Wiki:Sources

This page is about the wiki's policies and guidelines for using sources. For list of published Eamon articles, see bibliography.

Sources provide useful information on relevant topics. (A page from The Rochester Bestiary, 13th century.)

Eamon Wiki considers a source to be any basis of information about subjects related to Eamon or other associated topics. A source could be a book, a magazine article, a game, a user manual, or even the code of a program. Articles often cite sources as a way of establishing the origin and credibility of the articles' statements.

Citing a source

While some wikis like Wikipedia prefer editors to cite their sources using a system of reference tags and numbered footnotes, Eamon Wiki encourages the simpler alternative of noting the source inline with the text, using natural language and links to source material. Examples:

Footnote style (not preferred):

Brown notes that the planet lies at the center of the galaxy.

Inline style (preferred):

Brown notes that the planet lies at the center of the galaxy.
...or...
Brown notes in the Eamon Player's Manual that the planet lies at the center of the galaxy.

Eamon Wiki encourages this approach for several reasons:

• Many of the sources cited in Eamon Wiki articles (newsletters, manuals, etc.) are reproduced verbatim within the wiki, so wiki-linking directly to them is simplest and is more convenient for the reader.
• Unlike Wikipedia, it's less common for a statement in an Eamon Wiki article to have many different cited sources.
• It eliminates the need for the many citation templates that Wikipedia uses.
• It's a simpler method for new editors to learn and follow.

References list

If you use a particular source for multiple parts of an article, or to inform the article as a whole, you can instead cite it in a "References" section at the end of the article. Use a bulleted list and link to each source. For an example reference section, see the Prairie Group article.

Reproducing a source

In some cases Eamon Wiki contains the original, verbatim text of a source, reproduced either in part or in its entirety. Such a reproduction is normally saved in the Source namespace – for example, the March 1984 issue of the Eamon Adventurer's Log is located at Source:Eamon Adventurer's Log, March 1984. Unlike actual articles, such reproductions should normally be edited only by administrators.

Presentation and fidelity

When reproducing a source, the goal of Eamon Wiki is to make no changes to the information presented in the source and to represent it as clearly and faithfully as possible. Nevertheless, it sometimes can be necessary to make changes to the formatting of that information, since some sources are in formats that don't convert cleanly to wiki pages (for instance, the text may be in all-caps, it may not have clear section headings, etc.).

That being the case, Eamon Wiki takes the position that its presentation of a source may vary from the original for the purposes of clarity and of following consistent standards of style and presentation. The most common changes made to sources are:

1. Case. Text in all-caps may be converted to mixed-case.
2. Font. Text will be presented in standard wiki font faces.
3. Italics. Things such as the titles of works, foreign words or phrases, etc. may be italicized.
4. Punctuation. Inconsistencies or obvious errors in punctuation may be corrected.
5. Sectioning. Text that's not explicitly divided into logical sections may be so divided in order to improve usability.
6. Typos. Obvious typos (like sheild when the author instead meant shield) will be corrected.
7. Links. Certain words or phrases in a source may be made into wikilinks that connect to other parts of the the wiki.
8. Graphic elements. Things like photos, graphics, or decorative elements present in the original source may be omitted.

Permission

Main page: Wiki:Copyrights

When Eamon Wiki determines that the reproduction of a piece of copyrighted material requires the explicit permission of the copyright holder, it will seek to obtain that permission from the appropriate party. When the wiki determines that reproduction of copyrighted material is justified under the doctrine of fair use, it may not seek to obtain explicit permission from the copyright holder for that reproduction, though it may still do so as a courtesy. Whatever license is used should be noted in the informational header.

Eamon Wiki has no intention to infringe unfairly upon the rights of copyright holders, and is happy to consider claims of copyright or challenges to claims of fair use upon request.