Wikistyle

Wikistyle is a term used to describe a set of editorial and stylistic guidelines intended to standardize content creation on wiki-based projects. It covers tone, organization, formatting, citation practices, and linking conventions designed to improve clarity, reliability, and navigability across articles.

Origin and scope: Wikistyle is not a single universal standard; rather, a family of project-derived guidelines influenced by established manuals of style used by major wikis. It evolves with community norms and project aims, allowing variations while keeping a common core: neutral tone, verifiability, and conciseness.

Core principles: Neutral point of view; verifiability and no original research; concise, encyclopedic prose; third-person narration and present tense; consistent terminology; standard section structure; use of internal links; citations and references; disambiguation and metadata such as infoboxes.

Structure and guidelines: Typical wikistyle guidelines cover lead quality, headings, lists, and formatting of names, dates, and capitalization; instructions on images and media; citation templates; linking conventions for internal and external links.

Adoption and impact: Many wiki communities adopt project-specific wikistyle to improve readability and cross-project consistency; it facilitates collaboration and content reuse but variations can reduce interoperability if not reconciled.

Criticism and challenges: Enforcement can be uneven; rigid rules may impede nuance; cultural and language differences; ongoing governance and moderation required.

See also: Manual of Style; Neutral point of view; Wiki markup; Citation style.