MicroNations Fandom:Manual of Style

The Micropedia:Manual of Style is a style guide for this wiki. It helps on how articles should be done to look professional and formal. However, not all people here at Micropedia are either native speakers of English and may not of have passed secondary or high school.

Regional variations of English
We accept any dialect/variation of English and like Wikipedia we prefer no national variation of English, but here are a few notes:


 * Like we previously did with our MicroWikia articles, each article must have a banner to state in which dialect of English it is written in, for an example the 'Spanionte' article may say "This article is written in American English" and therefore must be written in that dialect/variety of English or if the 'Daniel-Land' article says "This article is written in British English", therefore must be writeen in that dialect/variety of English.
 * Do not add British English syntax if an article is written in American English or vice versa. for an example. An article must use a banner to state if it is written in British English, American English or any other dialect/variation of English, in order to standardise an article. For example: don't mix color and colour, just simply put in the spelling that was originally written in, therefore the Spanionte article, for an example, may have to use color and not both, or the Saxon Empire, Daniel-Land or Monovia articles may have to use colour only.
 * When adding a term that is common in one English variation, but not elsewhere please add in brackets/parenthesis, the meaning in another variation of English or the general/standard/neutral English term. For an example: Aryavart has 50 lakh (Indian English for a thousand) rupees or Spanionte claims a bathroom wihich has a dirty faucet (tap). However North American terms like gasoline, wrench, soccer or diapers are acceptible to English audiences elsewhere and don't require the meaning in another variation of English.
 * Micronational variations may be accepted but may need a link to that article, so readers can know the difference between macronational variations of English and that variation of English.
 * Do not put American terms which are offensive elsewhere, such as spastic or spaz. These may not be offensive in the US, but may be offensive in the UK. Best replace these words with "erratic", clumsy or "stupid", for an example

Examples to understand
''The flag colors of Spanionte are black, red and white. Each colour represents a symbol of Spanionte'' (no) ''The flag colors of Spanionte are black, red and white. Each color represents a symbol of Spanionte'' (yes) -- ''Monovia's flag colors are blue and white. The colours represent Monovia'' (no) "Monovia's flag colours are blue and white. The colours represent Monovia" (yes)

-- Harry Fitzpatrick wears blue trainers and dark blue trousers (no) Harry Fitzpatrick wears blue trainers (sneakers) and dark blue trousers (pants)

-- The man filled the car with gasoline (yes) The man filled the car with petrol (yes)

Capitalisation
Do not capitalise:
 * Any parts of headings, except the first word and any proper nouns therein.
 * Ideologies, except Nazism and ideologies named after a person.
 * Seasons.

Dates
Write it in the following styles:
 * February 30, 2012
 * 30 February, 2012
 * 30th February 2012
 * February 30th, 2012

Do not wirte it as: or
 * Jan 1st 99
 * 01/01/1999

If you don't remember the exact date you can write the seaso of which it occured in (e.g. In Spring 1998, Spanionte was conquered by the US).

Pronouns
Avoid constructions such as his/her. They is perfectly acceptable to refer to a person of indeterminate gender, and one can also be used. When referring to a person, use the set of personal pronouns they use to refer to themselves. As a formal venue, Micropedia never uses the second-person you in articlespace, except in quotations. Substitute one.

For example: "Our micronation was founded on June 1st, 2012" (wrong) "The micronation was founded on June 1st, 2012" (right) --- You should realise that Micropedia is an encyclopedia and not a war portal (wrong) "One should realise that Micropedia is an encyclopedia and not a war portal" (right)

Informal Language
Micropedia uses formal language.

Contractions
Do not use don't, weren't, "it's", etc. Use Do not, were not or "It is".

Slang
Do not use slang words like gonna, beat 'em or "ain't". Please use "going to", "beat them" or "aren't".

For an example: He was gonna play football (soccer) (wrong) "He was going to play football (soccer)" (right)

Verbing
Examples: She waitressed at a restaurant near Scott Morrison’s office. (wrong) She worked as a waitress at a restaurant near Scott Morrison’s office. (right)

Systems of measurement
We accept both metric and Imperial/U.S. Examples. However you must expressed them in both measurements systems. Spanionte has a 50 ft statue (wrong, requires metric equivalent) "Spanionte has 50 ft (15.24 metre) statue" (right) "Wilcsland is 0.0026 sq km" (wrong, requires Imperial/U.S. equivalent).

Also micronational measurement systems must require metric/imperial/U.S. equivalent. Example: This car measures 23 [name of micronational measurement system] (22.40 m/73 ft) (right)

Names of products, people or brands

 * If a name of a product is known under another name in another English speaking country best write it for instance as: Sega Mega Drive/Genesis and not Sega Genesis or "Sega Mega Drive", because the console's name is different in various English-speaking regions.
 * If a name of the film or videogame title uses a different name in another English-speaking country, please use the film's original title and then in parenthesis/brackets put the US name, UK name, whatever it is called in those English speaking countries. For example '"He was watching Avatar: The Last Airbender (known in Europe as Avatar: The Legend of Aang) or He was playing Zero (known in Europe as Project Zero and known in North America as Fatal Frame)''. However if the game uses the same name in all English-speaking countries it is acceptible to use the game's or film's English title.