Talk:Silas Talbot

Bibliography format

WP gives editors the tools by which he/she can manage and format various text in and among WP articles within the limits of WP policy overall. Regarding the style or standards used bibliographies, apparently some editors subscribe to the notion that certain items are not allowed in Bibliography syntax and presentations, (using cite book, etc) such as bolding and the use of <br> tags, used to force a break to the next line. Having searched through WP Policy regarding Bibliographies and Cite Book and other MOS pages I have found nothing that indicates an editor is not allowed to use bold in bibliography listings or force a break to the next line, which often times serves well to mange long lines of text containing titles, text, publisher, author(s), etc.

Here is a source listing using no formatting:

• Daniels, Josephus , Secretary of the Navy; Marsh, Captain, U.S.Navy, retired, C.C. (1921). Official records of the Union and Confederate navies in the War of the Rebellion. Government Printing Office, United States. Naval War Records Office, United States, Office of Naval Records and Library. p. 276. ISBN 1-58218-556-5.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) Url

Here is the same source listing using formatting:

• Daniels, Josephus , Secretary of the Navy; Marsh, Captain, U.S.Navy, retired, C.C. (1921).
  Official records of the Union and Confederate navies in the War of the Rebellion.
  Government Printing Office, United States. Naval War Records Office, United States.
  Office of Naval Records and Library. p. 276. ISBN 1-58218-556-5.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) Url

The title, authors, and publisher are not all run together, wrapped around and written like a short paragraph but instead various items are placed on their own line which makes for much easier reading. This is esp helpful when a reader is repeatedly referring to a lengthy bibliography as he/she reads along.

Below are the sources I checked to see if any policy violations exist regarding bibliography formatting and again there is nothing that says editors can't manage titles/text into a more readable format, as described above.
Before restoring the format that was used prior to the latest reverts I'd like to get feed back from any concerned editors. If there are indeed any policy issues or issues that are causing real problems for the readers these need to be heard also.

• Manual of Style/Lists of works: Bibliographies
• WikiProject Bibliographies: Recommended structure
• Template:Cite book: Syntax

Regarding any 'convention' used in bibliographies overall there are several, and unfortunately some bibliographies have no standard or formatting at all -- and there certainly is no 'one-size-suits-all' convention. Whatever style or format is used the important issue is reader viewability.

-- Gwillhickers (talk) 19:49, 28 December 2012 (UTC)