This page is an editing guide for all pages on the Gender Wiki. Chances are, you're new around here, and need a guide to editing. You are in the right place! These guidelines are subject to change, and if you feel anything needs to be added please reach out to our wiki staff or let us know in the comments!
When creating or editing a page, it may also be helpful to view our Citing Standards, Examplegender (Template), How to Use the Gender Template, and/or How to Make a Coining Post pages.
Keep in mind that repeated violation of the editing guide and/or Wiki Policies may result in warnings, bans, or blocks, depending upon rules violated.
Sensory Warning: Bold and/or italics are used semi-frequently on this page.
Formatting
- The first mention of the gender/term the page is about should be bolded and not put in italic. (Ex: Agender is a gender identity.)
- Unless at the start of a sentence, the first letter of a gender or term should not be capitalized.
- Pages for a gender/term do not need a heading with the name of the gender/term on the top of the page.
- Write all articles in a third-person perspective, and avoid using words such as 'you,' 'I,' or 'me.' Opt for words such as 'them,' 'theirs,' or 'one' when describing other people.
- Don't 'summarize' articles at any point, or paraphrase information multiple times.
- Articles should be written formally.
- The Gender template should be used for all pages. For an official guide to using the Gender template, see How to Use the Gender Template.
Content
- Articles should not include any sort of personal experience. (Ex: My experience with being agender is...) If there is an outside source, such information may be included in a Quote template in Common Definitions section of the page.
- Articles are not for providing definitions of other identities, or how one identity is different from another. There is slight exception to this rule when two identities are very similar, but the explanation should not go into excessive details.
- Pages should not include long definitions. The definitions should be compact and not include unnecessary, or already implied, information. If there is a very long definition with an outside resource, it may be placed in a Quote template in the Common Definitions section of the page.
- Pages should not include emojis/expressions/special characters. There are some specific exceptions to this rule (e.g. emojigenders).
- It is not necessary to include that a gender can be used in combination with other genders, as this is already implied.
- Content should be PG-13 or lower and exclude any curse words not permitted by wiki policies.
- When avoidable, assumptions should not be made in articles. (Ex: It is thought that the coiner of agender is ____ but no one knows for sure)
- When writing a user's username, do not write the users' nickname/actual name in the place of their username. (Ex: The person who coined agender is Sam).
Sourcing
Sourcing is mandatory. Not having sources for coining or definitions is not acceptable. Pages need to have citations, or use the template CitationNeeded to indicate that it needs to have a cited source added. A citation must be added using the citation tool, next to the information from the source. This wiki's Citing Standards page can also be used for a guide to sourcing pages.
Unacceptable Sources
Entire Wiki pages (LGBTA Wiki, MOGAI Wiki, Wikipedia, Mogaipedia, etc)
Citing an entire Wiki page is not allowed. If a Wiki page has citations, those citations themselves can be used on the page on our Wiki. Another Wiki's page is a result of up to hundreds of edits by hundreds of different users and not a singular source, and the information within it can be completely changed at any time, making it an invalid source.
Page As Original Source
Making a page to coin a term and having it be the original/only source of coining is not acceptable. Wiki pages shouldn't be used for this. Wikis are aggregates of information, not sources of them. Wiki pages are not social media and shouldn't be used as original posts. A coining post can be made in the discussions, on Tumblr, Twitter, Reddit, or on nearly any other site.
In the instance that a term has been coined by making a Wiki page, the edit history for that Wiki page that includes the page's creation can then be used as a source. However, this is disallowed on our Wiki, and coining terms through making a page is met with the same treatment as breaking another rule of the Wiki.
Acceptable Sources
- A tutorial and masterlist of common sources is here! This is not a complete list, and users can cite (nearly) any website or published piece of media. In general, one should feel free to make their own judgement on whether or not a site is trustworthy enough to be cited as a source. Tumblr or other blogging website links are acceptable sources (for example), but web archive or archive.is links are greatly preferred to help preserve content, and we encourage archiving any links you might add to an article, especially original coining posts. If you don't have a link at the time of editing a page, adding Template:Cleanup and specifying what the page needs is acceptable.
As a general rule: If Wikipedia wouldn't allow it as a source, neither would we. Repeatedly creating articles with no sources (and no usage of the templates mentioned previously) may result in temporary bans.
Gender Coining
If you decide to coin a gender on the wiki, do so via a blog or discussions post, not by page creation, and follow these guidelines:
- Make sure the gender/term doesn't already exist.
- Make sure the name you have in mind is not already a term/in use. You should look it up on Google, Tumblr, and other wikis to ensure it isn't already taken.
- Your gender should not be satirical. If it is, it will be deleted.
- Your gender should not include assigned gender expression (ex. pronouns), though it can include suggestions. (There are exceptions to this rule.)
- Make sure your gender is appropriate! Genders that are deemed inappropriate (cussing, above PG-13 content) will be deleted or edited.
- Your gender should not be based off of or include any sort of stereotype. (There are specific exceptions to this rule.)
For help creating a coining post, see How to Make a Coining Post.