American Girl Wiki
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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.
  • With some exceptions, character articles and pages about real-world persons or fully named characters should have the DEFAULTSORT tag, so that they would be categorized by their surnames. Make sure to add {{DEFAULTSORT:Lastname, Firstname}} at the bottom of the page before the category tags, i.e. {{DEFAULTSORT:Abbott, Caroline}}
  • 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 sufficient 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.

Trivia Policy

  • Trivia should be interesting facts about the item or character in question. They may only be tangent to the actual nature of the page in question, but should have a direct relation nonetheless.
Examples:

Good trivia: Kaya's books are set in a time and place that is not technically part of America yet; at the time, some European contact had been made but the Pacific Northwest was still unclaimed by any European nation. The area did not officially become part of the US until the Oregon Country was given to the US as part of the Oregon Treaty of 1846. (From Kaya's character page)
What makes this good trivia?: This item is not about Kaya herself, but expounds on the time period of her stories. It is interesting, but has no place in the rest of Kaya's article, and as such, is placed in the Trivia section.

Poor trivia: The doll is similar in looks to Just Like You 37. (Removed from Just Like You 53.)
What makes this poor trivia?: This item is not about Just Like You 53 herself, but how she resembles another My American Girl doll. As the My AG dolls are intended to reflect various races and ethnicities and while some My AG dolls may have passing resemblance to other dolls for various reasons (ex: JLY 33's release and resemblance to the retired Nicki Fleming doll), the piece of trivia listed in this example was not noteworthy to JLY 53's article and was removed. This type of trivia should only be implemented for a significant reason (ex: JLY 51's resemblance to JLY 3's looks after JLY 3's retirement).

  • Trivia should be interesting and/or helpful. This can be tricky since "interesting" and "helpful" are somewhat subjective terms. In general, trivia that displays a non-noteworthy example of something or whose relation to the page is tenuous at best will be considered uninteresting. Trivia should give a reaction similar to "Wow! I did not know that!" from the reader. If most readers' reactions to trivia is similar to "Meh, who cares?", then it is likely not a good piece of trivia.
Examples:

Good trivia: Felicity’s low cut outfits resulted in the body fabric of the first three dolls being changed from white to skin-colored. (From Felicity Merriman (doll).)
What makes this good trivia?: This item is of great interest to people who are unaware that Samantha, Kirsten, and Molly were originally white-bodied rather than skin-colored and it gives a simple and succinct explanation for the change.

Poor trivia: [Nellie] was also the very first BFF (best friends forever) doll (Removed from Nellie O'Malley (doll).)

What makes this poor trivia?: In addition to being unprofessionally written, Nellie's character article mentions she was marketed as the first Best Friend doll by American Girl, thus making this piece of trivia redundant on Nellie's doll page and leading to its removal.

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 will be removed. 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 or five bad pictures, 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

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