NetHackWiki:Style guide - Revision history

Ardub23: Fixed typo

2026-05-09T00:44:31Z

Fixed typo

Umbire the Phantom: style of guide updates to further clarify some parts and make additions to reflect recent developments

2026-05-09T00:34:19Z

style of guide updates to further clarify some parts and make additions to reflect recent developments

Show changes

Umbire the Phantom: /* Link markup */ clarify linking

2026-04-16T10:54:43Z

‎Link markup: clarify linking

Ais523: /* Article names */ explain how the case-sensitivity works

2026-02-05T15:54:16Z

‎Article names: explain how the case-sensitivity works

Umbire the Phantom: /* General principles */ word choice

2026-02-05T15:48:04Z

‎General principles: word choice

Umbire the Phantom: lede

2026-02-05T15:47:32Z

lede

Umbire the Phantom: /* Section names */ more descriptive text

2025-11-30T04:31:41Z

‎Section names: more descriptive text

Umbire the Phantom: /* Link markup */ and another error...

2025-05-06T20:21:47Z

‎Link markup: and another error...

Umbire the Phantom: /* Link markup */ tweak to encompass example I forgot

2025-05-06T20:21:13Z

‎Link markup: tweak to encompass example I forgot

Umbire the Phantom: /* Link markup */ bit more

2025-05-05T20:19:30Z

‎Link markup: bit more

@@ Line 65: / Line 65: @@
 ==Article organization==
-Each article should begin with a brief introduction before going into specifics. This introduction (also known as the "lede" in Wikipedia jargon) should be followed by the table of contents where possible, which is usually handled automatically for articles with multiple sub-headers: a table of contents can be force or omitted as well. The highest header level that should be used is ideally level 2 (i.e. <nowiki>==This==</nowiki>), with the highest-level headers (i.e. <nowiki>=These=</nowiki>) going unused since the article's main title should server this purpose, though some exceptions may occur.
+Each article should begin with a brief introduction before going into specifics. This introduction (also known as the "lede" in Wikipedia jargon) should be followed by the table of contents where possible, which is usually handled automatically for articles with multiple sub-headers: a table of contents can be force or omitted as well. The highest header level that should be used is ideally level 2 (i.e. <nowiki>==This==</nowiki>), with the highest-level headers (i.e. <nowiki>=These=</nowiki>) going unused since the article's main title should serve this purpose, though some exceptions may occur.
 ===Section names and contents===

@@ Line 31: / Line 31: @@
 Articles on the wiki are linked to using <nowiki>[[double brackets]]</nowiki>, e.g. writing <nowiki>"[[grid bug]]"</nowiki> produces [[grid bug]]. Links to articles can also be displayed using any desired text by separating the target article and the text via pipe, e.g. <nowiki>"[[Stormbringer|Stormy]]"</nowiki> becomes [[Stormbringer|Stormy]]. Text appended immediately to the end of a wiki link becomes part of the link, e.g. <nowiki>"[[Rodney]]bane"</nowiki> becomes [[Rodney]]bane&mdash;note that placing text outside the bracket this way serves no purpose if you are customizing the link to display particular text as in the second example, since that text can simply be placed inside the double brackets; e.g., <nowiki>"[[Wizard of Yendor|Rodney]]bane"</nowiki> is unnecessary where <nowiki>"[[Rodney]]bane"</nowiki> or even <nowiki>"[[Wizard of Yendor|Rodneybane]]"</nowiki> will suffice, and the latter examples are more presentable when editing while giving the same output as the former.
-An article's text should link to a subject the first time it is mentioned in a page's text; further links are not prohibited, but are usually unnecessary, though the contents of templates are usually not counted towards this. When linking to multiple subjects in a row, do not split the article links between every word or couple of words: doing so makes the article harder to follow and annoying to edit. Even a simple parenthetical list is more ideal, e.g. "non-undead giants ([[fire giant]]s, [[frost giant]]s, [[storm giant]]s, etc.)" is better than "[[Fire giant|non-]][[Frost giant|undead]] [[Storm giant|giants]]".
+An article's text should link to a subject the first time it is mentioned in a page's text: further links are not prohibited, but are usually unnecessary, though exceptions are sometimes made for sufficiently-long articles&mdash;the contents of templates are usually not counted towards this in any case. When linking to multiple subjects in a row, do not split the article links between every word or couple of words: doing so makes the article harder to follow and annoying to edit. Even a simple parenthetical list is more ideal, e.g. "non-undead giants ([[fire giant]]s, [[frost giant]]s, [[storm giant]]s, etc.)" is better than "[[Fire giant|non-]][[Frost giant|undead]] [[Storm giant|giants]]".
 ==Article names==

@@ Line 36: / Line 36: @@
 Try to be consistent when naming new and existing articles:
-* Name most pages with lowercase letters, like [[scroll of identify]], but use uppercase for proper nouns, like [[Amulet of Yendor]]. By default, MediaWiki forces the first letter of a page name to be uppercase.
+* Name most pages with lowercase letters, like [[scroll of identify]], but use uppercase for proper nouns, like [[Amulet of Yendor]]. Article names are case-sensitive apart from the first letter, which is case-insensitive (so that links work both within sentences and at the start of sentences) and usually displayed in uppercase by MediaWiki.
 * Prefer singular to plural for article names, e.g. [[unicorn]] instead of [[unicorns]].
 * Try to avoid conflating disparate-but-related subjects where possible. As an example, [[identification]], [[scroll of identify]], and [[spellbook of identify]] all deal with identifying items, but are very clearly distinct: the first concerns how identification in general functions, the second concerns a specific item that fully identifies objects, and the third concerns both the spell used to identify objects and the spellbook that teaches that spell.

@@ Line 16: / Line 16: @@
 * As stated below the editing window: Please note that all contributions to NetHackWiki may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. '''If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here.''' You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see [[NetHackWiki:Copyrights]] for details). '''Do not submit copyrighted work without permission!'''
-For ideas of what constitutes sensible editing practices and principles that are not listed here or in the below sections, consider consulting [[Wikipedia:Wikipedia:Manual of Style|Wikipedia's Manual of Style]]: while NetHackWiki is '''not''' Wikipedia and as such should not be held to the same ''exact'' standards, the Manual of Style is nonetheless a solid resource for wiki editors of all skill levels.
+For ideas of what constitutes sensible editing practices and principles that are not listed here or in the below sections, consider consulting [[Wikipedia:Wikipedia:Manual of Style|Wikipedia's Manual of Style]]: while NetHackWiki is '''not''' Wikipedia and as such should not be held to the same ''exact'' standards, their Manual of Style is nonetheless a solid resource for wiki editors of all skill levels.
 ==Tone==

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 {{community}}
-NetHackWiki has many conventions in use, which are listed below in the '''style guide''', or the closest thing the wiki currently has to one - changes should be discussed on the [[NetHackWiki talk:style guide|talk page]].
+NetHackWiki has many conventions in use, which are listed below in the '''style guide''' or '''Manual of Style'''&mdash;changes to this style guide should be discussed on the [[NetHackWiki talk:style guide|talk page]].
 ==NetHackWiki versus Wikihack==

@@ Line 65: / Line 65: @@
 Each article should begin with a brief introduction before going into specifics. This introduction (also known as the "lede" in Wikipedia jargon) should be followed by the table of contents where possible, which is usually handled automatically for articles with multiple sub-headers. The highest header level that should be used is ideally level 2 (i.e. <nowiki>==This==</nowiki>), with the highest-level headers (i.e. <nowiki>=These=</nowiki>) reserved for the article main title, though some exceptions may occur.
-===Section names===
+===Section names and contents===
-Some sections are common to many articles, and the known standard sections are listed below in their rough general order:
+Some sections are common to many articles, and the known standard sections are described below in generalized order:
-* Generation
+* Generation: This should explain where and how the monster, object or level can be found or created.
-* Map(s)
+* Map(s): For level articles, this should display the layout of the level and its contents, repeated as necessary for each floor.
-* Strategy
+* Strategy: This should cover relevant strategic applications for the article's subject&mdash;as examples, strategy for levels may consist of navigation aids, while strategy for monsters may consist of ways to deal with hostile ones or what to do if you end up with one as a pet.
-* History
+* History: This should explain how the article subject has changed over different versions of the game, including when it was introduced and relevant bug fixes.
-* Origin
+* Origin: If the subject is based on something else, cover that information here&mdash;this includes that subject's history outside the context of ''NetHack''.
-* Messages
+* Messages: Any relevant messages to the subject should go here.
-* Variants
+* Variants: See below.
-* Encyclopedia entry
+* Encyclopedia entry: See below.
-* See also
+* See also: Articles for related subjects, though in most cases those subjects should already be linked within the article itself.
-* References
+* References: All source code references and citations should be listed here. This is usually handled automatically by placing the <nowiki><references/></nowiki> tag within the section&mdash;they will appear at the bottom of the article by default otherwise, and should be listed using this tag.
-* External links
+* External links: Links to other sites related to the subject, e.g. strategy guides and spoilers.
-Generation should explain where and how the thing can be found or created.
+For articles whose subjects normally appear in vanilla ''NetHack'', the Variants section can cover any and all relevant differences between the subject in that variant and in vanilla ''NetHack''&mdash;subjects that are massively different between ''NetHack'' and a particular variant may warrant their own dedicated article, e.g. the [[nurse]] of ''NetHack'' and [[Nurse (dNetHack)|the nurse]] of dNetHack are very different monsters. Even if no such differences are listed &ndash;which is an occupational hazard, given that this wiki is constantly evolving and updating&ndash;readers and editors alike should not take it for granted that all qualities regarding an element of ''NetHack'' will be entirely unchanged across variants.
 The Encyclopedia entry section should give the text of the subject's entry in the [[NetHack encyclopedia]], enclosed in an [[Template:encyclopedia|<nowiki>{{encyclopedia}}</nowiki> template]]. The template displays whitespace characters literally (like the HTML &lt;pre&gt; tag), so remove unwanted hard line breaks and whitespace at the beginning of lines&mdash;browser window widths vary widely! The encyclopedia entries are hard-coded in the game, and so should have the same exact text otherwise as they would in-game.

@@ Line 29: / Line 29: @@
 ===Link markup===
-Articles on the wiki are linked to using <nowiki>[[double brackets]]</nowiki>, e.g. writing <nowiki>"[[grid bug]]"</nowiki> produces [[grid bug]]. Links to articles can also be displayed using any desired text by separating the target article and the text via pipe, e.g. <nowiki>"[[Stormbringer|Stormy]]"</nowiki> becomes [[Stormbringer|Stormy]]. Text appended immediately to the end of a wiki link becomes part of the link, e.g. <nowiki>"[[Rodney]]bane"</nowiki> becomes [[Rodney]]bane. Note that there placing text outside the bracket this way serves no purpose if you are customizing the link to display particular text as in the second example, since that text can simply be placed inside the double brackets&mdash;e.g., <nowiki>"[[Wizard of Yendor|Rodney]]bane"</nowiki> is unnecessary where <nowiki>"[[Rodney]]bane"</nowiki> or even <nowiki>"[[Wizard of Yendor|Rodneybane]]"</nowiki> will suffice, and the latter examples are more presentable when editing while giving the same output as the former.
+Articles on the wiki are linked to using <nowiki>[[double brackets]]</nowiki>, e.g. writing <nowiki>"[[grid bug]]"</nowiki> produces [[grid bug]]. Links to articles can also be displayed using any desired text by separating the target article and the text via pipe, e.g. <nowiki>"[[Stormbringer|Stormy]]"</nowiki> becomes [[Stormbringer|Stormy]]. Text appended immediately to the end of a wiki link becomes part of the link, e.g. <nowiki>"[[Rodney]]bane"</nowiki> becomes [[Rodney]]bane&mdash;note that placing text outside the bracket this way serves no purpose if you are customizing the link to display particular text as in the second example, since that text can simply be placed inside the double brackets; e.g., <nowiki>"[[Wizard of Yendor|Rodney]]bane"</nowiki> is unnecessary where <nowiki>"[[Rodney]]bane"</nowiki> or even <nowiki>"[[Wizard of Yendor|Rodneybane]]"</nowiki> will suffice, and the latter examples are more presentable when editing while giving the same output as the former.
 An article's text should link to a subject the first time it is mentioned in a page's text; further links are not prohibited, but are usually unnecessary, though the contents of templates are usually not counted towards this. When linking to multiple subjects in a row, do not split the article links between every word or couple of words: doing so makes the article harder to follow and annoying to edit. Even a simple parenthetical list is more ideal, e.g. "non-undead giants ([[fire giant]]s, [[frost giant]]s, [[storm giant]]s, etc.)" is better than "[[Fire giant|non-]][[Frost giant|undead]] [[Storm giant|giants]]".