User:Appledash/Citation policy

A citation uniquely identifies a source of information.

Because the authors of Warriors communicate often with the fandom, they often are able to provide answers to questions people have. However, not all of these answers have context and can be considered a legitimate cite. Other cites in the books may also prove null, as well.

What counts as a reliable cite

 * 1) The books
 * 2) The authors unless contradicted
 * 3) Official sites (as long as it does not conflict with something else)
 * 4) Retailers for book releases

Legitimate cites

 * 1) Said in books, nothing contradicting it
 * 2) Stated repeatedly, no reasonable doubt
 * 3) A recent and new description that overrides something else consistently
 * 4) A clear-ended author statement with no questions to it and does not conflict with something else

Questionable cites

 * 1) Reasonable doubt to its authenticity
 * 2) Could be considered a mistake
 * 3) Contradicted by other statements
 * 4) Conflict of interest

Invalid cites

 * 1) Consistent mistakes
 * 2) "I don't know" from an author
 * 3) Unclear statement that can be perceived in any way
 * 4) An open ended statement that requires additional verification before it can be used
 * 5) Something that is to be left up to the reader
 * 6) Opinion cites
 * 7) Not coming from a neutral point of view
 * 8) Fandom based material
 * 9) Common sense
 * 10) Official art
 * 11) Personal objection

Mistake cites

 * 1) Contradicts several pieces of information

What to keep in mind when citing
Nothing in character history is required to be cited. Other things such as description, trivia, family, or anything in the charcat template should always be cited. If there is nothing that has a cite to it, such as a name, it should not be in there. Despite a fact with no cite being obvious to viewers, there is no clear concrete evidence that it is the case. Everything that is out of universe should be cited as well.

When you cite something yourself, make sure it is valid. If there is something that can be challenged about it, do not add it and bring it up to PC.

If it is a book cite, try to cite the book and the page number. If, for some reason, you cannot get ahold of the page number, cite the chapter instead.

The reference cite for cites is:.

To cite books, write the series and the book number.

os --> Original series. np --> The New Prophecy po --> Power of Three om --> Omen of the Stars dc --> Dawn of the Clans vs --> A Vision of Shadows Any Super Editions will use the initials of the book. fq --> Firestar's Quest Any field guide will use the first word of the book. secrets --> Secrets of the Clans Any novellas will use the initials of the book. gc --> Goosefeather's Curse

Make sure to add numbers after each of these to clarify what book you are talking about. For example, os1 would equal to Into the Wild, while os2 would equal to Fire and Ice. The same thing goes with the other arcs, np1 would be Midnight, po2 would be Dark River, etc.

If you are trying to link an article, use

If you want to link something from a blog, please try and take a screenshot so it is there for easier viewing, and cite it the same way you would an article.

Cites that require no page numbers would be Kate's blog and the official family tree on the Warriors website. - Kate's blog - Official Warriors family tree - Web archives

Remember that cites are considered invalid without a link, and can be removed at any moment.

Articles with no cites
If a section that needs proof has no cites, remove it, despite if it was glaringly obvious or if it was cited. Another option could be to find the cite yourself and put it there. But, regardless, if something does not have a cite and you cannot find it, remove it.

Cite removal
If a cite is questionable, but already added to the page, PC has created a forum that will discuss if it should be removed or what not, seen here.