Library Data:Manual of Style
This is the Manual of Style, a collection of rules and suggestions for article formatting and information to be included for articles. This Manual is specifically for the library data section of the Traveller Wiki. We assume you have read and understood the Manual of Style. This special section manual contains only changes and updates to the core manual. Please read, and understand, everything as the changes are significant and important.
Important: The copyright and license for contributions to the Library Data pages is different from the license for contributions to any other part of the Wiki. Specifically any contribution you make to the Library Data is, in addition to the Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC 3.0) license, also being licensed in perpetuity to the Traveller copyright holder (currently Mongoose Publishing).
Article Organization[edit]
The Library Data is looking to emulate the style of Classic Traveller Library Data books (Supplement 8, Supplement 11, and the MegaTraveller Imperial Encyclopedia). For this purpose we discourage the use of the Suggested article layouts. The articles should include formatting as appropriate, but only as needed by the specific article. Following the style of the published library data, minimal formatting and layout is expected.
Because of this, there is a minimum size of article that can be included in the Library Data. Currently this is at minimum one paragraph of text (50 to 100 words). We're not looking to include every single reference in the Library Data. Only articles with sufficient relevant information to create a useful reference.
Only direct quotes from published canon or material you have written yourself should be included. Direct quotes, or lightly edited quotes, from published material must be tagged with a Page citation like this {{Page cite|name=<book name>|page=<source page(s)>}}. Any of your contributions should be marked with an unpublished citation like {{Unpublished cite|author=~~~~}} or {{Unpublished cite|author=<Your contributor title>}}. Citations go at the end of each sentence or paragraph. We're trying very hard to ensure there is no ambiguity about the source of material for the Library Data. You should include a Library data sources template at the bottom of the article to correctly display these citations. Please do not include any third party created content in the Library Data.
In deciding which canon text to include, please refer to Don's Hermeneutic guidelines. Only the most recent Canon reference should be quoted in the article, with the other publications being referenced in the Library Data sources template.
All links in the articles, and we encourage the usual pattern of creating links to any interesting subject mentioned, should be links to the library data namespace (e.g. [[Library Data:<article name>|]]. This will create a large number of red (missing article) links in the library data which can be worked on. This will, with deliberate purpose, isolate the Library Data from the rest of the wiki.
Do not include the Category templates like {{LE}} or {{LEN}} at the bottom of the articles. We are currently working on a set of Library Data specific categories for these articles. Like with the links, we're looking to isolate the library data from the rest of the wiki.
Every article in the Library Data namespace should have a corresponding article in the Main namespace. The main article should have a {{Milieu header}} template at the very top of the article. This will inform the readers of the main wiki article there is a specific Library Data article for them to review as well.