Wikipedia:Identifying and using style guides: Difference between revisions
Content deleted Content added
SMcCandlish (talk | contribs) m ce |
SMcCandlish (talk | contribs) spoken, not written |
||
Line 87:
MoS is written to provide advice on what to {{em|do}} when writing articles here (and sometimes why), without editorializing on propriety or legitimacy. Please keep this in mind if you work on improving the Wikipedia Manual of Style.
Our articles should steer well clear of subjective pronouncements about what is "proper", "incorrect", "standard",{{efn|There is no official body for issuing "standards" about the English language. Some reliable sources on English use the term ''standard'' in a special sense. The academic concept of ''[[standard English]]es'' refers to the majority dialects spoken within anglophone countries. A standard English is an estimation of usage acceptability within a population and does not imply the existence of a ''standard'' in the sense of published specifications being issued. When referring to a standard English in an article please link to [[Standard English]] at first occurrence so that readers are not mislead.}} etc. – even when some of our sources wander into that territory. Beware also claims about "American English", "British English", etc. made by style guide authors who are not linguists (e.g., ''Garner's Modern English Usage'', though quite comprehensive, is written by an attorney). Most linguists do not agree with the idea that orthography (spelling, punctuation, etc.) is a matter of dialect (nationwide or otherwise); rather, it is a matter of publishing-industry standards – i.e., of commerce.
In a few cases, editors with a bee in their bonnet about the "legitimacy" or "wrongness" of some particular style nit-pick (especially along nationalistic lines) have been [[Wikipedia:Banning policy#Topic ban|topic-banned]] from editing about that peccadillo, or even banned from MoS-related discussion as a whole, especially if their non-neutral [[Wikipedia:What Wikipedia is not#Wikipedia is not a soapbox or means of promotion|advocacy]] starts affecting article content. Avoid [[Wikipedia:Disruptive editing|disruptive editing]] about style, especially [[Wikipedia:Arbitration/Requests/Case/Article titles and capitalisation#All parties reminded|personalization of style or article-titles disputes]]. [[Wikipedia:Arbitration Committee/Discretionary sanctions|Discretionary sanctions]] have been authorized to deal with MoS-related disruption: [[Wikipedia:Administrators|admins]] have leeway to unilaterally issue editor or page restrictions.
| |||