image | # | Episode | Role in episode |
|---|---|---|---|
|
"Plankton!" (tr • ga) | Major; debut; he takes control of SpongeBob's brain to steal the Krabby Patty secret formula. | |
|
"Imitation Krabs" (tr • ga) | Major; he disguises himself as a robot version of Mr. Krabs. | |
"4" is the number of columns and does not usually need to be changed, assuming the proper templates are used.
Seasons for any spin-off series require additions to the template:
- {{Appear/season|<season-article>|4|<season-number>}}
For example:
{{Appear/top/image}}
{{Appear/season|1 (The Patrick Star Show)|4|1}}
{{Appear3|[[File:Late for Breakfast 101.png|150px]]|Late for Breakfast|He looks for something to eat after missing breakfast.}}
{{Appear/season|2 (The Patrick Star Show)|4|2}}
{{Appear3|[[File:The Patrick Show Cashes In 103.png|150px]]|The Patrick Show Cashes In|He raises money by selling and advertising products.}}
{{Appear/bottom}}
Which displays as this:
| Image | # | Episode | Role in episode |
|---|---|---|---|
|
"Late for Breakfast" (tr • ga) | He looks for something to eat after missing breakfast. | |
|
"The Patrick Show Cashes In" (tr • ga) | He raises money by selling and advertising products. | |
Images
- If an image cannot be found to represent a character, the File:TBA.png image should be used.
- If it is not possible to represent an appearance through an image, such as if it is only a vocal appearance with the character not depicted on-screen, the text "N/A" should be used in place of an image.
- If the character is only mentioned in dialogue, the text "Dialogue mention" should be used.
- Multiple images are allowed, but should not be overused. Two or three images can help illustrate if a character appears during vastly different scenes throughout the episode. Examples in which multiple are used:
| Image | # | Episode | Role in episode |
|---|---|---|---|
 
|
"Wallhalla" (tr • ga) | Minor; SpongeBob intrudes on him showering, and later he is scared by SpongeBob and Wally at the Krusty Krab. | |
 
|
"Krabby Patty Creature Feature" (tr • ga) | Supporting; he and Karen become Krabby Patty creatures, and SpongeBob climbs a tower of chum to get away from them. | |
 
|
"Terror at 20,000 Leagues" (tr • ga) | Cameo; she is pictured on a box of Logic Loops. Dr. Plankenstein's ex-wife, a black-and-white counterpart to Karen, also appears. |
Descriptions
- Sections should be sorted by series debut order. For example, if a character appears on The Patrick Star Show, then SpongeBob SquarePants, then Kamp Koral: SpongeBob's Under Years, the headers should be in that order.
- At the start of the description, the following tags should be used to describe a character's role:
- Major: a character is heavily focused on in the episode. An episode can have multiple major characters; for example, "BassWard" is entirely about Squidward and Bubble Bass.
- Supporting: a character plays a substantial and plot-relevant role, but is not the main focus.
- Minor: a character plays some role in the episode, but not overall relevant to the plot. A focus for one scene or a brief speaking role would qualify.
- Cameo (variants such as "two cameos" or "multiple cameos" are also acceptable): a character has an insignificant role, usually just appearing in the background.
- A character's debut should only be listed for their first overall appearance in the franchise. For example, since Cecil Star debuted in an episode of The Patrick Star Show, his appearance entry for "Late for Breakfast" should be "Minor; debut; [...]."
- An example of the proper formatting is "Major; description." Sentence case should be used for the description, and the first word should not be unnecessarily capitalized. Each description should be written as a proper sentence; for example, "he is seen at Goo Lagoon" instead of "seen at Goo Lagoon."
- All appearance descriptions should be written in the present tense.
Character lists
This section outlines policies related to character list articles.
Grouping characters
The following dictates how characters are sorted on character list articles as present on {{Tabs|Characters}}:
- Main: List of main characters - the main characters, as determined by Nickelodeon and crew members. Consists of ten characters: SpongeBob SquarePants, Patrick Star, Squidward Tentacles, Eugene H. Krabs, Sheldon J. Plankton, Karen Plankton, Sandy Cheeks, Mrs. Puff, Pearl Krabs, and Gary the Snail. The main characters for any spin-off series should also be included. This includes the main characters for The Patrick Star Show: Patrick Star, Squidina Star, Bunny Star, Cecil Star, and GrandPat Star.
- Supporting: List of supporting characters - made several important appearances; considered supporting/recurring. (Patchy the Pirate, Potty the Parrot, the French Narrator, Mermaid Man, Barnacle Boy, the Flying Dutchman, etc.)
- Minor: List of minor characters - any characters that are not classified as main, supporting, or incidentals.
- Incidentals: List of incidental characters - characters that are classified as incidentals by crew members.
- Families: List of families - any families that appear in the franchise and characters of those families.
- Species: List of species - any species that appear in the franchise and characters of those species.
CharacterHover
The following dictates how to use the {{CharacterHover}} template that is frequently used on character list articles:
- 1. Create page Template:CharacterHover/<character> with the following:
{{CharacterHover
|name = name of the character; article linked if one exists
|image = picture of the character; file name only
|shortdesc = brief description of the character
}}
- 2. Import it to an article by using this: {{CharacterHover/<character>}}