These are some tips to keep in mind when editing the Mount and Blade Wiki.
- Watch your spelling
While spelling and grammar are not high priorities in many places across the internet, this wiki must abide by a higher standard. If your browser supports spell check, use it. If not, it is advisable to copy and paste your edits into a program such as Microsoft Word which has this feature. Do not form a dependence on spell check though, spell checks might not inform you if you spell a word correctly, but use it out of context. For instance, Cavalry ride into battle, Calvary is where Jesus was crucified.
- The game overrules the above
If the game spells something a certain way and your spell check flags it, go by the game. Generally speaking, this most noticeably applies to the games themselves, they are called Mount&Blade, not Mount and Blade (ignore the name of this wiki, that is the exception). Another example to note is the Traveller, which is a regional spelling difference. Also note the case of Honor versus Honour, in which both are correct spelling (depending on which country you live in) and both spellings are, in fact, used in the game. To determine which to use, go by how it has already been used in that article, if it hasn't been used yet, pick whichever one you want to use.
- First person experiences
Your personal experiences may have allowed you to develop an effective tactic, and perhaps it is worth including in an article. When doing so, do not write your article in the first person; "I slew 20 men single-handedly", or especially as personal conjecture; "I think I could kill 20 men single-handedly". Include only the facts and leave yourself out of the text; "This strategy potentially allows the player to kill 20 men single-handedly". If you want to share your opinions, consider writing a blog or visit the forums.
- Opinions and absolutes
A wiki is about presenting the facts, although it may also include possibilities. Personal experiences that are not based on raw facts etched in stone can still be helpful, for example, a certain ratio of ranged, mounted, and melee troops that have proven effective in a given scenario. This presents the temptation to include first person experiences as mentioned above, but also delves into the realm of opinion. Just because a particular ratio of troops always works for one player does not mean it is the best, claiming it as such is both an opinion and an absolute. Opinions can be difficult to hold back, but they must be written as possibilities, not fact. Absolutes are making an "if then" argument that is not certain. It should never be stated that playing one way ("if") will ensure a particular outcome ("then") as long as it is possible, even if difficult, to achieve another outcome. Even if a majority of players agree on an opinion, it cannot be called fact, rather should be written something like, "it is commonly thought" or "it is usually regarded as".
- Picture uploads
When uploading a picture, you should give it an accurately descriptive title so it isn’t difficult for other editors to find and use. If you upload a picture of King Harlaus riding into battle, don’t call it something unrecognizable like "mb29.jpg", or extremely long like "King_harlaus_in_battle_mount_and_blade_screenshot_29.jpg" when "King_harlaus_in_battle.jpg" would work just as well. You are free to upload your own pictures unrelated to the Mount&Blade series for use on your user page, when doing so, it would be helpful if you would also take the time to categorize it by editing the image and adding "[[Category:User images]]" to it.
- You do not own wiki property
Creating a new article is great, we not only welcome new content, we encourage it. However, do not expect your article to remain untouched by other editors. If an article can be improved, it should be improved, whether by the original author, another user, or even an anonymous IP. If an article you created was made worse by other users, start a discussion on its respective talk page and see if a compromise can be worked out with civil negotiations, you may be pleased to find out the world is not ganging up against you (obvious vandalism is an exception and should be reverted immediately). Note that your user page may be considered something akin to personal space, and other users should not mess with it, but if you place offensive content on it, you may quickly discover not only did you not own full rights to that page, you could also have earned yourself a suspension.
- Inserting trivia
Be very careful concerning the addition of trivia to articles. If the trivia is coincidence, speculative, or off topic, it does not belong here. To be acceptable, trivia needs to be completely relevant to the subject at hand. For example, "Find God or monks" is an anagram of "Kingdom of Nords", but is completely irrelevant, or to say "Lord Clais may have been based on Gerard Butler" is completely speculative; neither are acceptable trivia and would be removed. Noting that Asugan Castle and Lord Asugan share a name is acceptable trivia, as the subject is undeniable fact and can easily be witnessed within the context of the game.
- Use of abbreviations
Wiki articles are not supposed to be summaries, and do not need to be written for quick and easy reading. Overuse of abbreviations, especially in the case where a casual reader will not understand, is unadvisable. Abbreviations should be used sparingly and generally only when it would be used in common English. For instance, it is very tempting to shorten Mount&Blade down to just M&B, but this practice should be avoided except in the case of tables, lists, or other locations aside from the main text body. As another example, many role-playing games make use of the iconic letters HP, however, nowhere does Mount&Blade refer to life as HP or Health Points, people new to the genre may not understand what it even means. It is below the standards of the wiki to be grammatically lazy.