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This is the manual of style for Encyclopedia SpongeBobia. Please do not do any reorganization or cleanup of wikitext on the wiki unless you are fixing things to follow this style guideline.
Writing style
- Articles should be written in present tense, not past or future tense. The only exception to this rule is when referring to something in-universe that happened in the past.
- Articles should be written in an in-universe style and not refer to the reader or viewer in any way when talking about events.
- Incorrect: If you look closely after SpongeBob leaves his house, Squidward's house is missing.
- Incorrect: If one looks closely after SpongeBob leaves his house, Squidward's house is missing.
- Incorrect: If the viewer looks closely after SpongeBob leaves his house, Squidward's house is missing.
- Correct: After SpongeBob leaves his house, Squidward's house is missing.
Punctuation
- 1. Under no circumstance should you ever use more than one exclamation point (!), nor should you use all-caps to highlight shouting.
- Incorrect: Overtime!!!!!
- Incorrect: OVERTIME!
- Correct: Overtime!
- 2. Use apostrophes in contractions.
- Incorrect: wont
- Correct: won't
- 3. Always put commas, periods, and exclamation points inside quotation marks.
- Incorrect: This is revealed in the episode "Help Wanted".
- Correct: This is revealed in the episode "Help Wanted."
- 4. Put question marks inside quotation marks when the quoted words is a question. Put question marks outside quotation marks when the entire sentence is a question.
- Incorrect: SpongeBob asks "I how do that"?
- Correct: SpongeBob asks "I how do that?"
- Incorrect: Does SpongeBob say "I'm ready?"
- Correct: Does SpongeBob say "I'm ready"?
- 5. Always put colons and semicolons outside quotation marks.
- Incorrect: "I'm losing my footing!;" "Yay, life insurance!"
- Correct: "I'm losing my footing!"; "Yay, life insurance!"
- 6. Do not put a comma before the name of an episode, unless you specify exactly which SpongeBob SquarePants episode.
- Incorrect: The Krusty Krab first appears in the episode, "Help Wanted."
- Incorrect: The Krusty Krab first appears in the pilot episode, "Help Wanted."
- Correct: The Krusty Krab first appears in the episode "Help Wanted."
- Correct: The Krusty Krab first appears in the SpongeBob SquarePants pilot episode, "Help Wanted."
- Correct: The Krusty Krab first appears in the first episode of SpongeBob SquarePants, "Help Wanted."
- 7. Always use a comma before an "and" when listing more than two things. In other words, always use the Oxford Comma. The only exception to this rule is quoting written work where the author did not use the Oxford Comma.
- Incorrect: I bought bread, milk and eggs.
- Correct: I bought bread, milk, and eggs.
- Correct: SpongeBob wrote "I bought bread, milk and eggs." (This is only correct if this is how SpongeBob wrote it.)
- 8. Always use a comma before an "or" when listing more than two things. In other words, always use the Oxford Comma. The only exception to this rule is quoting written work where the author did not use the Oxford Comma.
- Incorrect: Did you buy, milk, eggs or bread?
- Correct: Did you buy, milk, eggs, or bread?
- Correct: SpongeBob wrote "Did you buy, milk, eggs or bread?" (This is only correct if this is how SpongeBob wrote it.)
- 9. Always use double quotation marks and then single quotation marks if there are quotations within quotations.
- Incorrect: My friend told me 'SpongeBob says "Overtime!" with a ridiculous face.'
- Correct: My friend told me "SpongeBob says 'Overtime!' with a ridiculous face."
Word usage
- 1. It's is the contraction of "it is" or "it has" and its is used for the possession of "it."
- Incorrect: This cheese is past it's expiration date. Its time to get rid of it.
- Correct: This cheese is past its expiration date. It's time to get rid of it.
- 2. Then is a transitional word and than is a comparison word.
- Incorrect: I went to see a movie, than I went to the mall. The mall was more fun then the movie.
- Correct: I went to see a movie, then I went to the mall. The mall was more fun than the movie.
- 3. When writing an article, particularly a character article, refer to the character by the most common name to which the character is referred.
- 4. Whenever you refer to something that people wrote, use the word "wrote."
- Incorrect: Tom Kenny said, in his official synopsis on his website, "This was a good episode."
- Correct: Tom Kenny wrote, in his official synopsis on his website, "This was a good episode."
- 5. When one is writing about words that are on the screen, one should use "read" or "reads" instead of "said" or "says."
- Incorrect: The sign says "Delicious Krabby Patties!"
- Correct: The sign reads "Delicious Krabby Patties!"
- 6. Do not use opinion words, unless you are giving a review, quoting a character, writing a transcript (only in the vocal part or if a written thing says an opinion word), or giving a written thing that has an opinion word in it.
- Incorrect: Krabby Patties are a delicious and popular burger at the Krusty Krab.
- Correct: Krabby Patties are a popular burger at the Krusty Krab.
- Correct: SpongeBob says "Krabby Patties are the best thing in the whole sea."
- Correct: The sign reads "Delicious Krabby Patties!"
- 7. When you write articles, always use present tense. The only exceptions to this rule are transcripts/quotes that use past tense and when things are known to have ended. For example, since Glove World was shut down in "Glove World R.I.P.," everything associated with it must be in the past tense.
- Incorrect: Lamps was a magazine that appeared in "Sponge-Cano!"
- Correct: Lamps is a magazine that appears in "Sponge-Cano!"
- 10. Don't use "time" to describe the occurrence of an event in the series.
- Incorrect: This is the first time SpongeBob says "I'm ready!"
- Correct: This is the first episode in which SpongeBob says "I'm ready!"
Title case
- 1. The following are to be quoted and not italicized:
- Individual episode names
- Incorrect: Help Wanted
- Correct: "Help Wanted"
- Individual short names
- Incorrect: The Endless Summer
- Correct: "The Endless Summer"
- Songs
- Incorrect: Campfire Song Song
- Correct: "Campfire Song Song"
- Associated production music
- Incorrect: Hello Blues
- Correct: "Hello Blues"
- 2. The following are to be italicized and not quoted:
- Movie names
- Incorrect: "The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie"
- Correct: The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie
- Computer games and computer-game applications
- Incorrect: "SpongeBob Moves In!"
- Correct: SpongeBob Moves In!
- Books
- Incorrect: "Hooray for Dads!"
- Correct: Hooray for Dads!
- Magazines
- Incorrect: "Toxic Waste Monthly"
- Correct: Toxic Waste Monthly
- 3. The following are not to be quoted nor italicized:
- Rides
- Incorrect: "Jimmy Neutron's Nicktoon Blast"
- Incorrect: Jimmy Neutron's Nicktoon Blast
- Correct: Jimmy Neutron's Nicktoon Blast
- Applications
- Incorrect: "Facebook"
- Incorrect: Facebook
- Correct: Facebook
Common or other spelling mistakes
- 1. SpongeBob SquarePants should always have the words "Bob" and "Pants" capitalized.
- Incorrect: Spongebob Squarepants
- Correct: SpongeBob SquarePants
- 2. Mr. Krabs and the Krusty Krab do not have the letter "c;" they have the letter "k."
- Incorrect: Mr. Crabs
- Correct: Mr. Krabs
- Incorrect: The Crusty Crab
- Correct: The Krusty Krab
- 3. All characters with "Mr." "Mrs." or "Ms." must have a period (full stop) after their person title abbreviations.
- Incorrect: Mrs Puff and Mr Krabs like to date with each other.
- Correct: Mrs. Puff and Mr. Krabs like to date with each other.
- 4. The word "okay" should always be spelled out and should never be abbreviated.
- Incorrect: Sandy asks SpongeBob if he is ok.
- Incorrect: Sandy asks SpongeBob if he is OK.
- Correct: Sandy asks SpongeBob if he is okay.
- 5. The word "whoa" is commonly misspelled as "woah." The correct spelling must always be used.
- Incorrect: SpongeBob exclaims "Woah!"
- Correct: SpongeBob exclaims "Whoa!"
Other grammar mistakes
- 1. "You're" is short for "you are" and is a conjunction. "Your" is used for a belonging, or anything else that isn't an abbreviation for "you are."
- Incorrect: Your a great editor here!
- Correct: You're a great editor here!
- Incorrect: I love you're userpage!
- Correct: I love your userpage!
- 2. "They're" is short for "they are" and is a conjunction. "Their" is used for a belonging. "There" is for anything else.
- Incorrect: There house is very nice!
- Correct: Their house is very nice!
- Incorrect: I can't choose between SpongeBob and Patrick. Their both equally amazing!
- Correct: I can't choose between SpongeBob and Patrick. They're both equally amazing!
- Incorrect: They're was a crazy story on TV recently!
- Correct: There was a crazy story on TV recently!
- 3. "Who's" is short for "who is" and is a conjunction. "Whose" is used for a belonging, or anything else that isn't an abbreviation for "who is."
- Incorrect: Whose coming to the chat party tonight?!
- Correct: Who's coming to the chat party tonight?!
- Incorrect: Yes, I've heard of that user who's edits really helped the wiki!
- Correct: Yes, I've heard of that user whose edits really helped the wiki!
- 4. When referring to a date, use "on this date," not "in this date."
- Incorrect: "Squid Defense" is the first episode to air in the United States in January 1.
- Correct: "Squid Defense" is the first episode to air in the United States on January 1.
Wikitext style
- Headers should be in the form ==Header==, not the form == Header ==. This only applies to articles, image pages use == Summary == automatically and talkpages are free form and no changes should ever be made to header style.
- Things like
[[Gary|Gary]]
and[[Gary|gary]]
are pointless, only[[Gary]]
should be used. - Don't bypass redirects using things like
[[SpongeBob SquarePants|SpongeBob]]
make use of the redirect properly with[[SpongeBob SquarePants]]
.- It is recommended to use linking templates rather than redirects. See ESB:Links for more info.
Common improper style changes
- Do not add last names to links unless you have a valid reason to do so (full character name has not been used earlier in the article). Full names should not be abused to bypass redirects.
- Do not change page numbers in ref tags to have a leading zero. Going around the wiki and changing 3 to 03 despite most pages sticking to 3 does not improve the wiki at all and just adds pointless edits, just stick with 3.
- Do not place logic into humor, examples are: "How can fire be underwater?"
- Do not write SpongeBob's name with a lowercase "B." The "B" should always be capitalized.
- Do not list an episode, short, song, book chapter, or game level without including quotation marks around the title.
- Do not list a movie, book, comic, or game without italicizing the title.
- Do not place punctuation outside of quotation marks. The correct placement is inside. Example: "Help Wanted."
- Do not use more than one question mark or exclamation point in a row. One is all that is ever needed.
- Do not add captions to images in gallery pages.
- Do not use British English spelling or grammar. SpongeBob SquarePants is an American series, so therefore American English spellings and grammar conventions should always be used.
Specific article guidelines
Episodes
Characters
Each character article must include:
- An infobox with all known information.
- A character biography.
- Trivia - Trivia items. Organized in list format using * at the start of the line.
- Quotes - Character quotes. The character's catchphrase shouldn't be on the list of quotes.
- References - Just the ==References== section with a {{Reflist}} template below it to collect the <ref></ref> tag info in the page. Individual bits of info should be tagged with specific citation other than just the general sources section.
- If the character's biography consists of just a few sentences, please do not create an article for them. Instead, put the character's information on the character list, List of characters.
- Every character article must be categorized with this category: Category:Characters.
Video games
Each video game article must include:
- An infobox with all known information
- A description of the video game
- Every video game article must be categorized with this category: Category:Video games.
Songs
Each song article must include:
- A description of the song, including the writer(s), performer(s), and episode(s) featured in
- The lyrics
- Every music article must be categorized with this category: Category:Music.
Books
Use the following infobox template on articles about SpongeBob books:
{{Book |title = |cover = |author = |illustrator = |country = |language = |publisher = |pub_date = |pages = |isbn = }}
People
Use the following infobox template on articles about people involved with SpongeBob, including cast members and crew members.
{{Person |name = |image = |birth = |death = |gender = |credits = |portrays = |years = |cast = |crew = }}
Use this template at the bottom of people articles:
{{People}}
See also
- Original source of Manual of Style written by Dantman