Wikipedia:Version 1.0 Editorial Team/Style guide
Style guide 1.0 is, as far as we are aware, the first project which discusses the effects of the upcoming printed version of Wikipedia, Version 1.0, on Wikipedia style guidelines. This project was created after discussion at the Village Pump (Policy), reproduced on the talk page. We will list here any requests or concerns of the Wikimedia Foundation and the publisher of the printed encyclopedia which seem to vary from current style consensus on Wikipedia. This also may be a source of useful information for editors who are interested in getting approval for bots that involve style standardization, since bots may be a part of the discussion here. Other than that, the scope of this project is limited to those discussions about style guidelines for which no consensus has been reached, and for which consensus might be reached when the issues surrounding the printed version of Wikipedia are taken into account.
Concerns of the Wikimedia Foundation and publisher
Many people, including Jimbo (see the old Thread on Wikipedia 1.0 Paper plus), have previously assumed that it's a good idea for the printed and online versions of Wikipedia to stay largely synchronized. Basically, the argument is that storing roughly the same information in two different places using two different sets of rules is a Very Bad Thing: people have to learn to keep separate sets of rules straight, people think they're referring to one when they meant the other, the data gets out of sync and therefore pulls down the credibility of both, and it's an order of magnitude more work to update the data both places and continually check the two lists against each other.
We are planning to get feedback from the publisher during an upcoming online chat (date, time and channel to be announced).
Style-standardization bots
None under discussion at this time.
How to add an issue to this project page
In order to add an issue for consideration by this project, discuss it first on the project talk page, and only add the issue when there is consensus agreement with the following:
- Does the issue concern a matter of formatting or look-and-feel, not language, which is normally standardized in printed encyclopedias, but which does not seem to follow any standard format among articles which are likely to be included in the printed Version 1.0?
- Have you already had a long discussion about it on a relevant style guidelines talk page that could not reach consensus? Administrators may be able to help you decide whether or not consensus was reached. One or two opponents, or many opponents who don't offer valid counterarguments, do not in general constitute a failure to achieve consensus.
- Is the issue one that a large majority of editors don't feel strongly about, either because there is a commonly accepted style that most agree to, or because it just doesn't seem that important? In general, we're looking for "boring" issues here: where the period goes, where the line breaks. If standards really do differ from one subject area to another or one country to another, or if people really do feel strongly about it, then there is no reason for all Wikipedia articles to be conformed to whatever standards are followed in the printed encyclopedia.
Current issues within the scope of this project
None at this time.