Bloons Wiki:Manual of Style

This Manual of Style outlines a standard of clean, consistent formatting for articles on this wiki. The formatting described here is a guideline and can be overridden where circumstances warrant it. These guidelines will never be unerringly perfect for every situation. However, please try your best to keep to the advice outlined in this article so others may use your edits as an example when creating and editing their own articles.

These guidelines are a summary of the most important guidelines for this wiki, but a more expansive set of style guidelines can be found on Wikipedia at Wikipedia Manual of Style. A sample article based off these guidelines can be found on Project:Manual of Style/Sample.



Article layout
One of the most important parts of wiki editing is how to structure an article. The structure is a powerful thing: it dictates what information the reader reads and when he or she reads it. It can influence what people contribute, where it goes, and how it might be written. Structure has the power to inform or confuse the same way good or bad writing does. Keep a well structured article, and you're more likely to have a high quality one.

Organize sections in an article in a hierarchical structure like you would an outline. Keep it logical, but feel free to forsake strict logic for readability. Wherever possible, try to have an introduction for each section. Just like the article as a whole, the section should start with an introduction and then have its subsections below it. Try using a shallow structure rather than a deep one. Too many nested sections usually leads to a confusing or unreadable article.

Above all, keep your layout consistent. Don't throw your reader a curve ball too often. The following sections will offer some good advice on keeping your articles clean, consistent, and clear.

Lead section
Unless an article is very short, it should start with an introductory lead section, before the first subheading. The lead should not be explicitly entitled ==Introduction== or any equivalent header. The table of contents, if displayed, appears after the lead section and before the first subheading.

The lead should be capable of standing alone as a concise overview of the article, establishing context, and explaining why the subject is interesting or notable. It should be between one or two paragraphs long, and should be written in a clear and accessible style so that the reader is encouraged to read the rest of the article.

If possible, make the title the subject of the first sentence of the article. For example, write "King Frederick II was King of Terra during and after the Second War ."

The first time the article mentions the title, put it in bold using three apostrophes —  produces article title. Avoid other uses of bold in the first sentence, except for alternative titles of an article; for example:

"The Tack Shooter, or Tack Tower, is a tower featured in the Bloons Tower Defense series."

Follow the normal rules for italics in choosing whether to put part or all of the title in italics. This will mainly apply to the titles of books and games:

Bloons Tower Defense 2 is a game in the  Bloons Tower Defense series .

Do not put links in the bold reiteration of the title in the article's lead sentence. For example, "The night elves  are an ancient race..." versus "The night elves are an ancient race."

Table of contents
A table of contents will automatically appear in articles with a minimum of four headings (unless forced by the below options). By default this will be left-aligned above the first section heading.


 * To the force a TOC position (left-aligned):
 * To completely remove the TOC from a page:

The table of contents can be right-aligned - but only if it is very long (over 15 entries) and an information box is not occupying the top-right corner of the article (rare exceptions exist).


 * Right-aligned TOC that floats next to text: tocright

Section headings
Use the  (two equal signs) style markup for main headings, equivalent to. Do not use a single . This is because a single   creates an   heading which is already used by the page header and would be bad coding. Also, do not use wikilinks in subject headings. When edited, these sections become confusing in the edit history because of the link code. Consider instead putting the word in the first or second sentence of the section and linking it there.

Capitalize the first letter only of the first word and of any proper nouns in a heading and leave all of the other letters in lowercase. Use "Founding and history", not "Founding and History". Note that this is different from most section title rules you'll encounter elsewhere.

Avoid special characters in headings, such as an ampersand (&), a plus sign (+), curly braces ({}), or square braces ([]). In place of the ampersand, use the word "and" unless the ampersand is part of a formal name.

Always keep headings short and simple. Headings are guidelines to your page's structure and should inform the reader rather than confuse. To keep it short, avoid unnecessary words or redundancy in headings, i.e. avoid a, an, and the, pronouns, repeating the article title, and so on. Also, try to avoid giving identical titles to different sections.

When it comes to formatting, spaces between the section title and the == are not preferred.

Images
Images make an article memorable and pretty. They can speak where words fail. At the same time, misplaced or untidy images can detract from an article. When choosing images, keep in mind placement, size, and the appropriateness of the image to the section. Let images flow with the text instead of break it up.

Large images such as screenshots should use the "thumb" (example: ) option which displays large images as thumbnails. Images should generally be right aligned to enhance readability by allowing a smooth flow of text down the left margin - the "thumb" option does this by default. If an infobox is not being used in an article, a right aligned picture in the lead section is encouraged.

Naming Images
When naming pictures, the title must be relevant to the image, such as. Other images of a Tack Shooter, such as, would not show up in search results and therefore harder to find. Image titles must be (in some way) related to the image itself.

Good Pictures
When taking pictures, try to make sure that your graphic settings are high and/or at maximum. This makes screenshots look much better. Generally, you shouldn't take photos of games on your TV or monitor. If you can't up graphic settings without something really bad happening, like your computer exploding, then you can upload a picture with low graphic settings. However, it might be replaced by a picture with better graphics. After you take a screenshot, you should crop the image so that only the thing you are focusing on is in the image. Infranview has an easy to use cropping system, so grab it if you want a free and easy way to crop pictures. Any sort of image after-modification such as drop shadows or shading is prohibited.

For more information, see Help:Images.

Personal Images
Personal images, when uploaded, should be prepended with "Personal", also possibly with the username of the user uploading it. An example name for a personal image would be File:Personal XxXxNoScopezxXxX 360 quickscope.gif, where the name of the user has also been provided. Personal images are allowed, however, pornographic or "disgusting" images shall be deleted and will result in a ban.

Galleries
When an article has many images, or can be improved by having more, and having inline images be detract from the readbility of an articles, the use of a  section is encouraged.

Videos
Videos that contain commentary (in the way they are biased) are banned on mainspace articles. Videos for your userpage should be done using " " instead of being uploaded. Guides are acceptable for mainspace use as long as they are of good quality.

Tables
Tables should use a "class" design when possible, and should include as little 'fancy' formatting as possible. Tables can also be made sortable by adding a "sortable" class.

For long tables, it is recommended to create an "alt" class to alternate row colours to enhance readability. The below examples use "toccolours" as a class, but this is only for the purposes of demonstration, and isn't generally recommended.

Navigation boxes
Navigation boxes can use or be based off Navbox. Generally they should be placed at the end of an article, above the categories. Expand with more details and examples.

Article message boxes
''Add me! You may want to look at Wikipedia:Article message boxes.''

See also, references, external links, and navigational tables
The final sections, if they exist, should always be "See also", followed by "References", followed by "External links". In the case of "See also", use bullets to list the internal links. Under the references section should be placed. Finally, in the external links should be all external links.

Categories
Categories should be added to the end of an article - a full list can be found on Special:Categories. They take the form.

All articles should be accessible starting from Category:Browse, via subcategories.

Disambiguation
A disambiguation line is sometimes put at the beginning of an article to link to another article with the same or similar title. The line should be italicized and indented once. Most usually contain the phrase, "Were you looking for X?" For example:


 * Were you looking for " The Battle of Terrafield", an official novel? 

The template for can also be used for this purpose.

Quotations
Format a long quote (over four lines) as an italicized block quotation, which will be indented from both margins. Do not enclose the block quote in quotation marks. To format a block quotation, do not use the wiki indentation mark " " — instead, use the HTML  element.

Grammar
Grammar is a writer's toolbox. You can't build good sentences without knowing how to use your tools. Since a wiki article must be as clear as possible for all the people reading it, editors must keep close to correct grammar standards to ensure clear communication.

Capitalization
Titles such as lord or king start with a capital letter when used as a title (followed by a name): "King Arthas", not "king Arthas". When used generically, they should be in lower case: "Furion is a powerful lord." The correct formal name of an office is treated as a proper noun. Hence: "Anduin is the current King of Stormwind."

Classes should only be capitalized when used as a proper noun, i.e. as someone's name. ("Warlock, go be evil" versus "That warlock is quite evil.")

Titles of works
Italics are used for the titles of works, such as books and games. The titles of articles, chapters, and other short works are not italicized but are enclosed in double quotation marks.

For example, italicize  The Last Guardian  and  World of Warcraft , and use quotes for " Arathor and the Troll Wars ".

Numbers
Some of these principles are derived from wikipedia:MOS:NUM.

Decimals

 * Use a period/full point as the decimal separator, never a comma: 6.57, not 6,57.
 * Numbers between −1 and +1 require a leading zero (0.02, not .02); exceptions are commonly used terms such as .22 caliber.

Grouping of digits



 * In general, digits should be grouped and separated either by commas or by narrow gaps (never a period/full point).
 * Grouping with commas
 * Left of the decimal point, five or more digits are grouped into threes separated by commas (e.g. 42,639; 500,000 cash; 8,274,527th;).
 * Numbers with exactly four digits left of the decimal point may optionally be grouped (either 1,250 or 1250, with consistency within any given article.
 * When commas are used left of the decimal point, digits right of the decimal point are not grouped (i.e. should be given as an unbroken string).
 * Markup: 0 produces this formatting.
 * Grouping with narrow gaps
 * Digits are grouped both sides of the decimal point (e.g. 654&thinsp;321.123&thinsp;456).
 * Digits are generally grouped into threes.
 * This style is especially recommended for articles related to science, technology, engineering or mathematics, though in these contexts there may be cases in which grouping confuses rather than clarifies.
 * Markup: Use a thin space, for example in 8&thinsp;274&thinsp;527
 * Delimiting style should be consistent throughout a given article.
 * Either use commas or narrow gaps, but not both in the same article.
 * Either group the thousands in a four-digit number or do not, but not mixed use in the same article.
 * However, grouping by threes and fives may coexist.
 * Four-digit page numbers and four-digit calendar years should never be grouped

Currency

 * For the grouping of digits (e.g. £1,234,567) see Grouping of digits, above.
 * Place a currency symbol according to the normal convention when writing in English (e.g. $123, £123, €123)
 * Do not place a currency symbol after the accompanying numeric figures (e.g. 123$, 123£, 123€) unless that is the normal convention for that symbol when writing in English: smaller British coins include 1p, 2p, and 5p denominations.

Writing
"I believe the road to hell is paved with adverbs"

- Stephen King

We now come to the meat of an article: the words themselves. When you're editing wikis, you're both academic and artist. You have to be accurate, but you also have to be interesting. Neither one can dominate; you have to skillfully balance both.

Style

 * Keep your writing concise. Don't use two words where one will do. Keeping your writing simple will make it easy to understand and easy to expand on. Use complete sentences whenever possible. When you write, use grammar as a toolbox: know the rules, but only break them on purpose.


 * Check your spelling and grammar. Do not use 'u' in place of 'you' or '2' in place of 'to'. Write the way you would for a class paper or a newspaper article.


 * Keep all of the topics you cover within the scope of the article. What that means is, you don't need to give a detailed history of humans on the page about Winston Churchill, and likewise you do not need to tell readers about the history of Winston Churchill's life on the page about Captain Churchill. Consider the article's title as your point of origin and write from that perspective. Make use of the wiki's ability to link to more detailed articles or external sources for more information.


 * Write from an impersonal perspective. Do not use "I." For example, do not write, "Hellscream was a fervent member of the Horde. He served both the Old and New Horde, As far as I know ." Avoid drawing attention to the author (yourself) as much as possible.


 * Avoid using "you". Instead, reword the sentence(s) to a similar objective version. Instead of "You cannot use Monkey Apprentices in Jungle Terrains.", write "Monkey Apprentices cannot be used in Jungle Terrains".


 * Be bold. If you know something is wrong, correct it. If you think you could word something better, write it. If an article has a glaring deficiency, fill it. Even if your first attempt isn't golden, you can fix it later or someone else will come along and fix it for you. Don't be afraid to screw up.

Content

 * Keep a consistent format. Look for other articles and analyze if any of the articles require a similar format. Ideally, articles about similar major topics (e.g. "Sharp Shots" and "Bigger Bombs" both belong under "Upgrades") will both have a very similar article structure. If the article you are writing requires a fairly different approach in content coverage, feel free to format that article in any appropriate writing style.
 * Example: An article about the BTD6 Bionic Boomerang upgrade would likely format in a similar way to the article about the BTD6 Turbo Charge upgrade (written with the page name as "Turbo Charge (BTD6)"), while their BTD5 counterparts Bionic Boomer and Turbo Charge (written with the page name as "Turbo Charge (BTD5)") would be formatted slightly differently to fit the scopes for earlier upgrade counterparts.


 * Add supporting media whenever appropriate. Images, audio, and videos are all great resources for supporting existing article content. Miscellaneous images and videos should go under a Gallery section or moved out to a /Gallery subpage, and miscellaneous audio material should go under a Sounds section.


 * Add tips and strategies, if appropriate. Your readers often come to the wiki to find out how to play the game efficiently, or just find out how to use something optimally. On certain pages, it is a good idea to add a Strategies section or /Strategies subpage, which will act as a guide for optimization.


 * Trivia is fun, but keep it interesting. Some trivia is fairly obvious and does not add value to keeping the reader interested. If a specific trivia point seems too obvious and/or disinteresting, remove it. Conversely, a trivia point is not worth placing vital information; place them into other more important sections of the article. Ideally, trivia sections should be no more than 30 bulletpoints long, including sub-bulletpoints, for the sake of visual clarity in any article. Not all articles need trivia sections, but it is nice for them to have at least one trivia point just for some additional fun facts for the reader.
 * Check.png The monkey piloting the submarine resembles Sean Connery acting as Marko Ramius in "The Hunt for Red October". Like the actor, the monkey wears a black ushanka and has a white beard.
 * Cultural references are generally good examples of trivia points. It is also clear that someone with a "black ushanka and white beard" refer to Marko Ramius as the original inspiration.
 * [[file:Check.png|15px]] The slightly increased attack speed of a BTD6 Tack Sprayer could be a small nod to the BTD5 Tack Sprayer, whose previous upgrades involve faster attack speed.
 * Referencing previous games and how they influence the subject is interesting material for the reader, and this specific trivia point successfully connects correlation with causation in an unambiguous, doubtless way.
 * [[file:Check.png|15px]] MOAB SHREDR is the only upgrade in the entire franchise whose upgrade name consists of only capital letters and spaces. The IFR upgrade also consists of only capital letters and no lowercase letters, but there are no spaces in the name of the aforementioned upgrade.
 * While this one has a fairly obvious fact, this fact is definitely verifiable and isn't bound to potential ambiguity. This specific trivia point isn't as quality as other types of trivia, but it is still tolerable.
 * Cross.png There is an animation of 3D animated Pat Fusty doing the Fortnite dance, briefly popular around in the BTD6 community during mid-2020.
 * This isn't very helpful for stating the development of Pat Fusty being used in the game. This is only an instance of Pat Fusty being used in a meme that has little long-term value.
 * [[file:Check.png|15px]] The Biker Bones skin is based off of a meme in the Bloons community where Striker Jones is referred to as Biker Bones, using the emoji for the B blood type (🅱️) to substitute for the "B"s in his name. This meme originated from when Jones was considered one of the worst heroes to use and was mockingly called Biker Bones, the same way Peter Griffin from Family Guy is sometimes called Beter Briffin by memers.
 * While this involves internet culture specific to the BTD6 community, this particular instance of a BTD6 community meme is significant, as this adds to history about the origin of the Biker Bones skin for Striker Jones.
 * [[file:Cross.png|15px]] Striker Jones has a bushy mustache.
 * Yes, Striker Jones has a bushy mustache, but this is too obvious and has little "fun" meaning. And no, claiming a correlation between him and Joseph Stalin does not work either; just because someone has a bushy mustache doesn't make them resemble "that funny communist man".
 * [[file:Cross.png|15px]] MOAB Glue resembles the characters from Among Us.
 * Wearing a full suit with a rounded rectangular visor does not always imply similarity to Among Us characters. This is most likely a coincidence; there are other real-world occupations that normally wear Class-C safety clothing like this.

Conclusion
Every article can be improved (even this one). Following these guidelines will not ensure a perfect article the first time, but it will give the article a stronger skeleton. It's ultimately your job as an editor to put meat on it.