LGPedia:General style guide

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Avoid potentially dated language

Particularly on video description pages, but also in general, try to avoid using statements that are likely (or even possible) to become dated. For instance, as of this writing, Purple Monkey Returns is the only video in which someone other than Bree voices P.Monkey, but the note on this says that it is the first video, which will always be true even if a future video has someone voicing P.Monkey. Likely phrases to avoid: "the only video", "the last time", "never happened again", etc.

British vs. American spelling

American spelling variations are preferable. If there is an alternate British spelling of a word, it should only be used if found in the dialogue of a British character, such as Gemma, or most of the characters from Kate Modern.

Capitalization

For the most part, standard rules of capitalization should be followed with a few things to note:

Video Titles

The use of capitals in the title of a video should follow the capitalization on YouTube/Revver. While most lg15 videos have all words capitalized, note the correct capitalization of Grillz feat. Danielbeast, LG15, P. Monkey, and O'n.

User names

Similarly, user names should follow the same guidelines of adhering to the capitalization on the web site where they are used, e.g. Bree is lonelygirl15, not Lonelygirl15 (although both links work, see below).

Special proper names

Many terms that refer to certain specific things in the Breeniverse should be capitalized, such as the Order and the Ceremony. When in doubt, follow the style of the article page title.

LGPedia article titles

While some items should not be capitalized, they may have a page on LGPedia, and the software forces the first character to be uppercase. In such cases, ignore the capitalization of the title. Note also that the links need not be capitalized to work in such a case, e.g. bandage is equivalent to Bandage, and the former is correct.

Links

Make sure you know the difference between internal and external links and how to format them. This page should be linked to as [[LGPedia:General style guide]] and not [http://www.lonelygirl15.com/lgpedia/index.php?title=LGPedia:General_style_guide].

Internal links

Links should never go to a redirect page. Links should only go to a disambiguation page if the reference really is ambiguous. Avoid linking several times to the same page in a single article. Remember that links are case-sensitive (excepting the first character).

External links

An offsite link should never stand alone on a page, but should always be placed in a manner that makes it clear what purpose the link has. It is preferable but not necessary to format the link with text, i.e. [http://www.somerandomsite.com/article Some randoms site's article] rather than [http://www.somerandomsite.com/article]

Neutral wording on article pages

Value judgments of people and things in the Breeniverse are generally not a good idea to include in a formal article. While pretty much anything goes on a talk page, an article is not the place for comments like "I think Gemma is a bitch," or "Man, that Gemma chick is hot!" Generalized statements with non-emotionally charged language such as "After the release of this video, Gemma lost popularity with many fans," would be allowable, along with the occasional humorous picture caption like "It isn't hard for Gemma to look like a squirrel with those teeth..."

Possessives

All proper names used in the possessive form should be the spelling of the name followed by an apostrophe and an 's'. Note especially the usage for names ending in the letter 's', e.g. Jonas's not Jonas'.

Special characters

Avoid the usage of special characters like “smart quote” quote marks and apostrophes, and ellipses ("…")instead of simply three periods ("..."). Also use a double-dash ("--") in the place of an em-dash ("–").

Dates

All dates should be written using ordinal numbers rather than cardinal numbers. For example, March 9th, 2007 is correct; March 9, 2007 is not.

Video transcripts

These pages should follow a fairly uniform style, the basics of which are:

Lines of dialogue

Should be preceded by the name of the person speaking and a colon, both in bold:

 '''Bree:''' 

There should be no exceptions to this, and the following are incorrect style:

 '''Bree''':
 '''Bree (on camera):'''
 '''Bree as Purple Monkey:'''

Also, "(on camera)" would probably not normally be needed, and it would more likely be noteworthy if a person were speaking off-camera or in a voiceover.

Action descriptions

Should be written inside parentheses with the inside italicized. Correct:

 (''Bree sticks out her tongue.'')
 '''Bree:''' (''sticks out her tongue'') Daniel smells like cheese.

Don't italicize the parentheses or place the description elsewhere. Incorrect:

 ''(Bree sticks out her tongue.)''
 '''Bree (sticks out her tongue and says):''' Daniel smells like cheese.

If there is a large sequence of actions without dialogue, an inserted montage or the like, then the description should stand on its own line.

 '''Daniel:''' Wait here, Bree.

 (''Daniel leaves the room. Bree makes faces at the camera 
 while waiting for him. After about a minute, Daniel returns
 with a srynge. Bree does a double-take.'')

 '''Daniel:''' Your dad asked me to give this to you.

Video editing descriptions

In general, the official videos are edited with many cuts of dialogue. Because of this style being so prevalent, these cuts are not generally acknowledged in the transcript unless they seem to be significant. Use your best judgment. If they are noted in the transcript, follow the same guidelines as action descriptions. Avoid usage of first-person pronouns or other acknowledgment of the audience. (e.g. Avoid "We see Bree turn toward us." or "Bree tells her fans about P.Monkey's dandruff.", instead use phrases like "Bree faces the camera." and "Bree discusses simian hygiene.")