Farming Simulator Wiki:Manual of Style
This page is a draft of the manual of style for the Farming Simulator Wiki. All articles must follow the guidelines listed here.
Current Status: Rough draft - incomplete; not yet proofread
This page outlines the specific rules and guidelines for how an article should be written and formatted.
With very few exceptions, the majority of the content on this wiki should be divisible into two different categories: the in-game machinery (namely equipment and vehicles), and gameplay. While plenty of exceptions do exist to this rule, such as articles in the base game category, there should be little to no new articles being created which do not fall into one of the two aforementioned categories. Rules applicable to all articles are listed in the general section, proceeded by specific rules for these two main categories.
General
- All articles should be written in English, and only use other languages in exceptional cases such as quotes. Furthermore, all articles should contain correct spelling, grammar, and punctuation.
- An article should flow as smoothly as possible, with all content being arranged in a logical order, and complexities being avoided if at all possible. Simple and concise wording is ideal.
- All articles should be written from a neutral point of view, and should not contain any bias or personal opinions.
- A subject should be linked once upon its first appearance in the article's infobox, once upon its first mention in the article's lead section. Any more links to the same article are not permitted.
- Any appearance of a version of Farming Simulator should be given its specific name. For example, the newest version ends with "22", rather than "2022". A list of correct names is given below:
Machinery
- Every piece of machinery should contain a minimum of two articles. The first to act as a portal and give a small amount of information on the machine in real life (hereinafter referred to as "the base article"). The second and following to be version specific, one for each version in which the machinery appears (hereinafter referred to as "sub-articles").
- The base article should not contain an excessive amount of information about the machinery. Rather, it should contain a small yet adequate amount of information with external links for further research.
- The sub-articles should only contain information from their respective versions. Unlike the base article, there is no content limit; as much information may be added as is available.
- When adding specifications to machinery (Numbers stated in game) always use a heading that says "Specifications"
- All machinery articles should contain an {{Equipment}} template, which must include an image of the machinery.
- The "Main" element in {{Equipment}} should only be filled out in sub-pages, as it makes a link back to the main pages.
Mods
Requirements - In order for a mod to have a page on this wiki, it must meet the following requirements.
- The mod must be hosted on the official Farming Simulator website. (note: we can add more popular websites later)
- The mod must have at least 2,000 ratings, with an average of at least 4 stars.
- Any official mod released by GIANTS Software may have an article regardless of its ratings.
Format - Mod articles should follow the described format.
- All mod articles should follow the respective requirements of machinery or gameplay articles, depending on the type of mod.
- The article must have a link to its official page which may contain further information, images, and a download link. The article may not contain a direct download link.
Gameplay
- Gameplay articles may be divided into separate articles for specific versions if necessary. However, this is not a requirement if the information does not vary based on the game's version.
- All gameplay articles should contain at least one image, even if it is only a screenshot of the activity that the article is describing.
- Gameplay articles are be heavily descriptive, and may contain large amounts of text. Because of this, "text walls" can easily form. In order to prevent this, sections should be divided with headers, and images may be added wherever is appropriate.
Maps
- Should include basic information about the map.
- May Include a strategy section to explain the map and what works well on it, or does not.
- Should include a "Starting Vehicles Section" Listing the vehicles like so: "[quantity]x - [Equipment name]"
Images
- All images should have appropriate and descriptive names, and should be categorized according to their contents.
- All raw store images of equipment will be uploaded in the format of "FS(year)_Brand-Equipment_store.png"
- All resized images of equipment will be uploaded in the format of "FS(year)_Brand-Equipment.png"
- See the Farming Simulator Wiki:Policy for rules on the content of images.