Thomas the Tank Engine Wikia:Manual of Style

These are the guidelines by which we form our articles. They will help explain how and why the Wikia has its own particular style of doing things.

Language and Spellings
This Wikia uses British spellings, grammar rules, and terminology, in keeping with the original Railway Series and television show being British. As such, words such as "humor" and "favorite" are spelt with an "extra U" to be: "humour" and "favourite". The term "trucks" is used instead of "freight cars". A car's "license plate" would be a "registration plate" or a "number plate". Etc. With that, episode info boxes should only have the UK title.

The Wikia also uses the standard "school paper" form by not using contractions (don't, isn't, etc.), exclamation points (!), or the word "you" in articles. Instead, please use "does not", "is not", and the like, and simply end sentences with a period. This does not apply to quotations, where the actual phrasing should be used.

Character Info Box Images
We like to have a complete profile picture of all the characters, where images are available. Preferably all characters who have appeared in the Television Series, must have images screen shot from an episode. If a complete profile from an episode is not available, a promotional image will do.

Please contact the Staff if you feel you can provide a better image than what is already on the page.

Establishing Roles
After a list of characters on the episode page, some are followed by either, "(does not speak)", "(cameo)", "(mentioned)", or "(not seen)". In the past, there has been some confusion as to what this means. A "cameo" appearance is a minor appearance where a character is seen, but doesn't speak nor is it referred to. A "does not speak" role is where a character appears and is referred to by name by either the narrator or another character. When a character does not physically appear, but is mentioned by a character or the narrator, that is classified as a "mentioned" role. The "not seen" tag is most often used for books. This is when a character speaks, but isn't seen in any of the illustrations. A speaking role is, obviously, when a character actually speaks. In the CGI television series, anything that requires a voice actor is generally viewed as a speaking role, however there are some exceptions to this rule (Alicia Botti's role in James in the Dark for example). If any other confusions occur, please notify an admin or leave a message to the relevant talk pages.

Additionally, there is an order in which we list the characters. This goes as follows:
 * Standard gauge steam engines
 * Standard gauge diesels
 * Other standard gauge vehicles
 * Skarloey Railway steam engines
 * Skarloey Railway diesels
 * Culdee Fell Railway engines
 * Arlesdale Railway steam engines
 * Arlesdale Railway diesels
 * Non-rail vehicles
 * Rolling stock
 * Humans

Galleries
Galleries should have no borders and should be in the "center" position. When adding images make sure "File:" goes in front of each image name.

No more than four images from each season should be included in a character's gallery. This applies mainly to characters that have appeared in most seasons. Minor characters, one-offs, or characters that were absent for several seasons are an exception. Images that look similar should not be included in a character gallery.

Galleries are now separated from main pages now to keep things tidy. It is not essential for a page to have a seperate gallery if there is little information on the main page; Arlesburgh Maritime Museum is a prime example of this.

The way character galleries are organised has recently been revised. Character galleries are now laid out thusly when applicable:

Merchandise Gallery
Obviously, if a character has not appeared in the Television Series or the Railway Series, those sections would be omitted.

Trivia and Goofs
The trivia section is strictly for unique information about the episode. This may include fun facts about episode production, cultural significance, or relation to the Railway Series. The trivia section is NOT for differences in narrations among different dubs.

The goofs section is mainly for production errors. Do NOT add plot holes, such as "Thomas' driver should not have let him take Emily's trucks". It is a children's program and there will be some flaws in the storytelling. If there is a major plot hole you think should be added, please consult an admin.

Edit Summaries
Providing an edit summary is not essential, but it does make an admin's job easier to review your changes. Some things you may think are right which an admin does not, so use the edit summary to explain why you changed an article. If an edit is reverted multiple times by an admin, don't keep adding it back as that could earn you one or more "strikes". What you should do is explain, in detail, the changes on the relevant talk pages. Please make an effort to read edit summaries as well, because an admin may be giving you warning and telling you to stop making a particular edit.

The Stub Template
If a page is just a few lines of text and some images, then it's a stub. If the page has five or more lines of text, images, and another template, then it's NOT a stub.

Categories
All pages need categories, but not every category goes on every page. Also, "Image" categories only go on image pages.

Biographies
In character biographies, only state significant events the character is involved in. Also, avoid phrasing events in character biographies in a manner such as "In the sixth season, Thomas...". If possible, use the year instead, "In 1954, Thomas...". This helps make biographies look less cluttered.