Unidentified Wiki:Manual of style

Please note: This page is still in the works!

Grammar

• Proper grammar and spelling are essential to provide a credible article.
• Brand names should be capitalized, but not underlined, italicized or enclosed with apostrophes.
• Avoid using double spaces at the start of sentences.
• Make sure to use dashes and commas where appropriate.
• Avoid using the ampersand (&) unless stated in a quote or brand name, etc.
• It is recommended to download the Grammarly plugin for your browser.

General

• Spell out State and Province names, as opposed to abbreviations.
• Classification of time (example: years) should not be capitalized if a number appears before it.
• Similarly, spell out units of weight.
• Age ranges should have no space between them (example: 25-30, not 25 - 30)
• If using the metric system, abbreviations such as "m" should be used, as the words tend to get long.
• When listing height in feet and inches, only use an apostrophe to specify the number of feet.
  • Please do not add quotation marks (") after the inch specification.
  • Do not include a "0" if the subject is at an even number of feet/meters tall.
  • Please be mindful of both imperial and metric systems cluttering the infobox and try to stick to one.
• If the height and weight are not known, please leave the infobox sections blank.
• Avoid using "to" in regards to a range (such as age). Please use an endash (-) instead.
• At this time, this is an only English-language website.
  • Please use the specific variation of English according to the country a case originates from.
  • Use "month, day, year" format for American, and Canadian cases.
  • Use "day, month, year" format for British, Australian, and non-English speaking countries.
• Classifications should be updated in the accompanying indexes if they have been updated on the page.

Addition of international cases

While adding cases from non-English speaking regions is encouraged, be mindful of a few things while adding and editing articles falling into this category.

• Be aware that online translation services (such as Google Translate) can be a tool to learn basic details from a source published in a different language than the contributor understands or in which is not fluent. Mistranslations can still be common, despite theses services being continuously updated.
• While many contributors are multilingual, it should be kept in mind that even when fluent, errors can still occur during the process of translation.
• When in doubt, refrain from adding potentially incorrect and/or controversial information. Ask fellow users to double-check a page containing translated material, if need be.
• If a page is primarily translated from sources that aren't in English, please use the {{Translated page}} notice.

Format

• The beginning of the article should state the individual’s name (or the article title) in bold text.
  • If the individual used a different name than what they were born with, specify it in quotation marks after the middle name (if known).
• The lifespan of an individual is optional to add following the inclusion of their name in parentheses.
• Pages should start off introducing the individual similar to this: "xx was a female/male whose remains were found..."
• All articles (with the exception of disambiguations) should have an Infobox.
  • See the "creating a page" guide for additional information.
  • When adding a notice to the page (after identification, for example), the Infobox will need to be moved to the top of the page.
  • This is done by dragging the box upward in the visual editor.
  • In source mode, the template can be cut and pasted to appear first.

Sections

Main sections

• "Discovery": describing the circumstances of finding the unidentified person.
• "Background": for persons which would provide details of their lives before they disappeared or died.
  • Sometimes, the heading "life prior to disappearance" appears but the section titles should remain short.

• "Case": which includes details of the discovery, disappearance and investigation history.

The next three sections should be detailed as a bullet list, to highlight defining information about a currently unidentified or missing person. Resolved cases may state these details in prose, as they may not need to be highlighted.

• "Characteristics": physical description of the subject, including hair/eye color, tattoos, etc.
  • Measurements should be abbreviated (for example: 30-cm long brown hair instead of 30 centimeters long brown hair).
• "Clothing and accessories": description of the clothing and accessories like hats, gloves, etc an individual was found with.
  • Sizes should follow the clothing and be abbreviated, not spelled out (for example: size L instead of size large).
  • Measurements should be abbreviated and not placed at the end of a description (for example: 5-inch necklace instead of necklace, 5 inches long).
  • If the clothing or item only has remnants, please make a note of this.
  • Avoid using 1/2 to describe half in sizing and instead use .5.
• "Belongings": description of the personal items an individual was found with.

Please use a bullet list for the same reason as the "characteristics”" section.

• "Sources": listing where the information for the article was obtained
  • Formerly known as "links" but has been changed to be more inclusive for inline citations to support major details about a case.

Sources

• Credibility is important on this website, so it is best to determine whether information originates from reliable sources.
  • Online forums (Websleuths, Reddit, etc.) cannot be used as sources, unless information is gathered from newspaper clippings or copies of archived articles.
  • Tabloids, such as The Daily Mail and The National Enquirer are prohibited to be used, based on lengthy histories of sensationalism and deliberate false claims.

• Be sure to use the templates available for sources such as NCMEC, NamUs, etc. Examples of these often large, frequently used websites are listed below:

• • {{NamUs|CASE NUMBER|PAGE NAME}}
  • {{NCMEC|CASE NUMBER|PAGE NAME}}
  • {{Doe Network|CAse NUMBER (lower-case, followed by ".html"|PAGE NAME}}

• Other websites can be sourced by adding the URL enclosed by a left and right bracket.

Naming the source in the link can be typed just before the right bracket, with a space to separate it from the URL.

• • News organizations are italicized, while police departments, sheriff's offices and other organizations are not.

• Experienced users could also use inline citations, if it is desired to specify where certain details, such as cause of death, were mentioned.
  • Only available to include via source mode. Be sure to enclose a named URL between reference tags, appearing as "<ref>[www.unidentified.wikia.org Unidentified Wiki]</ref>"
  • In order for a reference to appear on the visible portion of the page, “<references />” must appear below the list of sources.
  • It is also recommended to use proper citation formatting (MLA), which can be entered in various websites to be copied for referencing an article.
  • Inline citations can be important to verify a major detail of a case, such as the manner of death.
• Using inline citations and footnotes will interfere with each other, so only use one or the other.
• If you wish to add footnotes (to clarify pronunciation or a disputed element in the case, use the same tag for inline citations.
  • If using footnotes, please create another section beneath “Sources” titled “Footnotes” with <references /> beneath it.