American Girl Wiki:Article Creation

Overview

New articles are the way the Wiki grows. However, each article needs to be well done. Every new article should have a strong backbone and outline for new editors to come in and add information, and articles that don't do this make it so much harder for people to contribute as a whole new outline must be done and the article is essentially scrapped.

Or, long story short: It doesn't matter if you are the first to create an article. It matters if you are the first to create a GOOD article. Quality Over Quantity.

Basic Rules

• All articles must have categories listed at the bottom of the pages. Most things on the wiki apply to characters or lines; there is a category for almost everything. At the bare minimum, use the character name or brand line. Use [[Category:TYPE]] to locate categories.
• Articles and descriptions of items should never consist of one or two short lines, a short list of items, or only two or three sentences . "Juan is Ana's son", "shirt and overalls and sandals and hairclip" or "Molly's green dress with white ribbons" is not an article anymore than "the dress is blue" is an article. Write a good opening paragraph and do a good setup of the article.
• Any article that is simply a copy-paste of the website descriptions will be deleted immediately. This is not intended to be a rehash of the website and doing so constitutes a copyright infringement.
• All new articles should have a basic layout in likeness to articles of a similar nature. If you're not sure, please look at other pages like the article (for example, if you are creating a character page, look at another character). While the article need not have everything, it should have sections if these are needed (and they are probably needed more than they aren't). Without this, the article will be deleted.
• All articles need an opening line or paragraph describing it as well--sections with no description don't work either.
• Any article that is simply uploading the picture to the page is NOT an article.
• Keep your personal opinions OUT of articles.
• When describing items, we require a high amount of details. As stated above, "green dress with white ribbons" is not a detailed enough description.
• Avoid opinionated words such as "cute," "soft," "gentle," or "pretty." Just the Facts.
• Avoid stating how to use things such as hair clips or purses. Use generic names when needed. "Two red elastic ponytail holders" is better than "Two Scrunchie-Os for putting her hair in pigtails."

Suggestions

• Make internal links. A page that doesn't point anywhere is a dead-end page; a page that is neither linked to nor linking to others is an orphan page. These are bad.
• If the article is short or incomplete, please put {{stub}} on the page.

Image Policies

• Catalog pictures are best in the long run, and override personal images.

• Images taken privately are to be clear, focused, and only of the item in question with a minimal of background clutter. Clothing should be complete sets without other sets and taken on a doll who is neatly dressed. Accessories and items should be taken alone. A good image can be seen on the School Jumper article.

• If you can locate good pictures of items or unique images, please upload them. However, do not take pictures that have been watermarked from other sites, such as AG Playthings. Theft of another site's images is a violation of policy and all images of such nature will be deleted.

Non-Compliant New Articles and Pictures

Any new article that does not follow the basic rules is subject to be deleted immediately with no warning.

Images that do not comply Images taken from other sites will be removed and the violator will be given a one week ban.

After two "short" articles by a user, he/she will be warned and given a one-week block; if any more articles are created that do not follow these rules, the IP or user will be banned for a minimum of one month.

For Article Creation Bans, please e-mail the admins for reinstatement.

This policy is effective immediately, including any changes.

--Nethilia