Critical Role wiki:Manual of Style

This is a proposed set of style guidelines and formatting advice for the Critical Role Wiki. This is not meant to be a comprehensive guide on wiki mark-up but rather a general overview of style, how to perform frequently occurring editing tasks, and common formatting considerations. This is simply a reference document of common practices and style considerations used across this wiki to help guide editors when creating articles and keep style consistent. This guide is not absolute, and deviations from the guide here are allowed and acceptable.

General and misc. guidance

 * The wiki, like Critical Role, generally uses American English spelling.
 * Keep in mind the gap between in-character and out-of-character when writing, i.e. "Fjord considered releasing Uk'otoa" is not verifiably true where "Travis considered releasing Uk'otoa" is and these are not the same.
 * Use the serial comma as it is most grammatically clear, i.e. "Caleb, the warlock, and the cleric" not "Caleb, the warlock and the cleric" unless Caleb is suddenly a warlock-cleric multiclass.
 * Generally, follow the D&D house style guide unless otherwise noted within this guide. The most relevant for the wiki are:
 * Do not hyphenate a compound that's composed of a numeral and an abbreviation or word, i.e. "100 gp" or "100 gold" not "100-gp" or "100-gold".
 * Spell levels are the ordinal and hyphenated, i.e. 3rd-level.
 * Try to use numerals for points, scores, damage expressions, and any game trait with a numerical value as well as currency, before abbreviations or units of measure, or dates. Otherwise, spell out numbers from zero to one hundred and any formed by adding "hundred", "thousand", or "hundred thousand". Distance is numeral in mechanics but spelled out otherwise. For example, it's "8d10 force damage", "192 hit points", "DC 15", "5,000 gold", "level 3", "60 feet" (when discussing mechanics such as movement speed or spell range), "1 hour" (when discussing spell duration), "1 bonus action" but it's "three Cloven Crystals", "eight city-states", "two hundred miles south of Port Damali", "seven adventurers", "three days of travel", "eight hundred years". That said, don't worry about this one too much; "200 miles south" and "800 years" are equally natural.
 * Spells are proper nouns and are italicized, i.e. Sending and Eldritch Blast.
 * Feats and other abilities are proper nouns and are not italicized, i.e. Divine Intervention and Marine Layer.
 * Names of ships are italicized and do not include the definite article unless it is specifically part of the ship's name, i.e. the Ball-Eater.
 * Punctuation goes outside of double quotes unless the quoted is a full sentence with that punctuation. For example, it's: Fjord said that Sabian had "terrible judgement", and Vandran felt Sabian "a coward". But it's: Fjord said of Sabian, "He's had terrible judgement in the past," and Vandran recalled, "He was a coward and a survivor."
 * Exandrian years are formatted with a space and no periods, i.e. "836 PD" not "836PD" nor "836 P.D." Exandrian dates are formatted as day-month, i.e. "16 Sydenstar". For guidance on real-world dates, see "Real-world date formatting".
 * Avoid bolding words for emphasis outside article leads or lists of sentences or paragraphs, i.e. the names of locations at Zadash are bolded because each bullet is lengthy but the items at Caduceus Clay are not bolded because each bullet is concise.
 * Similarly, avoid italicizing words for emphasis.
 * Avoid use of small or reduced size text outside of reference lists, particularly in Infoboxes. This is an accessibility issue.
 * Link to individual episodes using ep. This maintains consistency.
 * If a table of contents becomes long, it can be shortened using TOClimit. Please use this instead of removing section headers, which are useful for links and ease of editing.

Handling spoilers
&rarr; See the "Citing episodes not yet on YouTube" section for guidance on timestamps

The wiki does not have a moratorium on spoilers. Articles may be, and often are, updated while an episode is airing, and information considered spoilers is not in any way marked off or separated from the rest of the article. When working with spoilers, integrate all information into the article where it will be most natural and appropriate and do not hide spoilers underneath collapsible sections or section them off for the sole purpose of making them easily avoidable.

Paraphrasing sources
If you quote a notably lengthy portion of spoken or written text exactly, indicate that it is directly quoted by using double quotes ("), the quotebox template, or the quote template. Double quotes are also appropriate when usage of a specific word feels as if it may be mistaken as the opinion of the editor when it is a statement by a character or text. Using the same wording as an episode to describe something is fine as long as the source is referenced, though consider double quotes for notably lengthy portions as already recommended.

Don't copy-paste articles from an episode, guide, or other source. This is plagiarism and is not allowed on the wiki. Paraphrase or restate the content in the source.

Be sure that any description or assertion of fact you add has a source referenced.

Writing prose
&rarr; See the "General and misc. guidance" section for various related advice

This wiki generally uses a mixture of in-universe and out-of-universe style when describing events and characters. It is appropriate to frame events using in-universe dates, real-life episode numbers, or both. For example, the following are all equally appropriate:
 * On 18 Misuthar 836 PD, Fjord ended his pact with Uk'otoa.
 * In, Fjord ended his pact with Uk'otoa.
 * On 18 Misuthar 836 PD, in, Fjord ended his pact with Uk'otoa.

This said, prose is written more from an in-universe perspective than an out-of-universe one. However, mind the gap between in-character and out-of-character when writing, i.e. "Fjord considered releasing Uk'otoa" is not necessarily verifiably true where "Travis considered releasing Uk'otoa" is; a player may be stating a character's intent or be stating their own player intent, and these are not always the same. Take care to be aware of this and represent this accurately and properly in articles.

Contractions are fine to use, and it is not necessary to avoid them. If one wishes to avoid using them when personally writing, feel free to do so; however, it is not necessary to edit an article simply to write out contractions. Otherwise, avoid too casual a tone.

Spelling variations
The wiki generally uses American English spelling.

For in-universe words and names, use the spelling that is used in official sources, typically the finalized closed captions and guides. However, if these sources use multiple spellings, such as "Tide's Breath" versus "Tide's Breadth", "Ruidus" versus "Ruidis", "tawhaj" versus "tawaj", use what is most common in these sources.

When using spelling derived from the closed captions, be aware that episodes aired before were transcribed by fan volunteers, and as such, some of the spelling is unofficial, sometimes outright incorrect, i.e. "Vandren" and "Vandrin" for Vandran, "Malaismere" for Molaesmyr. Be sure to verify using other sources or episodes aired after before committing to spellings used in earlier closed captions. If this is not possible, and the correct spelling feels unclear, mark it with the spelling tag.

Verb tense
Use past tense when describing events or an action, i.e. "The de Rolo family founded Whitestone" or "Caleb released Frumpkin from service as his familiar" or "Beau was promoted to the rank of expositor", unless it is an ongoing state of affairs, i.e. "The Bright Queen demands that all beacons be turned over into Dynasty possession". The only common exception to this is describing actions in references, which tend to use literary present.

Living characters, extant locations, and extant items are written about in present tense, i.e. "Port Damali functions as the de facto capital of the Clovis Concord", "Yasha Nydoorin collects flowers by pressing them into a journal", "Dwueth'var allows the wielder to cast Faerie Fire". In contrast, destroyed locations and dead characters are written about in past tense, i.e. "Molaesmyr was a post-Divergence elven civilization" and "Delilah Briarwood was ruthless, cold, and calculating". When in doubt about a character's, location's, or item's status, write in present tense.

Article titles
Articles should be titled in a way that is most accurate, precise, and clear about what the subject is. A title should use the subject's most commonly used, most official, and most preferred full name. If the subject changed names over the course of the narrative or lore, use whichever is most recently in common and preferred usage. It should be located at the official spelling, and if none exists, the most commonly used or intuitive spelling.

Article titles should also avoid using epithets or nicknames, preferring personal names, and they should not include any titles the character holds. They should be capitalized properly, using Title Case if they are a proper noun and capitalizing only the first letter if they are not; for items, generally this follows guidance in published D&D materials.
 * Caleb Widogast, not "Bren Aldric Ermendrud"
 * Fjord, not "Fjord Stone"
 * Percival de Rolo, not "Percival" or "Percy"
 * Veth Brenatto, not "Nott the Brave"
 * Nein Heroez, not "Eden's Horizon" nor "Nine Heroes"
 * Rosohna, not "Ghor Dranas"
 * Marion Lavorre, not "Ruby of the Sea" nor "Marian Lavorre"
 * Delilah Briarwood, not "Lady Briarwood" nor "Lady Delilah Briarwood"
 * Threshold crest, not "Threshold Crest"
 * Allura Vysoren's adventuring party, not "Allura Vysoren's Adventuring Party"

Possible alternative names may be created as redirects if they are likely to be searched for or linked to, such as Vex, Nott the Brave, Ruby of the Sea, Ghor Dranas, and Lady Briarwood. Misspellings may also make good redirects of the misspelling is common, i.e. Dierta Thelyss (incorrect, but common) for Deirta Thelyss (correct).

Structure
Structure, usually in the form of subsections, varies from article to article depending on the subject. Consult the following templates and use the following articles as guides on common structures:
 * Episode: Template:New episode, Refjorged, The Nameless Ones
 * Character: Template:New character, Caduceus Clay, Lucien
 * Person: Kami Areopagita, Aabria Iyengar
 * Item: Template:New item, Circlet of Barbed Vision, Cape of the Mountebank
 * Location: Template:New location, Rifenmist Jungle, Eiselcross
 * City: Template:New city, Emon, Byroden
 * Spell: Template:New spell, Fortune's Favor, Decompose

Typically, an article should be structured in a way that feels intuitive and natural. While these are the typical and generally common ways to structure an article, other equally intuitive and natural structures may be required for specific subjects. As always, strive for clarity.

If the article is short because there is not a lot of information to write about the subject, then headers are not strictly necessary, i.e. Catha. For longer articles, create headers to group together paragraphs of similar information in the way one would group sentences together in paragraphs and name those sections as appropriate. However, avoid creating section names that are too long; aim for complete but concise names. At the same time, section titles should be unique within the article to ensure that linking to sections works correctly.

The lead
The lead, or lede, is the paragraph or paragraphs at the top of the article that summarize its contents. The lead should give an overview of the article and a reader should be able to get all the most important information about the article by reading this section. Think of it as the TL;DR of the article. A reader short on time should be able to quickly learn about the subject through this section.

The first mention of the subject of the article, such as the character's name or the object, is bolded. If the subject is known by multiple names, all such phrases are bolded. For example:
 * Dwueth'var, also known as the Star Razor, is a Vestige of Divergence.
 * The Nein Heroez is a ship captained by Fjord. It was formerly known as the Eden's Horizon.

Significant titles or ranks that precede the subject's name may be bolded as well when used with the subject's name in the first phrase of the article. However, the titles should not be bolded if used elsewhere in the lead. For example:
 * Marquis Olesya Lapidus is a human woman. Marquis Lapidus governs Port Damali.
 * Olesya Lapidus is the marquis of Port Damali.

...but not...
 * Olesya Lapidus is a human woman. Marquis Lapidus governs Port Damali.
 * Olesya Lapidus is the marquis of Port Damali.

The infobox goes at the very top of this section. If there is no infobox but there is an image, that image goes at the very top of this section as well. The first sentence of the article should then be on the next consecutive line after these, without a line in between:  The Cloven Crystals are the three magical keys to the seals binding Uk'otoa beneath the Lucidian Ocean.

This ensures that there is not a gap, or an extra line break, at the top of the article.

Infoboxes
&rarr; See Category:Infobox templates for available infoboxes and their documentation

Infoboxes are the boxes of information that appear at the top-right of an article. There is an infobox for almost every type of subject, so most articles will have them. Some general advice:
 * Keep concise. It's not necessary to elaborate on details here, as that is what the body of the article is for.
 * Include only what is most important to understanding the subject. Don't try to include everything possible. Again, that is what the rest of the article is for.
 * Avoid use of small text. It is an accessibility issue, and best practice is to maintain as much accessibility as possible. A bit of text wrapping is acceptable.
 * If listing multiple items in a parameter, such as "Family" or "Owners", use bulleted lists instead of line breaks. Bulleted lists are visually clearer.

Section headers
Section headers are used to get around articles, organize information, and as link targets. Ensure that they are nested properly, particularly in that you do not skip heading levels: a header should have only one more pair of equal (=) signs than the header it is nested under.

To be consistent with the way articles themselves are titled (see: ), title sections in sentence case. That is, capitalize the first letter in the header and proper nouns, i.e. "Notable items", "Labenda Swamp crystal", "Bard spells".

Additionally, avoid creating empty section headers for the sake of other articles having such a header, i.e. leaving in "Notable items" and "Character abilities" for NPCs that do not have such information yet. Such sections can always be created when they become necessary, and feel free to delete empty and unneeded headers when creating an article or, if you feel they will become necessary, hide them in a hidden note.

If you like, you can use spaces between the section headers and the markup to make it easier to read, i.e., or you can leave them out, i.e.,. Both are result in the same exact thing, so it is not necessary to add or remove spaces as you see them.

Linking to other articles
Articles are connected to each other in the form of links. Links are created by putting square brackets around a term, i.e.  will create Campaign 1. Do not worry if an article does not yet exist but the target is valid. These "redlinks" are perfectly appropriate and often encourage article creation. They also help populate the Special:WantedPages report and inform the wiki on what articles are missing.

They can also be piped, allowing links different from the name of the article, i.e.  will create Jester's mother. When doing this, avoid making the piped text too short, thus difficult to click, as this creates an accessibility issue. For example, avoid things like "in Campaign 1 and 2" and reword such instances to make links easier to access.

Specific sections within an article can be linked to by following the name of the article with a hash (#) and then the name of the section, i.e.  will create to Zadash, which will send the reader to that specific section instead of loading at the top of the page. If linking within the same article, the article name is not necessary, i.e.  will create, which will link to that section above on this article. This is case sensitive.

Avoid "easter egg" links. Links should be clear about what article they will send the reader to or the target should at least make intuitive sense from the linked phrase. The reader should not be surprised to end up at the article they were linked to. For example, a reader who sees "captain of the Tide's Breath" will expect to land at the article for that character, Vandran. However, if this phrase was linked as "captain of the Tide's Breath", the reader may be surprised to end up at Vandran because the link suggests that it was going to an article about sea captains in general.

Overlinking
Articles will want to avoid overlinking, linking to another article an unnecessary number of times. So, generally, articles should link to a term only once, at its first instance in the article. Sometimes, it is desirable to link to the same term multiple times:
 * If the article has an infobox, a term should be linked at its first instance in the lead and the first instance in the infobox.
 * Mollymauk Tealeaf's tarot deck links to Beauregard Lionett both in the lead and in the infobox. It links Mollymauk Tealeaf only once in the lead and only once in the infobox, despite there being two instances each.
 * Avoid linking terms in the image captions unless it seems helpful to do so. In the same example, it is less helpful to link to Jester Lavorre in the art caption and more helpful to link her name in the "Owners" section. However, at Catha, it is helpful to link to Ruidus in the image caption.
 * If an article has subsections, as most do, link a term both in its first instance in the lead and first instance in the body.
 * Vide Cay links to the Revelry at the first instance in the lead and the first instance under the "Description" section.
 * Driftwood Asylum links to Port Damali at the first instance in the lead and the first instance under the "History" section. It also links to Port Damali in the infobox.
 * If an article does not have subsections, this is not necessary. For example, Ruidus does not need to link to Exandria a second time in the second paragraph.
 * If the article is lengthy, it may be worth linking to another article a second time within a relevant section provided there are a number of sections between the first instance and the relevant section. This is most often done in relationship sections of lengthy character articles, where having a link to the other character is intuitive.

Generally, because episodes are linked to using ep, it is fine to link to the same episode article multiple times throughout an article. If it feels to be too much, use true to turn off the link.

References and other footnotes
When adding to articles, editors must provide a source for the information. References are created in a variety of ways, usually by creating footnotes through templates such as ep ref or through the  tag. This wiki uses the following templates to create the majority of footnotes. Consult the documentation on how they are used:
 * ep ref — Template:Ep ref/doc
 * print ref — Template:Print ref/doc
 * twitter — Template:Twitter/doc
 * youTube — Template:Youtube/doc
 * D&DBeyond — Template:D&DBeyond/doc

If a template is not available, simply write out the information stating the source in a clear manner between  tags:. The citation should be clear and give enough information so that a reader can easily locate the information themselves. A clear citation generally provides: the author or publisher of the source, title of the source, URL if applicable, page numbers if applicable, publication date, and an archived URL if applicable. Strict adherence to any given citation style is definitely not required. Simply strive for clarity and to provide enough information about the source. Use these examples as guides:
 * Critical Role Newsletter (2021-07-22). Visit Tal'Dorei AND Get to Know Anjali! ✨. Archived on 2021-07-22.
 * "Exclusive Interview: Chris Lockey" by Adam Bassett. Worldbuilding Magazine, volume 4, issue 3, June 2020, pp. 16-22.
 * Critical Role’s next campaign book will explore the continent of Tal'Dorei," Polygon (July 22, 2021).

Dealing with unsourced information
Sometimes, you may run into information that doesn't have a citation or cannot be definitively sourced. You may find the following templates useful to mark this information:


 * cite, adds a "citation needed" footnote where there is no source provided
 * presumed, adds a "presumed" footnote when it is a fair assumption to make but no explicit source is available
 * spelling, adds a "spelling?" footnote for unconfirmed spelling
 * disputed, adds a "disputed" footnote when the statement is not necessarily accurate
 * clarify, adds a "clarify" footnote when it's difficult to understand the information, this can also be used with information that is sourced but it is more commonly needed when none is provided

With the exception of clarify, which may be used in tandem with these other templates, mark a statement with only one of these templates at a time, picking what is most applicable. This makes it easier to track what exactly the article needs and maintains precision and clarity in the tracking categories attached to these templates. Additionally, templates such as presumed and disputed imply that it is missing a citation; resolving either of these tags involves finding and adding a source.

In the case of cite, consider if the statement is actually missing a source or if the statement can be reworded to be verifiable. For example, "Essek is Verin's eldest sibling" is not actually verifiable and might be marked with a cite template, but it is more helpful to rewrite it into the verifiable "Essek is Verin's older brother" and providing a citation for that instead of marking it.

When addressing and resolving any of these tags, usually by adding a source and if necessary rewriting the statement to be clear and verifiable, remember to remove the template. This keeps the tracking categories up-to-date and makes it easier for editors to find articles that actually still need sourcing.

Providing timestamps
Timestamps should refer to the YouTube versions of the episodes. The versions aired live or archived on Twitch are often longer than the versions on YouTube, leading to discrepancies in timestamps for specific moments. Citation templates like ep ref or ep time link to YouTube, which are the final and publicly accessible versions. To ensure that citations are pointing to the correct place, use the YouTube versions.

Use HH:MM:SS format, i.e. 00:04:08. This timestamp unambiguously refers to 4 minutes and 8 seconds into the video where 4:08 might possibly be referring to 4 hours and 8 minutes into the same video. This ensures that the templates are always correctly linking to the intended place in the episode.

Citing episodes not yet on YouTube
If providing citation to an episode that is not yet on YouTube, please hold off on adding timestamps to ep ref using the live or Twitch version. Adding these timestamps using live or Twitch directly to the template makes it very difficult to locate these timestamps later so that they may be updated with the final YouTube timestamp.

To provide a citation for information from an episode not yet posted to YouTube, use the template to cite the episode and use the cite parameter to mark it as needing a timestamp, i.e. . This allows editors to track this citation and provide the correct timestamp when the episode is available on YouTube.

If you wish, you may provide context for where in the episode the information is found through a hidden note, i.e., or through the template's more parameter.

Displaying footnotes
Footnotes can be displayed by adding  or   at the bottom of a page in a references section. The difference between these two bits of markup is that  will display the footnotes at full font-size where   will display the footnotes at a smaller size. For a comparison, see Cloven Crystal. Generally,  is used and   rarely, if ever. However, the full font-size of  makes it worth considering for footnotes that are explanatory as opposed to citation.

Footnote placement
Typically, references are added to the end of a sentence, group of consecutive sentences, or a paragraph using the same citation. They can also be added to the middle of sentences, if a single sentence is made up of distinct clauses cited to different sources; this isn't always necessary, however, and it is equally appropriate to add both references to the end of the sentence. In all cases, if applicable, they always go after punctuation, including parentheses.

Here are some examples to illustrate various appropriate placements. Generally, footnotes should be placed in a manner that makes it clear where the information in the sentence comes from.
 * Molly is short for Mollymauk.
 * Both Beau and Veth speak Halfling.
 * Both Beau and Veth speak Halfling.
 * Port Damali is a city in the Menagerie Coast, and it is governed by Marquis Olesya Lapidus.
 * Fjord sailed for many years aboard the Tide's Breath. It was captained by Vandran, whom he admired. The ship sank during a storm.
 * Faerie Fire (DC 15)
 * Fjord and Jester are from the Menagerie Coast. They met in Port Damali. They avoided Nicodranas on their way into the Empire.

Naming and reusing references
When referring to the same source or scene multiple times, it becomes beneficial to name references. This will allow you to re-use the same reference without listing it multiple times in the reference list, keeping the reference list concise and easily navigable. Naming a reference depends on method of citation. When using, name the reference by adding   to the opening tag. Citation templates, such as ep ref, are named using the name parameter. Once a reference is named, this same reference can be called elsewhere on the article by typing. The templates CR ref and dnd ref automatically scan the articles for identical references and group them together, but they can be named using name as well. References must be given names that are unique within the article.

Footnote groups
Groups of references can be created for various purposes, usually for art attribution but also useful for explanatory footnotes. This can be done by using the group parameter. Typing  will result in a grouped footnote. However, footnotes with  will not show up in a normal. These are grouped separately and must be displayed using  or. Here are examples:


 * Most episodes as posted to YouTube are shorter than their versions on Twitch.
 * The Tide's Breath was a merchant ship operating out of Port Damali.
 * Jester's parents are Marion Lavorre and Babenon Dosal.
 * Sabian is a member of the Revelry.

References group: note

References group: fn

Other types of footnotes follow the same placement guidelines outlined in the "Footnote placement" section.

Categories
Categories organize pages into groups and facilitate discovery of related articles. A category is added to an article or to another category through the markup, placed at the very bottom of the page underneath everything else.

Generally, a page should be added to the most specific sub-categories only, i.e. added to "Magic Items" and "Longswords" but not all "Magic Items", "Items", "Longswords", "Swords", "Weapons. There are exceptions—particularly for smaller categories like "Spells" where it is intuitive to see the entire category at once—but this is the general rule.

Sorting articles inside categories
Articles and categories are sorted within categories alphabetically per their title. Individual pages can be sorted according to a set sortkey:. This is useful for pages that, for some reason, are less usefully sorted using their article titles. For example, The Laughing Hand is more helpfully sorted inside Category:Antagonists using "Laughing Hand", and this can be accomplished by adding the "Antagonists" category with. Or, instead of setting a sortkey for each category individually, one can use  instead. So, at The Laughing Hand, adding  will mean that it is sorted that way alphabetically in every category, except where an individual category sortkey is specified.

An article that shares its name with its category should be sorted at the top of that category by setting an asterisk (*) or a space as the sortkey:  or. This makes the article easy to find within its own category, i.e. Dunamancy is at the top of Category:Dunamancy.

Adding images to articles
&rarr; See also: Help:Images

There are a great many images here at the wiki that can be used to illustrate articles, and more are added constantly. To add an image to an article, simply locate the file and type  to create a thumbnail. Images can be formatted in various ways. For example,  will create a thumbnail of File:Example.jpg that is aligned to the left, 75px wide, and captioned with "Here is a caption" like so:



Note that usually, images will appear in-line with paragraph text on desktop. As illustrated by the image next to this paragraph. Right alignment and 180px width is default for thumbnails when it is not otherwise specified. Typically, images are captioned using the art official caption template that is, generally, provided already filled out at each image's details page.

To ensure that attribution for images correctly shows up on an article, check if there's an art references group at the bottom of the page inside the references section. If there isn't one, you simply add one by pasting the following code underneath the existing references list (but above any templates or categories):

Art:

Visual editing

 * Click on the location where you want to add the video.
 * Use the media icon.
 * "Media settings" window appears.
 * Choose your video and click on "use this image".
 * Make your desired changes to your video like explained above in source editor.
 * Click on Insert and save.

Source editing

 * If you are already familiar with source editing, you can add the video directly by using the file wikitext. For example:

Tables
&rarr; For further and more detailed information, see Help:Tables at Wikipedia

If one is not familiar with the markup for tables, they are most easily inserted using the Source Editor's table tool. Generally, tables should not be sortable, unless it is likely that a reader may want to view the information in multiple different orders. For example, readers will not want to view an episode table in any order other than chronological but they may want to view the table at Sending chronologically or ordered by caster.

To sort episodes in chronological order rather than alphabetical order, use ep sort instead of ep in sortable columns.

Real-world date formatting
The wiki formats dates in ISO 8601 in tables and infoboxes, that is YYYY-MM-DD format. This ensures that dates are unambiguous in a way that MM-DD-YYYY and DD-MM-YYYY formats are not, and this formatting is more concise and has a reliable width. Please note that some templates, such as Template:Infobox episode and Template:Episode table entry, convert input dates to display consistent to logged-in user preferences and as ISO 8601 to logged-out users.

Sometimes it is necessary to use dates in prose. In this case, use MDY formatting without abbreviations or ordinals, i.e. "August 3, 2021", to remain consistent with the wiki's preference for American English. Avoid "August 3rd, 2021" and "Aug. 3, 2021".

Times should be conveyed in a 24-hour clock and in PST, i.e. "19:00 PST".

Discussing an article and the wiki
Sometimes it becomes necessary to discuss articles and the editing of them. The best way to do this is on an article's talk page:
 * Create a new topic on the Talk page. This is good for longer discussions related to a specific article.
 * The Talk page is accessed at the top of the article through the "Discussion" tab.
 * Each new discussion should have its own subsection. These are created in the same way as article sections. New discussions go at the bottom of the page.
 * Sign your comments on the Talk page using four tildes ( ~ ).
 * Place your comment underneath the previous editor's comment, offsetting it using a colon at the beginning.