This page documents an Official Policy on Warriors Wiki.
This page was approved via contributor consensus. All edits must be discussed on the talk page prior to a Sysop making changes.

This policy in a Nutshell

Establish manual of style for Project Character Articles
Establish project operations.

The succeeding points are some general guidelines that are to be upheld when creating, writing, or merely editing articles in Project Characters.

Articles

General style

Articles shall be written in English language, with U.S. spelling.
Articles shall be encyclopedic in content, and shall written in present tense with a non-bias tone, mentioning all aspects of the topic while keeping opinions out of the article.
Citations are required in order to be highly graded in several areas. They will be listed below where necessary.
- References shall be listed with the page number from any English printing of the books.
  - If using a digital novella that has not been released in non-digital format, using the chapter number suffices, as these do not have page numbers. These should be changed once the paperback collection is released, to stay as accurate as possible.
Categories are to go with the character's name in which they achieved that category. (i.e. "Into the Wild characters" category would go with the name Firepaw while "The Darkest Hour characters" category would go with the name Firestar.)
Create links for any article names that appear in the article.
- Take caution to prevent double links in one article body.
Names should be held with appropriate capitalization as they appear in the first U.S. edition. (i.e. Gathering, as opposed to gathering)
Use cat terms. (i.e. Sunhigh, as opposed to noon. Leaf-bare, as opposed to winter.)
On the talk page of every character article, place the {{Project-char}} template with the appropriate grade.

Article layout

All character articles must follow a specific formula, as listed below.

See here for preliminary documentation on how to format pages with multiple tabs.

Content warning tags

Content warning tags such as {{FamilyTree}}, {{SotC Only}}, {{TSWarning}}, and {{BookSpoiler}} should be added above {{Startspoiler}}.

Startspoiler

Place the {{Startspoiler}} template in between the warning template and Main quote. Alternatively if neither of these appear just put it above the charcat/charother.

Main Quote

This is optional, as not all character articles have quotes. However, if one or more are found, pick the best one and use the {{Main Quote}}. Please note that quotes with multiple speakers cannot be used.

Charcat or Charother

Depending on the species of the character, either the {{Charcat}} or {{Charother}} template will be used. If the character is a cat, the former will be used. If the character is not a cat, whether they be a badger or a dog, the latter will be used. These templates contain the affiliations, post-death affiliation, the education, immediate kin, and book appearances. The educations and post-death affiliation must be cited. Please note that Charother is only to be used for specific non-cat characters, such as Pip or Rat leader.

The charart of the character's current rank should be used. If it has not been made yet, please use File:Noimage.png until it is approved.

Description

All character articles need a verified, spoiler-free description describing their looks and gender. Every piece of the description must be spoil-free and cited. If the author makes a mistake on the cat's appearance, use first appearance unless otherwise discussed.

History

This makes up the bulk of every character article.

Under a level two heading titled "History", document, in present tense, the character's history. The series must go in this order:

In the Dawn of the Clans arc
In The Prophecies Begin arc
In The New Prophecy arc
In the Power of Three arc
In the Omen of the Stars arc
In the A Vision of Shadows arc
In the The Broken Code
In the Super Editions
- The order of these books should be: Moth Flight's Vision, Tallstar's Revenge, Crookedstar's Promise, Yellowfang's Secret, Bluestar's Prophecy, Firestar's Quest, SkyClan's Destiny, Bramblestar's Storm, Hawkwing's Journey, and Tigerheart's Shadow.
In the Stand-Alone Graphic Novels
In the Tigerstar and Sasha arc
In the Ravenpaw's Path arc
In the Graystripe's Adventure arc
In the SkyClan and the Stranger arc
In the Field Guides
- The order of these books should be: Secrets of the Clans, Cats of the Clans, Code of the Clans, Battles of the Clans, and The Ultimate Guide.
In the Short stories and plays
- The short stories should be in alphabetical order.
In the Novellas
- The order of these books should be: Thunderstar's Echo, Cloudstar's Journey, Mapleshade's Vengeance, Pinestar's Choice, Goosefeather's Curse, Spottedleaf's Heart, Tigerclaw's Fury, Leafpool's Wish, Ravenpaw's Farewell, Hollyleaf's Story, Mistystar's Omen, and Dovewing's Silence
In the Warriors App

Place these exact phrases in level three headings in this order. Then, place the books under their respective headings in order of release except the Super Edition Series. The book headings should be italicized and be linked to their articles. Write the character's history under each book title. When writing the history, do not include any bias opinions of the character. Keep a formal tone and make sure the history flows clearly and every appearance is included. Do not include quotes in the history. There is a separate section for quotes. Be careful not to write so much that focus is taken off of the subject of the article. Each paragraph should be indented with a colon (:) and there should be one empty line in between each paragraph. If a character does not appear at all in a book except the allegiances, use the {{Alleg}} template.

Character pixels

A gallery of the character's pixels. This should not be edited by anyone other than a PCA lead unless there is a problem with the coding.

Official art

A gallery of the character's official art. All images added should be in the official images category. Use {{OfficialArtLine}} to add new books.

Killed victims

A cat's killed victims would be listed here. Use {{Victims}}.

Ceremonies

Using the {{Ceremony}}, quote every rank/name-changing ceremony that is specifically quoted in the books. If a ceremony is performed outside of a novel, it cannot be quoted, and therefore, cannot be placed in an article.

Personality and traits

A non-biased and well cited paragraph describing a character's known traits as per indicated in the books. Please cite with chapter references.

Relationships

Document any noteworthy and significant relationships that a character may have. Characters may be combined in headings. Relationships should be significant and mention the character's feelings, how they evolved over time, and any significant moments with said character.

Kin

This section lists all known relatives of the character, both immediate and distant. A level two section titled "Kin" should be added first.

Kin should be listed by closeness in relativity. The member(s)'s relationship to the character should be listed in bold and followed by a colon. Under the relationship, the character(s) should be listed and indented by a colon. Immediately after the colon, a reference of this relationship must be placed. After the reference, one of the following must be placed:
- {{Status|Name of Character}}
If a character's status is known and has known kin, a template titled "Status|CHARACTERNAME" will be created. All this information should be placed under a level three heading titled "Members".
After the members, a tree should be placed under a level three heading titled "tree". Place the tree of the closet relative if the character doesn't have a tree of their own. Here is a list of family trees. Please note that trees are only created for families with three or more verified members.

All direct ancestors/descendants should be listed. Aunts/uncles/nieces/nephews, including half, should only be listed through three generations (great-great-uncles and aunts/great-grandnieces and nephews), which is the relationship between Dovewing and Firestar. Only first cousins should be listed, if applicable. Distant ancestors should only be listed for direct relationships, such as Webfoot and Rabbittail, and distant descendants should be listed for ancestors.

Appearances

A character's full appearances as indicated with {{Appearances}}.

Merchandise

Any official merchandise from the Warrior Cats website store.

Trivia

Under a level two heading titled "Trivia", list all interesting facts of the character. This includes Clan heritage, author mistakes regarding gender or appearance, information revealed in an author chat, or any other unique facts about the cat. These should be marked by bullet points. Do not add trivia unless a reliable reference can be added. For bloodlines, please only list three generations from main cat; for example, Crowfeather should only be listed through Bristlefrost, Thriftear, and Flipclaw.

Quotes

After the kin section comes the quotes. They are used to describe the character's personality, or to quote significant events, monologues, speeches, etc. There are two templates that can be used for quotes; {{Quote}} and {{Dialogue a-b}}. The first is to be used for quotes with one speaker, and the latter for quotes with multiple speakers. The most quotes that are necessary are usually 5-6, but always aim for quality over quantity.

Endspoiler

Place the {{Endspoiler}} right before the References and Citations section.

External links

A list of the character's appearances in articles from the Warriors official website.

Notes and references

Under this section, place the {{Reflist}}, and nothing else. This will automatically create a list of references and citations that were placed throughout the article.

Minor characters

The Minor characters pages are reserved for characters who appear in the books but are unnamed. These pages are categorized by arc and by book if necessary. While these characters are inherently background characters, they must have some significance to be listed. This includes:

They speak and it's clear who it is.
If they are apart of a small group, such as patrols that are of focus. (see File:Border.ASIR.png and File:Battle.ASIR.png)
If they perform a somewhat relevant action or contribute to the plot. (Heavystep before he was confirmed in A Shadow in RiverClan, Sol's siblings, or Tree's older siblings)
If 50% or more of their body is shown clearly, and not just a head or tail (for the graphic novels)

If a character can be deduced who it is, they should be their history moved to their main article; for example, Ivypaw fighting a tortoiseshell ShadowClan queen in Night Whispers when the only tortoiseshell queen at the time was Ivytail (ShC).

Project Operations

Housekeeping

The following tasks are to be carried out regularly throughout the project.

Concerns List

Any user who feels that an article has issues that should be publicized should add it to the concerns list located on the main project page. The characters on this list are sorted by Affiliation.

Moving and Creating Pages

When a new book is released, it is almost guaranteed that new characters will be introduced and/or characters will go or have gone through name changes.

When a whole new character is introduced, create a new page for the character, including the appropriate sections.

When a character experiences a name change, the article should be moved to the appropriate title.

Creating Disambiguation Pages

When multiple characters are known by the same name at any point in their lives or the novels, disambiguation pages must created to specify which characters are which. For example, four different Robinwings are introduced in the series.

First, move or create pages as necessary so that each character has a different article name. (i.e. Robinwing (RC) vs. Robinwing (SkC)). Use abbreviations such as (ShC) for ShadowClan, (SkC) for SkyClan, (StC) for StarClan, or (TPB) for The Prophecies Begin to distinguish the characters from each other. If the page that falls into this disambiguation is a former name of a character, (i.e. Whitepaw) create a redirect using the abbreviation.

Next, create a list containing every page that falls under this disambiguation. Include {{Disambig}}, and a brief, distinguishing description of each, character, like so: Robinwing.

Creating Redirects

For the most part, redirects are created automatically when a page is moved, but there are times when redirects need to be created manually.

Create the page, and paste the following coding on the page:

#REDIRECT [[ARTICLENAME]]

Adding and Removing Members

When a request for a roster change is placed on the talk page, the leader, deputy, or a senior warrior should carry it out accordingly.

Archiving the Talk Page

Certain sections of the talk page should be archived by a lead or an experienced member of the project.

Nominations older than 3 weeks without being close to being put up for vote.
Roster change requests older than 3 days.
Any other outdated, cluttering sections of the talk page.

Article Nominations

To nominate an article, create a new section on the talk page called "Character name - Silver/Gold nomination" and then state why you think it deserves that rank. People will comment on it saying what could be improved, and as nominator, you should check back regularly and try to fix any issues pointed out. This is not to say that no other people can help with a nomination made by someone else, but don't just nominate an article and leave and expect someone else to fix it, please.

There are several rules for nominating an article:

A user may only have three first-time silver nominations running at a time.
There is no established nomination limit for gold nominations of downgraded articles that have formerly attained silver status.
A nomination may only consist of one article
Nominations older than three weeks will be archived.
Only silver and gold ranks receive nominations.

Silver article

Silver quality articles must abide by these standards:

A nominator is responsible for overseeing the entirety of an article, including its /History, /Family, /PR, /Trivia, and /Quotes subpages if applicable.
At the time of the nomination, the character's history section must be updated with their current appearance from the latest book. If the article is not maintained as new books are released, the article may be downgraded at a later date.
All history sections must be written in present tense, be free of spelling or grammatical errors, and told from a neutral perspective. Out of universe language, passive verbiage, or information the audience only knows should be avoided. Additional articles should also be linked upon their first appearance in the article. Articles must also not be written verbatim from the text. Based upon the importance of a character, their history section must be:
- Major/Main characters - Document all major events, outcomes of dialogue between characters, and relevant scenes.
- Supporting characters - Document major appearances.
- Minor characters - Document major/all appearances.
- Mentioned characters - Document all appearances.
- Allegiance only characters - Document any significant ceremonies (such as an apprentice gaining their warrior name), parents having new litters of kits, or gained apprentices if applicable.
- Minor characters - Document all appearances and/or mentions.
Personality and relationships sections should be detailed and cited to book pages or chapter numbers, if applicable. The references should be accurate to what it pertains.
A character article must have quotes, including a main quote and quotes underneath sections, if applicable. Additional quotes can be under a quotes section.
External links must be double-checked to ensure they are accurate to the character.

In addition, the article must abide by the guidelines. For more detailed information, see here. Credit should also be given to those who edited the article significantly.

Gold article

Including abiding by the criteria above, character articles must:

A nominator is responsible for overseeing the entirety of an article, including its /History, /Family, /PR, /Trivia, and /Quotes subpages if applicable.
The history section should be free of grammatical and spelling errors, well written, and neutral in tone, and should not contain short paragraphs, choppy sentences, and bias. While they should be comprehensive, articles should avoid unnecessary additional details for major/main characters that are not relevant to said character or plagiarizing the text.
Personality and relationship sections must be thoroughly detailed and referenced for well defined relationships and personality traits. Sections should be omitted if they are insignificant in nature.
Quotes should be relevant to the character and avoid repeating its content. They should be placed appropriately throughout the sections, including the PR and history sections.
All references throughout the article must be sourced from well documented and reliable resources. The references should be accurate to what it pertains, and be double checked. This includes having backup links, screenshots, or accurate chapter/page numbers.
Images should be included throughout the article's history if the character appears in a graphic novel or comic, especially if they are a major character. Images must be of a good quality and easy to read.