PCGamingWiki:Editing guide/References

Proper references are critical for any wiki worth its salt. They provide credibility to any claims made in an article. They also help reinforce the wiki's reputation as a source of reliable fixes.

General guidelines

• Anything that is subjective in nature or can be debated by someone else should be referenced.
  • Ex. Statements on feature state, release dates, etc.
• The wiki does not require formal academic style references. A link to the relevant article is good enough.
• Sources used must come from credible sources.
  • Credible sources are considered major gaming sites (ex. IGN), any mainstream news organizations, developer/publisher-run sites, "notable" YouTube series/personality (ex. TotalBiscut), and digital distribution sites.
  • Wikipedia is also considered "credible", but should be cross-referenced with another source as a precautionary measure.
• Sources by other sites (content aggregators, forums, blogs, etc.) must have at least one other source with the same statement.
  • The only exception to this is if the sourced post is by a developer team member or representative (and their identity has been verified).
• All sources must be up to date.
  • Should a source go down permanently or for an extended period (>2 months), the source must be replaced with an equivalent.
  • If there are no alternatives, use the latest archived version of the original source (see The Wayback Machine).
• If a statement or claim needs to be verified and there are no references available, add the Citation Needed tag ( {{cn}} ) to the end of the sentence.
  • Ex. This is a great example!^{[citation needed]}

Reference Citation tag

Syntax

<ref>(url or hyperlink)</ref>

Example
PCGamingWiki was founded on February 9, 2012.

The Reference Citation tag is the primary method of citing a reference. It is to be used in conjunction with the References tag (the page will produce an error otherwise).

Note that organization of the references is automatically handled via the References tag.

General rules

• If a citation is used at the end of a sentence, place it after the period/exclamation mark/question mark.
• If multiple sentences refer to the same reference, place the citation at the end of the last sentence.
• Naming reference links should follow this layout: <SITE/FORUM NAME> - <ARTICLE/THREAD TITLE>

Templates

Self-verified fixes and settings

Syntax

<ref>{{Refcheck|user=|date=}}</ref>

Example
PCGamingWiki focuses on providing fixes for all games.

The refcheck template provides a standardized way of stating who verified a fix or setting's presence and providing a reference date with it.

URLs

Syntax

<ref>{{Refurl|url=|title=|date=}}</ref>

Example
Sample text.

The refurl template provides a standardized way of linking to an external source together with the date the source was last accessible.

Snippets

Syntax

<ref>{{Refsnip|url=|title=|date=|snippet=}}</ref>

Example
See Borderlands 2.

The refsnip template provides a standardized way of providing a referential snippet from an external URL. This is particularly helpful for long referenced pages.

References tag

Syntax

{{References}}

Example (See bottom of guide)

Some fix for an issue
--Instructions go here--

The References tag is the very last element placed in a article. It displays a list of all references used throughout the page.

Details on how to properly reference can be found in the General guidelines section.

The only rule regarding the tag itself is that it should only be added to an article if there is at least one reference used. Otherwise, it can be omitted.

References

Editing guide

Article Formatting

Screenshots