Bulbapedia talk:Manual of style

Evolution Chain Standardisation

The references to how a Pokémon evolves and into what creature is unstandardised across every species article. I propose that we create a section for each species page with the evolutionary chains of that particular species. Such standardisation would make navigation simple, as well as a give a way to describe exactly how the Pokémon evolves in each case.

The style used at the Beldum article series is the standard. - 振霖_T 21:02, 25 December 2005 (CST)

And for forked evolutions (such as Poliwhirl) see the Clamperl family.User142 00:11, 26 December 2005 (CST)

That's only for the two-way forks with two or three-stage chains. For Eevee, use vertical layout - Eevee on one row, the rest on the next row.

Real people Japanese names

What is the policy regarding names of Japanese real people?

There doesn't appear to be one, so I will show a proposal.

As we all know, in Japan the last name goes before the given name, BUT in the U.S. the names are usually switched.

So to reflect both naming orders, I would like to use this convention:

"Junichiro Koizumi (Japanese: 小泉純一郎, Koizumi Jun'ichirō, born January 8, 1942)"

Now, with historical figures, there is usually no need to repeat the Japanese order unless macrons are involved: "Tokugawa Ieyasu (previously spelled Iyeyasu); 徳川 家康"

Also I would like to have a page on here that explains Japanese naming conventions.

WhisperToMe 12:35, 7 January 2006 (CST)

---

Perhaps Misty's Togepi and Jessie's Wobbuffet should be at the top of each episode's Pokémon list along with Ash's Pikachu and Meowth (Team Rocket), as they (have) appeared in every episode their trainers made an appearance in since their capture (with the exception of Togepi, which evolved and left). --Argy 00:27, 18 September 2005 (CDT)

It's hard to say yes or no to these cases. Pokeani gives those two their own articles. The same argument could potentially apply to James's Chimecho. - 振霖_T 03:13, 18 September 2005 (CDT)

I'd argue that they do deserve to be named simply on the basis that they are featured, and they all do play a significant role in the anime in general. evkl 08:03, 18 September 2005 (CDT)

---

For things both in the games and in the anime, do we want something like what I've done for Bill's page to be the standard? If so, should we incorporate that setup into the Manual of style?

~Evan

Individual Pokémon vs. Pokémon species?

That seems to be the best, if not most thorough, format.

I have another issue to bring up, though. Do you think it's important to define the difference between individual Pokémon and Pokémon species in the Manual of Style? For instance, EVs, IVs, and so on are characteristics of individual Pokémon, while base stats, types, and so on are characteristics of Pokémon species. If so, perhaps an article called "Pokémon specie" might be created, and links in articles referring to Pokémon species, not individual Pokémon, might lead to it. It could look like this:

---

A Pokémon specie is a "kind" of Pokémon, such as Bulbasaur or Zubat. Pokémon of certain species can change into some other species by evolving, such as a Bulbasaur evolving into an Ivysaur.

Oftentimes, a specie's name can refer to an individual Pokémon of that species instead. For instance, "Bulbasaur is a Grass-type" refers to the Bulbasaur specie, but "Bulbasaur uses Vine Whip" refers to a single Bulbasaur. In the National ID system, they are numbered from 1 to 151.

Initially when the Red, Green (in Japan only), Blue, and Yellow versions were released, there were 151 Pokémon species.

When the Gold, Silver, and Crystal versions were released, 100 more species were added, making a total of 251.

When the Advanced Generation games were released, 135 more species were added, making a total of 386.

Currently, two species from the fourth generation have been officially revealed to the public, Munchlax and Lucario (Japanese name).

---

It might also be useful to disambiguate this in the Pokémon article, talking about how the term "Pokémon" might refer to Pokémon species (Charmander is a Fire-type Pokémon), individual Pokémon (Pokémon which receive 4 Attack EVs have their Attack stat increase by 1), or the franchise (Pokémon was first conceptualized by Satoshi Tajiri).

---

Pokémon anime characters articles standarization

We've got two styles for articles in Category:Anime characters (Pokémon) to refer back to the main article of the Pokémon in general. One's found on Ash's Pikachu, Meowth (Team Rocket), and Jigglypuff (anime), where it has on the top an "Unnamedpokemon" template pointing the main Pokémon's article to people right off the bat. The other's on pages like Brock's Bonsly, Ash's Butterfree, and Mewtwo (anime), where it mentions the main Pokémon's article down at the bottom in the "Related articles" section.

They both have their advantages - I mean, the first one makes it very easy for someone to find the article on the Pokémon's species since it's right there at the top rather than way down at the bottom, while on the other hand the second is better adapted to Pokémon which have evolved, as on the article for Ash's Butterfree.

It's bothering me that both styles exist - can we standardize them? Which style is better? Should we make alternate Unnamedpokemon templates for Pokémon with multiple stages, and switch all the Pokémon anime characters articles to it? Or should we ditch the Unnamedpokemon template completely, and change all the articles which use it to having the "Related articles" reference? Or should we go for some third style that trumps the other two completely?

Personally, I'm more in favor of the Unnamedpokemon template - it looks better to me, and the only problem with it could be fixed pretty easily, I think. --Pie 22:22, 1 July 2006 (UTC)

The style used in Unnamedpokemon is more suitable when a user may have arrived at that article by mistake (via redirect, for example, or by lack of a disambiguation page). Such a thing should be present, for example, on Battle Frontier and not Battle Frontier (song). But that doesn't seem likely here, not since we abandoned the idea of redirecting Pikachu to Ash's Pikachu. The related articles style seems better. - 振霖_T 02:18, 2 July 2006 (UTC)

Ah, all right, then. ^^o --Pie 05:12, 2 July 2006 (UTC)

British vs. American spelling?

I don't know where to ask this, so I'll just ask it here. Which English spelling does Bulbapedia prefer? I have found some pages that use British spelling (ex: colour, defence), while others use American spelling (ex: color, defense). I'm American, so I'm more accustomed to the the latter. Does it matter at all, or should they just be left as is? -Ringtails 04:20, 8 March 2007 (UTC)

I'd say leave the British/American spelling as-is, as in, don't edit an article just to change the spelling to the other one. Remember, though, both are correct, so we should have a redirect from Alternate colour if we don't already... --TTEchidna 04:49, 8 March 2007 (UTC)

Standardise article titles on American spelling, and have consistency within an article. As he says though, don't edit an article just to change the spelling from one to another. (It can lead to revert wars.) - 振霖_T 07:15, 8 March 2007 (UTC)

In the cases where something is spelt the same in American and British versions (which I think is all cases where something is written down) then we should use that spelling. --FabuVinny ^T-C-S 18:37, 24 May 2007 (UTC)

Last time I checked the games and the anime are translated in the United States. So I personally think American English should be used. True that most English-speaking countries use British English officially (I know that not all countries besides US do that) but most English-language countries use the American translation of the anime, and as far as I know, the games are officially translated in the United States. Correct me if I'm wrong, but since Pokémon Center isn't very often referred to as Pokémon centre I have a feeling most English-speaking countries use the American translations. I also think so because the games/anime use feet/miles. TheBlazikenMaster 13:47, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

If you're talking about the colour of a Zigzagoon for example I don't think it really matters where the game is made. Glinn Mgraw 14:05, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

Do you guys in the rest of the world have the American English versions of the game? I'd imagine it to be completely ridiculous to go through the entire game script changing every appearance of "color" to "colour" and stuff... Is it Special Defence over there? TTEchidna 16:18, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

Agreed it is ridiculous, which is also why I think the American spelling is used when released elsewhere. As far as I know it's officially translated into English in the United States. TheBlazikenMaster 18:13, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

Correct, we do use American spelling. Not that there are all that many words that you can see the difference. Glinn Mgraw 02:45, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

Color Change, Colour Change. id think Defense/Defence would be the biggest. -- MAGNEDETH 02:48, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

This is quite a problem, I've noticed - I've had to created redirects for articles like Flavour. Ztobor 03:44, 29 June 2010 (UTC)

Pokedex style

Was goin through pokedex info and revising today when I realized, The European version probably differs from the American version. Not only that, but the Height, Weight and Species information have had some inconsistencies with the game I am going by. (Pokemon Pearl, Us Version). Who's to say which is the correct version? I suggest two pokedex catagories, US and UK. What is your view on this? --Dekubobo 14:43, 24 May 2007 (UTC)

I don't understand. Why would there be a difference? And D/P won't be released in Europe for another two months so how can it affect things now?

On a more helpful note, I am planning to get a European copy so I'll be able to help compare the versions at the time. --FabuVinny ^T-C-S 18:32, 24 May 2007 (UTC)

Believe me, we've missed a lot when it comes to updating each Pokémon's page-- and with 493, who wouldn't? I still find Pokémon with their Sinnoh Dex number listed as "?", so I'd not doubt that some of the DP dex entries are translated from the Japanese versions, and the same for the species.

I don't see why, either, there'd be a difference in the dex entries between Europe and the US, unless it's the German translation or something. The UK version, I'm betting, will be exactly the same as the US version, though maybe instead it'll use meters and kilograms instead of feet/inches and pounds. Don't see much else to change, though... Not with any reason, at least. English is English. --TTEchidna 19:30, 24 May 2007 (UTC)

Gyms and Badges

I just wondered how we should go about these, once and for all:

• Gym or gym? Pokémon Gym or Pokémon gym? (consider Official Pokémon League-sanctioned Gym)
• Badge or badge? Gym Badge or Gym badge? Boulderbadge, Boulder Badge or Boulder badge? It seems to vary by generation, but it's strange to see Boulderbadge and then Coal Badge on the same page.

Badges are technically items (see Escape Rope) but what about individually? --Greengiant 18:46, 10 July 2007 (UTC)

Well, in RBYGSCRSEFRLG, they were typed as BOULDERBADGE, CASCADEBADGE, and so on. After all, you know how previously we had the move AncientPower as Ancientpower, because it was written in all caps so we didn't know the intended spelling... I'd say we oughta go with what DP says, including the instruction book.

And it says... unless it's a specific badge, it's not capitalized. There are eight Pokémon League Badges: the Coal Badge, the Forest Badge, and so on. If you have a badge it proves you've defeated a Gym Leader. Pokémon Gym seems to be a different case. It's Leader or Gym Leader, Gym or Pokémon Gym.

We might have to wait for a GS remake to be for sure about the old badges taking on the same style as the Sinnoh ones... but eh, it's a wiki, everything can be undone if that's the case. I'd personally say keep the separate, both capitalized rule for badge names, and do them ALL that way, since it's not only consistent, but very likely that that's what was meant originally.

So. Recap: Gym over gym, Pokémon Gym over Pokémon gym, badge over Badge, unless it's a specific badge like the Boulder Badge, Zephyr Badge, Stone Badge, or Coal Badge, or named as an official Pokémon League Badge. That's my take on things, at least, I say it all depends if Pie and Argy agree, they're the Style Editors. TTEchidna 20:13, 10 July 2007 (UTC)

Also: to add something, this proves that the badges are at the very least named as XXXXX Badge in Hoenn. TTEchidna 01:17, 21 July 2007 (UTC)

New Move Template

User:Royalshow ten posted a new template for showing moves at the Pound article, as well as other move articles. Though they were reverted by a moderator, I personally think that these tables look better and are easier to navigate than the current large boxes that are there. Thoughts? Morgan695 05:01, 1 September 2007 (UTC)

Color

I could never figure out how the colors come out. like acd or FFFFFF. How do we know what the color is?Pokemaniac102 22:38, 19 December 2007 (UTC)

The number is divided into three groups of two digits: the first represents red, the second green, the third blue. It functions on the principle of additive color. Furthermore, the numbers are in hexadecimal; the maximum value of each of the three primary colours, FF, equals to 255 in decimal (our number system).

Three digits is shorthand when the digits repeat themselves: if you have #FFCC99, you can write #FC9 instead. Laogeodritt 23:09, 19 December 2007 (UTC)

Well, I know you can find color-codes on Wikipedia pages like Brown MERRY CHRISTMAS 23:14, 19 December 2007 (UTC)

Or you could just nab a color on Photoshop or some program that lets you see the color hex code, and copy it down. :p Tina ^δ♫ 23:15, 19 December 2007 (UTC)

OR YOU COULD GUESS. Optimatum♏^Talk|♊Hi 10:13, 4 January 2008 (UTC)

Parenthesis mis-match

Since the page seems to be protected, I'd like to note a parenthesis mis-match in section Article titles, second paragraph.

In cases where only a first name (Bill) exists, or where a character is known by a title, such as Professor Oak) more than their proper name, those should be used as the sole title of the page.

should be

In cases where only a first name (Bill) exists, or where a character is known by a title (such as Professor Oak) more than their proper name, those should be used as the sole title of the page.

Laogeodritt ^{[ Talk BP ARC WP | Contribs ]} 23:19, 19 December 2007 (UTC)

It's already been fixed MERRY CHRISTMAS 23:23, 19 December 2007 (UTC)

...right before you said that. :p Tina ^δ♫ 23:34, 19 December 2007 (UTC)

Not exactly. check the Recent Changes page. this topic came first chronologically.Pokemaniac102 23:36, 19 December 2007 (UTC)

No, no, I was talking about Theryguy. He said it was fixed, however he said that right after it was. :p Even though the topic came first, it was corrected. :p Tina ^δ♫ 00:23, 20 December 2007 (UTC)

Well, I told TTEchidna on AIM and then said it was fixed. Why does it matter? MERRY CHRISTMAS 00:41, 20 December 2007 (UTC)

• shrugs* Whatever. :p Tina ^δ♫ 00:47, 20 December 2007 (UTC)

Ash's Gligar

Can someone please add Ash's Gligar to the list? We also need Paul's Gliscor to be added......--Theryguy512 21:30, 24 January 2008 (UTC)

Done. TTEchidna^G_SDS! 05:20, 25 January 2008 (UTC)

Voice actors?

Okay, this is getting insane. Yes, I know Pokémon's been translated and dubbed into nearly every world language... but we can't just keep adding the people who voice Ash in every single dub. That's making an entire paragraph to itself! From his page as it stands:

"His Japanese voice actress is 松本梨香 Rica Matsumoto, his English voice actresses are Veronica Taylor (4Kids Entertainment dub) and Sarah Natochenny (Pokémon USA/TAJ Productions dub), his Brazilian voice actor is Fábio Lucindo, his Italian voice actor is Davide Garbolino, and his Spanish voice actors are Adolfo Moreno (Spain) and Gabriel Ramos (Latin America). In the first dub of The Mastermind of Mirage Pokémon he was voiced by Jamie Peacock."

Honestly? I think a reduction to just English and Japanese would be fine. It's great that we have the vocal talents of so many individuals in so many languages, but really, seriously, do we need to list them all? We have the list of voice actors, we could even link to that! Perhaps even expand the list to include other not-so-minor characters like Elite Four members and Gym Leaders. But on a character's page, spending an entire paragraph listing off every VA they've ever had in every language is just insane.

...speaking of which, the list of VAs needs to be reorganized. I say put those who voice in EP languages first, since they're far more likely to a: have an article over on their wiki so we don't have to just make a stub here, and b: I believe people would be more interested in seeing who does so in the languages of the wikis we affiliate with. The biggest problem I see is that it's huge table × huge table.

Anyway. THOUGHTS?! TTEchidna^G_SDS! 18:22, 22 February 2008 (UTC)

Well we only have the huge voice paragraphs on major characters, such as Brock, Misty, Ash, Dawn, Gary, etc. Like look at (random pick) Egan for example. He has one sentence:

His English voice actress is Amy Birnbaum and his Japanese voice actress is 柳沢三千代 Michiyo Yanagisawa.

Many minor characters have only one sentence, the big pharagraphs are only for the main characters. I think we can live with them. --Theryguy512 19:51, 22 February 2008 (UTC)

Well, still, it confuses the hell out of me when I have to go through three sentences to find who voiced character X in English because people don't wanna delete one "and" and write another, so they just put the VAs in between the English and Japanese ones. TTEchidna^G_SDS! 20:48, 23 February 2008 (UTC)

Hmm...well that's tru. I guess you're right. --Theryguy512 21:25, 23 February 2008 (UTC)

I agree that we only need Japanese and English voice actors on the character's pages. Heck, some characters we don't even have the English VA, yet we have the Brazilian/Portuguese voice actors. Maybe to compensate, we could have a list of voice actors in other languages page (actually, we kind of already do). --PAK Man ^Talk 23:10, 23 February 2008 (UTC)

Exactly. We just need to fix it up because the charting's not too good... TTEchidna^G_SDS! 23:16, 23 February 2008 (UTC)

Arbok and Weezing...

Okay, we know that Wobby and Chimecho/Mime Jr. appear in every episode, but I remember the days in which Ekans/Arbok and Koffing/Weezing were the TR mascot Pokémon. Sure, they didn't pop out of their Balls, but at least one of them was used in literally every battle until somewhere around mid-Johto... Though if they get "mascot Pokémon" status, so should Piplup. What's everyone think? TTEchidnaFire echy 03:32, 11 March 2008 (UTC)

Piplup has arguably been used as a mascot in general lately, to be sure. It and the other Sinnoh starters.--Ｌｏｖｅはドコ？ (talk • contribs) 04:31, 11 March 2008 (UTC)

Obviously. But it's out of the ball nearly all the time, too... TTEchidnaFire echy 07:11, 11 March 2008 (UTC)

APER

And by that I mean the anime Pokémon evolution rule. It says "DOESN'T HAPPEN UNTIL THE EPISODE AIRS". Well, I believe that this only applies to Pokémon, strictly for the season articles. Events from future episodes should still be listed, doesn't everyone think so? TTEchidna 00:46, 12 April 2008 (UTC)

As long as the events are confirmed and not excessively spoiler-laden, why not? - 振霖_T 00:53, 12 April 2008 (UTC)

And Pokémon ownership is not mentioned, of course. TTEchidna 00:55, 12 April 2008 (UTC)

British and Australian English

I think British and Australian englidh titles should at least redirect to their American names. eg: Alternate Colouration redirects to Alternate Coloration I am Australian, and the way it currently is, i type in Alternate Colouration ad get nothing. Edit: Okay, that's been fixed now, but i think it should still be mentioned. (GT4GTR 00:37, 17 June 2008 (UTC))

Brock's Happiny

Brock's Happiny isn't in the list... can someone add her to the list? Ej92 03:21, 21 June 2008 (UTC)

What list--KukiTalk 03:22, 21 June 2008 (UTC)

HM moves

I think it should be in the manual that HM takes an "a" not an "an". "A HM move" "An HM move" Does the latter not sound ridiculous? Bulbapedia is littered with that the incorrect use.Kanjo 14:30, 8 July 2008 (UTC)

Yeah, but it's not just in "HM." I'm a personal stickler for grammar, so I always seek stuff like that out and fix it, and it would be great for you to do the same. --ニョロトノ666 14:33, 8 July 2008 (UTC)

A HM? No one pronounces it "aych emm"? TTEchidna 00:28, 30 August 2008 (UTC)

That depends on whether one likes to pronounce as it would be written as "HM" or "Hidden Machine". I'd say that it should be "an HM"; if the article says "Hidden Machine", then use the "a" article. UltimateSephiroth ^{(user · talk · contrib)} 16:24, 22 November 2008 (UTC)

Snow way out problem

Could someone please remove the exclamation point on Snow way out because with it the link isnt working. --Hey1031 16:39, 14 September 2008 (UTC)

Actually, I fixed the problem, but the exclamation point shouldn't be removed from the title, since it is part of the title. I moved the page accordingly. ^Moldy_Orange 16:50, 14 September 2008 (UTC)

Dawn's Piplup

As much as I hate to say it, I think Piplup should now be always on the top of list. Considering I saw it's name in the credits of Message of the Wind, along with the list of human main characters, Pikachu, and Meowth, in the recent episodes. What do you guys think? Ej92 13:15, 17 September 2008 (UTC)

It got its own ending. Editorial board, your say in this? TTEchidna 06:11, 14 October 2008 (UTC)

At this point, as long as the series is considering it to be a main character, I'd say put it at the top. --PAK Man ^Talk 14:09, 14 October 2008 (UTC)

Form vs Forme

Speaking of which, why are we using the latter version? Shouldn't we be using that which is more grammatically correct? I have no idea where "forme" came from, did someone mistranslate an official source and everyone latched on to that afterwards? Frugali 06:29, 18 September 2008 (UTC)

No, "Forme" is the official name for that, for example, Deoxys' forms in Pokémon.com Dex are written as "Normal Forme", "Speed Forme", "Defense Forme", "Attack Forme". I think they will use this for Shaymin and Giratina too --Nick. 06:39, 18 September 2008 (UTC)

"Forme" is completely wrong. Someone misinterpreted a Japanese source as being an official spelling. Anything spelling it as "forme" is wrong. This whole "forme" bull**** will simply blow over with no damage done. The new form of Giratina will be known as the "Origin Form" in America, and by then this whole "forme" argument will have been long since forgotten. --Shiningpikablu252 15:14, 18 September 2008 (UTC)

At least for Deoxys is official... --Nick. 04:19, 1 October 2008 (UTC)

I oppose

Lists of Pokémon in other articles:
"Unless there is a specific reason to order them otherwise, lists of Pokémon should be sorted according to their National Dex number."

I oppose that. No wait, I strongly oppose that. You wanna know why? Well, say you disconnect Rhydon and Rhyperior from being next to each other. If you do that, people who don't know much about Pokémon may not know that Rhydon and Rhyperior are related. We don't want that, do we? --Baby G (talk to me) (see my edits) 01:09, 1 October 2008 (UTC)

It's not gonna change. It's in National Dex order everywhere! Changing it would be the stupidest thing I have ever seen in my life, besides your antics. Porygon-Z 01:17, 1 October 2008 (UTC)

You think I'm stupid?! I never said anything to you! What the HELL?! --Baby G (talk to me) (see my edits) 01:20, 1 October 2008 (UTC)

I said that what you do is stupid. I didn't say you were stupid. Porygon-Z 01:22, 1 October 2008 (UTC)

How exactly are my actions stupid? I've added information about the Pokémon Platinum move tutors, and you think my edits are stupid? --Baby G (talk to me) (see my edits) 01:24, 1 October 2008 (UTC)

Why no response?! --Baby G (talk to me) (see my edits) 01:39, 1 October 2008 (UTC)

Possibly because people live in different time zones, and he probably already went to bed. And, why should the one good thing you do justify all the bad things you do? ^Moldy_Orange 01:45, 1 October 2008 (UTC)

When have I done any bad things? --Baby G (talk to me) (see my edits) 01:46, 1 October 2008 (UTC)

hmm... a quick look at my talk page, and other admins' talk pages, as well as various places on the archives shows what the bad things you have done: there are too many to list here, if you want to know them, look in the places specified. ^Moldy_Orange 01:56, 1 October 2008 (UTC)

This is getting irrelevant to the purpose of this discussion. Let's get back to the purpose, okay? --Baby G (talk to me) (see my edits) 01:58, 1 October 2008 (UTC)

Many lists allow for a specific reason. Abilities give that specific reason. What else do you wanna list by evofamily? TTEchidna 02:46, 1 October 2008 (UTC)

Because by not putting Rhydon and Rhyperior next to each other, it might make some people unaware of the fact that they're related. --Baby G (talk to me) (see my edits) 20:29, 1 October 2008 (UTC)

Who cares if someone doesn't think that they're related? If they really want to know, they can click on the link and go find out themselves--RexRacer -talk 20:35, 1 October 2008 (UTC)

Bulbapedia should be as descriptive as possible. Therefore, we don't wanna get people confused and have to make them look at a different page to rid the confusion. --Baby G (talk to me) (see my edits) 20:37, 1 October 2008 (UTC)

Sorting by ndex number is an easily-followed standard. Sorting by evolution family makes sense, yes, but there's no real "official" way to do it. I'd suspect it'd just cause confusion. --((Marton imos)) 23:15, 1 October 2008 (UTC)

Actually, evofamily standard would just put the new evos/prevos by the first member of their family introduced, like in the list of Pokémon by evolution family I spent forever putting together way back when... TTEchidna 06:12, 14 October 2008 (UTC)

Anime Pokémon links

Why should we link to redirects with anime Pokémon links? For example, if we wanted to talk about Ash's Grotle when it was a Turtwig, why should we link to Ash's Turtwig instead of Ash's Grotle? We could always do it like this:

[[Ash's Grotle|Turtwig]]

Or like this:

[[Ash's Grotle|Ash's Turtwig]]

See? We can say "Ash's Turtwig" and avoid a redirect link. So, why should we link to redirects with anime Pokémon? ^Chocolate 16:09, 22 November 2008 (UTC)

Bump. UltimateSephiroth ^{(user · talk · contrib)} 21:32, 24 November 2008 (UTC)

Because when you hover over it then it displays what it becomes. Someone who only watched the end of Johto doesn't want to be looking through the article on EP265 and see Ash's Donphan in the tooltip. Plus, it's a pain to do and just adds more bytes to the page which can be solved with a redirect. If you guys would understand: REDIRECTS AREN'T EVIL in most instances, especially one created by a link template. Is Ash ever going to catch another Charmander? Signs point to no. We may rethink it if Tauros ever evolves, but I put the chance of that happening at about 1%. TTEchidna 00:25, 14 December 2008 (UTC)

Thanks for clarifying this, though I think you got the image that both of us were against the current way it is done :P UltimateSephiroth ^{(about me · chat · edits)} 00:48, 14 December 2008 (UTC)

-moz-border-radius

Should we add this to the part about tables, as it is now part of the standards?--Mew a.k.a. Prmatt11 at 18:19, 16 March 2009 (UTC)

Hah, even though the entire manual is outdated and being remade. ^Maverick_Nate 19:05, 16 March 2009 (UTC)

(edit conflict) I think for general tables, we don't need to make a note; the rounded corners are mainly a standard in templates, which aren't created often enough to really need a style guide. We still use the normal table style for simple tables in articles, like on Nature. -- Jïörüjï Ðērākō.>.cнаt^ 19:06, 16 March 2009 (UTC)

I use Safari and I think that we should also add "-webkit-border-radius" as it is not biased against any other browser besides Firefox. Pan·da·mo·ni·a 00:48, 23 April 2009 (UTC)

Bringing up Pandamonia's comment, this page should help in finding borders.--Mew a.k.a. Immewnity was here at 00:03, 24 October 2009 (UTC)

Upgrade ahoy

Yeah we're finally getting around to breaking this iceberg up so the users can pick and choose which parts to read without being confronted by a wall of text. TTEchidna 04:28, 6 June 2009 (UTC)

Pokémon redirects

Should Pokémon redirects (like Remoraid) be changed to have TCG groups on them as have the redirect pages like Eevee? It would help when searching for a specific Pokémon's card. --エルレイド 05:15, 26 June 2009 (UTC)

Redirect

Does it matter if there is a redirect on the Manual of Style? It has a link to Bulbapedia Shortlinks, which redirects to Bulbapedia:List of link templates. --♫Green♫ギャラドス♫Talk♫ 15:32, 8 October 2009 (UTC)

Dawn's Piplup

Piplup needs to be removed from Dawn's section and put into the top section like Pikachu, Togepi, Mime Jr., etc are. --HoennMaster 22:02, 30 October 2009 (UTC)

Updated Party!

Hey admins, I think Ash's Gible, Monferno, Infernape, Grotle and Torterra should be added in the Ash's Pokémon just like others. Thank you. --♫♪AdyNiz♪♫ 18:09, 30 March 2010 (UTC)

Interlanguage Links

What is missing here is a section on interlanguage links. Is there any preferred order? Like, for example, alphabetically ordered by the language prefixes (de, es, fr, ja, pl, pt)?--Afrael ^talk 12:09, 5 April 2010 (UTC)

Yes, alphabetical order is what happens. If they aren't in that order, Bulbabot ends up fixing them. ^Maverick_Nate 13:34, 5 April 2010 (UTC)

Pokégear

In the section Bulbapedia:Manual of style#Nouns, capitalization, and specific terminology, it tells users to use PokéGear as the capitalization, when the correct form is Pokégear. PokéNav could be used instead for a camelcase example. --SnorlaxMonster 07:38, 7 April 2010 (UTC)

Done, thanks. —darklordtrom 11:20, 7 April 2010 (UTC)

Quick question

When quoting a line from the games, should I copy it letter for letter or should I reformat it to meet the style standards? Example: "Hey! You have POKéMON! Come on! Let's battle'em!" Should I remove the all-caps on "POKéMON"? This would, of course, apply to almost every proper noun quoted in the early RPGs ("TEAM ROCKET", "FISSURE", "CASCADEBADGE"). And should I render the last words as "battle'em" or "battle 'em" (with the space) or "battle'em [sic]"? Thanks for the help. --MaskedFalcon 14:38, 5 May 2010 (UTC)

If it's a direct quote from the games, you should quote it exactly, regardless of grammar issues. -- Jïörüjï Ðērākō.>.cнаt^ 16:44, 5 May 2010 (UTC)

Capitals however we just spell them like every other proper noun; the item template's description is a good example... they're direct quotes from the games but Gen I-III have the ALLCAPS written like a regular proper noun. ▫▪Ťïňắ ^♫♥ 17:14, 5 May 2010 (UTC)

So it's "Hey! You have Pokémon! Come on! Let's battle'em!" I actually would prefer rendering the early-gen quotes exactly, all-caps and all, but I'll defer to y'all's judgment. The guidelines for quoting the games should probably be put in the Manual, also. --MaskedFalcon 16:16, 16 May 2010 (UTC)

update?

the pokemon list needs to be updated from the most recent japanese episode right?

it only goes up to before gliscor was release (Ataro 22:55, 25 June 2010 (UTC))

There are plenty of other parts in the MoS that need to be updated. We'll work on it. TTEchidna 23:17, 25 June 2010 (UTC)

IMP0RTANT ERR0R!!11!!!1!!

In Formatting preferences section, Routes' linking haven't been updated. If you don't update it, n00bs link routes wrong!--でんのう ☢ Zえんし 15:45, 25 August 2010 (UTC)

Nouns, capitalization, and specific terminology also links to Routes using the old way. --SnorlaxMonster 08:22, 26 August 2010 (UTC)

Nate got the first one earlier, I just did the second one. Werdnae (talk) 09:04, 26 August 2010 (UTC)

updates to episode article section?

I believe the MoS needs to be updated to the BW series? Even though the English names have not been released, I'm sure it will be useful to have them here then translate them later? (if im not wrong its Ash-Misty-May-Dawn-Iris-Brock-Tracey-Dent-Jessie-James?)
---> AquaDragon 09:08, 8 December 2010 (UTC)

Although this should have been done a long time ago, done. --SnorlaxMonster 10:31, 24 February 2011 (UTC)

Piplup

DP may be over, but Piplup has not yet been moved from Dawn's Pokémon to "Always on Top". --HoennMaster 22:25, 4 January 2011 (UTC)

Although this should have been done a long time ago, done. --SnorlaxMonster 10:31, 24 February 2011 (UTC)

Update

The anime Pokémon list needs to be updated. I propose the order go: Ash-Misty-May-Dawn-Iris-Brock-Tracey-Cilan-Jessie-James. Ash's Monferno, Grotle, Torterra, Infernape, Gible, Quilava, Pidove, Oshawott, Tepig, Snivy, Scraggy (Zuruggu for one more week), and Sewaddle, Dawn's Togekiss and Quilava, Iris's Axew and Excadrill, Brock's Chansey, Cilan's Pansage and Dwebble (Ishizumai), and Jessie's Woobat need to be added. Trip's Pokémon should probably also be added.--Trebligoniqua 05:42, 24 February 2011 (UTC)

Updated. It seems that this list hadn't been updated for a very long time. --SnorlaxMonster 10:26, 24 February 2011 (UTC)

Contractions

May I suggest that use of contractions be avoided in articles (outside of quotes, of course)? They are very casual-sounding, and very non-encyclopaedic.--Trebligoniqua 05:52, 24 February 2011 (UTC)

I think that that might be a good idea. I personally prefer not having contractions and in most cases would advise against them in articles, I don't think we should make it a policy or anything. A mention in here may be a good idea. --SnorlaxMonster 10:26, 24 February 2011 (UTC)

Scientific names

This has bothered me for quite sometime now. Knowing that anyone who took biology classes would know that scientific names should be italicized (or at least written differently from the other text). These names usually appear in the name origin section, and not a lot of people would seem to bother to italicize them. May I suggest a rule for this. I mean, we do have rules on romanizations, so why not this? --神智の超龍「對話」 14:18, 24 February 2011 (UTC)

A couple of things...

1. Trip's Pokémon use their Japanese names and are causing redirects
2. There's some random ${\displaystyle }$ coding below the bulleted lists and it looks way out of place. Anyone?

たかはりい 09:50, 28 February 2011 (UTC)

Ooh, one more thing I didn't notice before: The images still use the [[Image: extension instead of [[File: たかはりい 10:02, 28 February 2011 (UTC)

Paul's Starly

Paul has captured tree Starly in dp002 i think. He released al tree of them.--Nazirbashir 06:52, 22 April 2011 (UTC)

Iris's Emolga

Should update this into the manual of style? :--SuperAipom7 (Questions?) 13:51, 28 April 2011 (UTC)

Looks like it's done already. :--SuperAipom7 (Questions?) 01:06, 7 May 2011 (UTC)

Evolutionary Stages

Why exactly are the TCG terms frowned upon (e.g. basic Pokémon, 1st stage Pokémon etc.)? They seem less cumbersome than the (fan-made) terms 1st evolution, 2nd evolution etc. The article states that the problem was that Pikachu would be a basic Pokémon by TCG standards and yet has already evolved once...and what? I always took "Basic" to mean an unevolved Pokémon, excluding evolutions from the baby stage. I mean, I'm not a proper TCG fan but that seems to be the relationship between Basic & Baby Pokémon. I just think it would be better to use actual canon terminology for stages of evolution.Green Zubat 18:36, 22 June 2011 (UTC)

Updates

Can someone remove the link to Paul's Drapion? Drapion no longer has its own page so that link isn't needed. Also, Vanillite, Timburr, and Gurdurr need to be added to Trip's section. Thanks. --HoennMaster 15:40, 26 July 2011 (UTC)

Iris's Axew

Can someone put her Axew on the article and link it to it's page. Truthseeker4449 21:54, 27 July 2011 (UTC)

It's actually already there, under "Always on top". --SnorlaxMonster 11:46, 28 July 2011 (UTC)

Meowth example of naming conventions

I noticed the line in the Naming Conventions section "Therefore, the article Meowth will not redirect to Meowth (Pokémon)", which is rather odd since that's exactly what it does. Just wanted to point out the contradiction. Shashakiro 16:15, 10 March 2012 (UTC)

That's because that's the way it used to be, but we decided that was rather unnecessary, so now the disambiguations are located at Meowth (disambiguation) etc. We just forgot to update this page, although now it has. --SnorlaxMonster 02:17, 11 March 2012 (UTC)

Question about wikicode

I am not sure where I am supposed to put this, so I will ask it here. When I am typing on an article's talk page, how can I go to the next line? If I press Enter like every other text field, the cursor on the text box goes to the next line, but when I save the text it appears on the same line. How can this be fixed? Tk3141 03:00, 19 March 2012 (UTC)

Do you mean indenting? If so, you just put a colon (:) before your comment.--ForceFire 03:06, 19 March 2012 (UTC)

No, I knew how to indent. What I meant is that when I press enter, the text box goes to the next line, but when I save the text, it doesn't go to the next line. Tk3141 13:11, 19 March 2012 (UTC)

That's easy. All you have to do is to add <br> or {{-}} after the text. This would break the line. Pokégeek 13:18, 19 March 2012 (UTC)

Alternately, leave a blank line between your paragraphs rather than just starting on a new line.

Like this. --SnorlaxMonster 13:20, 19 March 2012 (UTC)

Let me test that...

It seems to work. Thanks. Tk3141 00:42, 20 March 2012 (UTC)

Japanese in tooltips

I'm seeing a row of squares on any tooltip which is supposed to display Japanese text. It seems to be a problem affecting both Chrome and IE. It affects things like the Party template, as can be seen for example on White Treehollow's boss trainers list. Digifiend (talk) 15:12, 4 November 2012 (UTC)

Do you have the Japanese pack thingy installed? What system are you running? Version of IE? Version of Chrome? What about Japanese text not in tooltips? --Abcboy (talk) 15:15, 4 November 2012 (UTC)

Talk Pages

I'm still new to Bulbapedia. How do you indent your response on the talk pages when answering someone's question? Aggron989 (talk) 23:38, 13 December 2012 (UTC)

You indent by adding a colon : before the first word of your comment. The number of colons added should be one greater than the amount in the previous talk page section comment. ㄱ쉰 G50 23:44, 13 December 2012 (UTC)

Thank you! I couldn't find it on the manual of style. Aggron989 (talk) 00:45, 14 December 2012 (UTC)

It's listed on the Wikicode page under indents. ㄱ쉰 G50 00:51, 14 December 2012 (UTC)

Minor Edits?

I'm new to editing pages, and I was wondering, what counts as a "minor edit" and what does that classification even affect? Because it seems all of my edits are quite minor (adding/deleting/formatting a sentence or two, fixing minor spelling/grammar mistakes, etc.) but I don't know where to draw the line as "minor". Thanks in advance. Whitsoxrule (talk) 06:23, 27 December 2012 (UTC)

There is no strict definition; it is up to the user if they think it classifies as minor. Relinking, spelling and grammar fixes, and section reordering are generally considered minor, whereas if you restructure an an entire sentence or two it probably isn't. There is a grey area where it is perfectly acceptable to go either way. There is no punishment for incorrectly flagging edits as minor (although you might get a nudge if you rewrite an entire article and flag it as minor). --SnorlaxMonster 07:21, 27 December 2012 (UTC)

Thanks. But what does the "minor edit" classification even affect? Does it get put on some list somewhere or what? Whitsoxrule (talk) 08:23, 27 December 2012 (UTC)

Really, not much. Some users prefer not to bother reading minor edits, and there is an option to hide all minor edits in the recent changes. --SnorlaxMonster 09:13, 27 December 2012 (UTC)

Plural Pokémon names

This says that the plural form of all Pokémon names are the same as their singular forms. However, in EP001, Ash uses "Spearows" as the plural for "Spearow" when referring to the flock that is chasing both himself and Pikachu. - unsigned comment from Mangaman13 (talk • contribs)

That's called an error. Ataro (talk) 00:16, 27 November 2013 (UTC)

Words with multiple spellings

Does Bulbapedia have any guidelines for words with multiple spellings that are equally correct, such as "canceled" and "cancelled"? AGGRON989 23:25, 10 December 2013 (UTC)

Whichever is used in the Pokémon games should be used (US English is the default). In RBY, C, RS, FRLG and HGSS, "canceled" is used (other games not checked, but that much consistency indicates other games also likely do so). --SnorlaxMonster 04:03, 11 December 2013 (UTC)

Oxford Comma

What's Bulbapedia's policy on the Oxford Comma? -- EnosShayrem_talk 01:58, 15 January 2014 (UTC)

Could have sworn this was already there (but it's not). Usage of the serial comma is generally preferred. --SnorlaxMonster 08:48, 20 January 2014 (UTC)

Plural

Because "persons" is the wrong plural, will anyone change the plural to "people"? --Cinday123 (Talk) 04:14, 20 January 2014 (UTC)

It is not necessarily wrong. Tiddlywinks (talk) 07:49, 20 January 2014 (UTC)

Oh, thank you for letting me know, I think "persons" might be right, not "people" so that's true. --Cinday123 (Talk) 08:53, 20 January 2014 (UTC)

Verb Tense

Should articles be written in the past or present verb tense? This article's plot summary switches between the two and it's not clear which one should be used. AGGRON989 19:06, 22 January 2014 (UTC)

While I've seen it done both ways, articles should definitely not be switching between the two. I noticed that neither this or the Anime Manual of Style mentioned the preferred tense. I'll talk to Kenji-girl and the other Editorial Board members about getting this added. --Pokemaster97 19:17, 22 January 2014 (UTC)

x is a y-type

In a Sandstorm's Gates to Infinity descriptions, it states "the Sp. Def of Rock types goes up.". This would mean that things like "Charmander is a Fire-type" are incorrect, but things like "Charmander is a Fire type" are correct. In this case, "Fire type"/"Fire-type" is a noun anyway. You don't say adjectives after "is a(n)", you use nouns (e.g. "He is a runner" instead of "He is a running"). Pikachu Bros. (talk) 15:44, 3 April 2014 (UTC)

You are almost entirely correct and in agreement with the "Nouns, capitalization, and specific terminology" section of the MoS. The only issue is that you said "Fire-type" is a noun, when it is not; it's exclusively an adjective, which is why "Charmander is Fire-type" is correct but "Charmander is a Fire-type" is incorrect. --SnorlaxMonster 07:15, 4 April 2014 (UTC)

Spelling/numerals for numbers

I more or less understand that this site is supposed to follow a "professional" style. However, I think judicious exceptions should be made for the fact that people do use Bulbapedia as a FAQ/walkthrough kind of resource. One of my pet peeves is the idea of "always" spelling out low numbers. IMO, numbers are often important pieces of information and deserve highlighting as numerals so they're easy for users to spot and focus on in the text.

In particular, I simply hate cases where a number can change based on circumstances, and in one of those circumstances the number is low and "should" be spelled out while in the other it's higher and "can" be in numerals; doing it like that makes it more difficult than it needs to be to pick out the different cases (I know immediately where the higher number is, but have no idea where the lower one is - possibly even that there is a lower number).

Basically, my question is this: is the spelling out of low numbers (currently) a hard rule that should be followed on Bulbapedia, or is it flexible? And if it is (currently) a rule to follow, could the possibility of allowing exceptions be considered?

Tiddlywinks (talk) 22:44, 26 April 2014 (UTC)

It turns out Wikipedia advocates using a single style for "comparable" numbers, as seen in the Numbers section of their Manual of Style (the third bullet point below "Notes and exceptions"). This is basically the special situation I described above. We could certainly do worse than to follow Wikipedia's example... Tiddlywinks (talk) 23:19, 26 April 2014 (UTC)

If this question has caught staff attention, might someone be so kind as to at least say as much? I really want to know the answer to this question, and I hate when people can only say we "usually" spell out small numbers. "Usually" does not strictly indicate a well-considered conclusion. Tiddlywinks (talk) 03:29, 30 April 2014 (UTC)

I don't know what stylebooks Bulbapedia tends to go by, as it seems kind of based on admins' whimsy, but for what it's worth, the relevant passages from the AP Stylebook: "Numerals In general, spell out one through nine ... Use figures for 10 and above ... Times: Spell out numbers less than 10 standing alone and in modifiers: I'll be there in five minutes. ... An eight-hour day. The two-minute warning." APA agrees with AP that it should be one through nine spelled out, 10 and above in figures. MLA (same link as APA) agrees with you that parallel units should use parallel writing styles. I can't find a solid source on Chicago style, but Googling seems to suggest that it spells out everything from 99 and below, which is completely against Bulbapedia style (as virtually any pageview can make clear) so that's a moot point. Strunk and White don't seem to have a specific rule about it in The Elements of Style, so that's another moot point. Those are all the major professional stylebooks I can think of. Just throwing all this information out there so the staff has more data with which to make an informed decision. Pumpkinking0192 (talk) 06:17, 30 April 2014 (UTC)

As for my view, there are some places where spelling out small numbers will look awkward. Examples include levels, quantities marked as "x#", route numbers, and card numbers. Also, I agree there has to be parallel writing styles; otherwise, a page may appear confusing as to what style is best. I'll see what the rest of the staff thinks. Berrenta (talk) 15:25, 30 April 2014 (UTC)

I pretty much agree with the above as far as for a general rule of thumb, one through nine should be spelt out, ten and higher should use figures. However I'm also a bit flexible on this rule and wouldn't mind to see that number extended up to twenty, this is with stand alone numbers of course. When it comes to the nitty gritty though, WP:MOSNUM is a good stand in as a professional resource. This isn't to say as stated by Berrenta there are exceptions to the rule, we aren't going to go around changing Route 1 to Route One and we aren't going to change XY001 to XYOne. Some instances just have to work off a case by case basis, as far as the Berry Fields page, I agree the numbers should be in numeral form as we spell out 24, as in line with point three in WP:MOSNUM. --Spriteit (talk) 00:06, 1 May 2014 (UTC)

Copyright?

Is it acceptable to add small tidbits of information to Bulbapedia that have been researched from another site but not copied word-for-word, as long as a citation is used? AGGRON989 20:16, 5 December 2014 (UTC)

yes. --Valehd (tAlk) 22:44, 1 February 2015 (UTC)

As long as it's not another fansite, then yes.--ForceFire 02:34, 2 February 2015 (UTC)

Are Quotes allowed?

I added a quote to the start of the Ashachu page. Is this alright? --CTBMC (talk) 20:25, 31 January 2015 (UTC)

We don't put quotes at the start of pages, as is occasionally seen on other wikis. --SnorlaxMonster 04:31, 1 February 2015 (UTC)

Two things

First of all, under the Nouns, capitalization, and specific terminology section, it lists DeepSeaTooth as an example of correct formatting, but as of Gen VI, isn't that incorrect? This was the only issue I noticed but there might be more.

Also, use of the serial comma was brought up earlier on this talk page, but it still isn't mentioned on the page itself. Could a mention of it be added somewhere? slimey01 21:09, 11 August 2015 (UTC)

Why aren't titles formatted here?

I don't understand why the titles of games (among other things) aren't italicized on Bulbapedia. According to the Chicago Manual of Style (which is roughly what is used on most Wikis), like movies, the name or title of a game should be italicized, eg. "Pokémon Yellow" (See: The Chicago Manual of Style Online: Internet, Web, and Other Post-Watergate Concerns). This also extends to the titles as displayed in Heading 1 of their articles. DKqwerty (talk) 16:15, 18 March 2016 (UTC)

Edits in advance

Is there any rule as to how far beforehand certain info can be added? For instance, with the newly announced Pokémon Generations series, would one be free to go ahead and update character articles with "[CHARACTER] will make an appearance in Pokémon Generations, they are seen in the trailer doing this..."? TheFatPanda (talk) 15:37, 13 September 2016 (UTC)

What's the deal with the order types are listed in?

Everywhere on this wiki seems to use the same order for the listing of types (normal, fighting, flying, poison..). Other than the original physical types followed by the original special types, this order seems arbitrary. It doesn't seem to be written down as official bulbapedia practice from what I can tell, either. Official guides and manuals use the normal, fire, water, electric.. order, which makes this even more odd since everything (except EVs...) on this wiki uses official terminology. What is the meaning behind this order, and why is it used over the official type order? Gibraltar (talk) 19:25, 27 March 2017 (UTC)

Pokémon Sun and Moon and previous games use the Normal, Fighting, Flying, etc. order. Regardless of whether the order is officially used, the order isn't important enough to warrant changing it just because the newest material uses a different order. --Abcboy (talk) 19:45, 27 March 2017 (UTC)

The order Bulbapedia uses is also the internal order of the types in the Pokémon games. --SnorlaxMonster 09:05, 28 March 2017 (UTC)

IPA pronunciations

Is there any -reason why IPA pronunciation guides aren't/ shouldn't used? It could be useful information. Haream (talk) 03:45, 13 February 2018 (UTC)

This may give you an answer. Pumpkinking0192 (talk) 03:51, 13 February 2018 (UTC)