ZineWiki:Manual of Style

This Manual of Style has the simple purpose of making the encyclopedia easy to read by following a consistent format. The following rules do not claim to be the last word on ZineWiki style, but if everyone does it the same way, ZineWiki will be easier to read and use, not to mention easier to write and edit. The editors of new and existing articles should strive to have their articles follow these guidelines.

Clear, informative, and unbiased writing is always more important than presentation and formatting. (It's easier for other editors to simply reformat an entry than to rewrite unclear or biased text.) ZineWiki does not require writers to follow all or any of these rules, but their efforts will be more appreciated when they do so.

General Editing Guidelines (Read this before you get started!)

ZineWiki is designed to be an online encyclopedia of zines, zinesters, zine resources, small publishing history and zine culture. Entries should be encyclopedia-like in nature. Avoid profanity, inside jokes, too much praise, plugging or hyping, and blatant commercialism. The idea is to list information and document zine history, not sell issues or promote yourself and your projects (i.e. list the contents of a zine's issues, but don't list the ordering price and information). Think about how your entry will hold up over time. Avoid saying "New issue coming October 2006" and other future dates unless you are willing to continually update the entry so it remains up-to-date.

Article titles and the article's first sentence

The title of the article should appear as early as possible; preferably in the first sentence. The first time the article mentions the title, put it in bold using three apostrophes — '''article title''' produces article title. As a general rule, do not put links in the bold reiteration of the title or any section title. Also, try not to put other phrases in bold in the first sentence. Finally, keep the first sentence straight and to the point as to what the page is about. Two examples:

"This Manual of Style is a style guide for ZineWiki."

"Hip Cool is published in Deadwood, CA by Joe Blow."

Headings

Use the == (two equal signs) style markup for headings, not the ''' (triple apostrophes) used to make words appear bold. Start with ==, add the heading title, then end with ==. This will produce a bold larger text heading with a line under it like at the beginning of this section.

Categories

There are various categories that will make it easy for others to find your zine. For instance, if your zine is published in the U.S.A., adding a category listing at the bottom of the page will make it possible for anyone looking for zines published in the U.S.A. to find yours. Here is an example:

Category: Zines from the U.S.A.

Then , simply add [[ at the front. Add ]] at the end.

All countries follow the same format. Only the name of the country is different.

You can further categorize by type of zine. For instance, if you are writing an article about a perzine, just type

Category: Perzine

at the bottom of the page, then add [[ ]] before and after. Now anyone looking for perzines will be able to find your zine in that category. Many genres of zines follow this same format. Some common ones are:

• Category: Punk
• Category: Riot Grrrl
• Category: Queer

You can look under the categories section to find one, or often several, that will best suit your own zine or article. Check this page about category standards before creating a new category.

Sample Simple Article Page

Below is a sample article page for listing a zine in the format we'd like people to use. You can simply cut and paste this when starting a new article and edit it to work for the new zine entry you are adding.

'''My Cool Zine''' was a [[perzine]] published by [[Sassy Sally]] throughout the 1990s from Portland, OR.

Nine issues of My Cool Zine were published between 1994-1999. Each issue of My Cool Zine focused on Sally Sally's personal life, poetry, and issues like feminisim and self-empowerment. The zine also featured interviews with bands, including 7 Year Bitch, The Gits, and Bikini Kill.

==External Links==

* [http://www.mycoolzine.com Official website]

[[Category:Zine]] [[Category:Zines from the U.S.A.]] [[Category:Perzine]] [[Category:1990's publications]] [[Category:Oregon Zines]]