Wikipedia:WikiProject Contract bridge/Manual of Style/Appendix 1: Article creation, naming and layout

Wikiproject Contract bridge has established the following guidelines for naming bridge-related articles:

Deciding to create an article

The natural progression for embryonic material might be as follows:

a glossary term definition
a component of a subsection of a main article
a subsection of a main article
a main article - simple and short
a main article - expanded and more complex

Make a topic or term a glossary entry rather than an article if:

it can be adequately described briefly, say in three sentences or less, and/or
there is virtually no prospect of further significant content expansion, and/or
it is treated as such by other bridge glossary references, and/or
no or few verifiable independent references are available.

Glossary terms can always be resurrected to become articles later should conditions change and their glossary entry become too large.

Shortness of itself should not be a bar to initiating or remaining as an article. If a short article is initiated, indicate in the talk page its potential range of future expansion. Label it a stub or under construction as appropriate.

Naming an article

Use the bridge community's most common name or term. See Manual of Style main page
If the name or term is taken by another Wiki article, use the same name and append (bridge) to it

Use of examples

Articles on bidding and play should contain sufficient examples to illustrate the breadth of their application.

Vocabular and spelling

See Manual of Style main page section on vocabulary and spelling for further details

People

See Wiki guidelines on:

Common names which says "to use the name that is most frequently used to refer to the subject in English-language reliable sources." Example: use Bill Clinton (not William Jefferson Clinton).
Naming conventions which addresses standard formats and variations by countries (eg. Asian and Eastern Europe name), nicknames and changed names.
Biography which addresses key Wikipedia:Manual of Style guidelines for articles on people.

Practice:

The name of an article about a person should use the name the person is most commonly known by.
If disambiguation is required use: "Firstname Lastname (bridge)". This avoids confusion with the spelling syntax of a proper name of a structure named after an individual (i.e. "Firstname Lastname Bridge") where all words are capitalized and where there are no parenthesis around the word "Bridge".
For people who have multiple names by which they are referred (marriage, divorce, remarriage, nicknames, etc.), the article title should be their most commonly used 'everyday' name. The article should then indicate all aliasis and redirects created for each.
When the person is in a list (of winners or participants of a particular championship, say) or referenced elsewhere in a quote, the name used should be the one used in the official records of the event or used in the quote and a linked footnote added to indicate the 'common' or Wiki article name.

Examples:

Use Dimmie Fleming as article title with Phyllis Irene (Dimmie) Fleming and A.L. Fleming as potential aliasis.
Use Rixi Markus with Erika Scharfstein and Rika Scharfstein as potential aliasis.

Capitalization

According to the general Wikipedia rule, the titles should normally be written in lowercase (except for the first word) (Unusual notrump, Jacoby transfer), unless it's a proper noun, such as "Last Train", "Blue Team", or "Precision Club". The game should be spelled in lowercase ("contract bridge" or "bridge"), except at the start of a sentence.

Layout, section order and titling

To generalize and simplify, a Wiki article has four basic components:

The lead or main section of the article presenting a brief summary of the subject
Subsections of the article providing additional details on specific aspects of the subject
Appendix sections documenting and supporting the factual content of the article and providing additional sources of information to readers
Footer sections containing Wiki administrative and technical information by which editors manage the article, i.e. not for readers per se

With respect to appendix and footer sections, Wiki policy pages recommend the following general approach: Links to other articles within Wikipedia come first, then references pertaining to the article, then links to other external material, and finally navigational templates. When present, appendix and footer sections are presented in this order^[1]. Follow the links for definitions and further guidance.

Appendix sections

Footer sections

Convention articles

Articles on bridge conventions should be named with the simple name of the convention, if available. For example, "Michaels cuebid" or "Brozel". If the name is already in use for another article, such as Drury which is already being used for a disambiguation page, the convention article should be named with the name of the convention plus the word "convention", with no parentheses, resulting in "Drury convention".

Articles should include the topics listed below, where applicable, and preferably in the same order. If the article is long enough to place the topics in separate sections, use the section names provided.

A basic description of the convention (introduction, no section name).
== Description == A full explanation of all calls, including follow-ups; include a subsection on examples if appropriate.
== Defenses against == Defenses against the convention; include a subsection on examples if appropriate.
== Advantages and disadvantages == Considerations for when to use/not use the convention.
== History == History of the convention.
== Variations == Variations (either in the main article or as links).
== See also == Other Wiki articles or sections.
== Notes ==^[5]
== References == Sources cited in the 'Notes', usually to a specific page or pages.^[5]
== Further reading == Limited key additional sources; may include cited sources. Prefer 'Further reading' over 'Bibliography'.
== External links ==
Navigation templates, if applicable.
Category:Bridge conventions

Notes

^ This sequence has been in place since at least 2003 (when "See also" was called "Related topics"). See, e.g., Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Layout#Order of sections. See also Wikipedia:Perennial proposals#Changes to standard appendices. The original rationale for this ordering is that, with the exception of Works, sections which contain material outside Wikipedia (including Further reading and External links) should come after sections that contain Wikipedia material (including See also) to help keep the distinction clear. The sections containing notes and references often contain both kinds of material and, consequently, appear after the See also section (if any) and before the Further reading section (if any). Whatever the validity of the original rationale, there is now the additional factor that readers have come to expect the appendices to appear in this order.
^ There are several reasons why this section should appear as the last appendix section. So many articles have the External links section at the end that many people expect that. Some External links and references sections are very long, and when the name of the section is not visible on the screen, it could cause problems if someone meant to delete an external link, and deleted a reference instead. Keeping the External links last is also helpful to editors who patrol external links.
^ Rationale for placing navboxes at the end of the article.
^ While categories are entered on the editing page ahead of stub templates, they appear on the visual page after the stub templates.
^ ^a ^b 'Notes' and 'References' sections may be consolidated under 'References' if few in number.

[sequence-1] This sequence has been in place since at least 2003 (when "See also" was called "Related topics"). See, e.g., Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Layout#Order of sections. See also Wikipedia:Perennial proposals#Changes to standard appendices. The original rationale for this ordering is that, with the exception of Works, sections which contain material outside Wikipedia (including Further reading and External links) should come after sections that contain Wikipedia material (including See also) to help keep the distinction clear. The sections containing notes and references often contain both kinds of material and, consequently, appear after the See also section (if any) and before the Further reading section (if any). Whatever the validity of the original rationale, there is now the additional factor that readers have come to expect the appendices to appear in this order.

[2] There are several reasons why this section should appear as the last appendix section. So many articles have the External links section at the end that many people expect that. Some External links and references sections are very long, and when the name of the section is not visible on the screen, it could cause problems if someone meant to delete an external link, and deleted a reference instead. Keeping the External links last is also helpful to editors who patrol external links.

[3] Rationale for placing navboxes at the end of the article.

[4] While categories are entered on the editing page ahead of stub templates, they appear on the visual page after the stub templates.

[NR-5] 'Notes' and 'References' sections may be consolidated under 'References' if few in number.

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