Bendy Wiki:Manual of Style

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The Manual of Style is the style instruction manual that addresses the editing rules used by the Bendy Wiki in writing, titles, pages, and linking. Please read it before you edit any pages. However, make sure to observe current trends as well as these rules.

This manual will address all editing rules in an objective manner, though there will be cases where editing rules are subjective. If there are any unresolved disputes over what best applies to the editing rules of Bendy Wiki, please contact one of the admins.

Article layout

For sub-pages to show examples of how an article should look, see Category:Page templates.

Articles should generally be structured in this way, from top to bottom.

Lede

The lede is the first part of the page, serving as the introduction to the article:

  • EraIcon
    • Add the {{EraIcon}} for the top of the page. When used, an icon appeared on the far right side above the page. It is used depending on what the subject matter's continuity information is focusing on.
  • Notice template
    • Only used if the article requires management, such as expanding content, inserting missing citations, etc.
    • For a category of available notice templates, see Category:Article management templates.
  • Disambiguation
    • Add the disambig text to the top of the page. This helps users navigate their way to similarly named articles.
  • Infobox
    • A floating box with all the crucial information about the article subject. When used, it will display at the right side of the page.
    • For a category of available infobox templates, see Category:Infobox templates.
  • Quote
    • Use the {{Quote}} template. This should be a quote from or about the subject of the article.
  • Introduction
    • One or several paragraph giving a quick overview of the subject matter.
    • The first sentence of the first paragraph should always begin with the article's title in bold letters.

Body

The body is the main informative part of the page. While there are no fixed guidelines concerning the article's layout, it will differ depending on what the article is about. The most commonly used sections for the body include:

  • History
    • Includes historical information detailing backstory, lore, and events about characters and other subject matters.
    • Articles about any in-universe topics, such as characters or locations, should always be written from an in-universe perspective, as in, they should never refer to the Bendy series by name or any other real-life topics (the developers, publications, etc), except for the "Gameplay" and "Behind the scenes" sections.
    • It should always be written from an in-universe point of view, meaning for example the use of the protagonist's name rather than 'the player'.
  • Characteristics
    • Includes information describing the subject matter's physical appearance, personality/behavior, etc.
  • Gameplay
    • Includes details about enemy combat, strategies, gameplay data, item locations, etc.

Appendix

The appendix is the bottom part of the page that must contain:

  • Behind the scenes
    • Serves as a replacement for the trivia section. This section covers the subject matter's miscellaneous information, such as development history, inspirations, etc.
    • Any speculative comparisons without sources backed by developers are useless and not allowed, unless they are highly notable, like Bendy to Mickey Mouse and Boris to Goofy as both characters are from the fictional cartoon series heavily influenced by real-life early 20th century cartoons.
  • Dialogue
    • A collection of dialog speech texts from characters.
    • If the dialogue list gets too big, it may be separated out into a subpage while leaving only 5 quotes under this heading.
  • Gallery
    • A sampling of images about the subject matter.
    • If the subject has their own image category, a link to it can be provided here.
    • If there are too many images to add, you may create a gallery sub-page for this subject. For a full guide of using images, see the "Gallery pages" section.
      • To avoid bloating up the part of the page, the page's gallery should be limited to over 10 official images for this section.
  • In other languages
    • A table that lists the article's names in different languages beside English.
    • Do not add this section if the article is using a conjectural title.
    • We use official translated names from other languages, as long as they are sourced from subtitles, books, etc.
    • All known official non-English languages used for the Bendy series include:
      • Chinese (Simplified)
      • French
      • German
      • Italian
      • Japanese
      • Portuguese (Brazil)
      • Russian
      • Spanish (Spain)
      • Ukrainian
  • See also
    • Use this section to link articles that were closely related to the subject matter of this article. For example, the Ink Demon article is closely related to the Bendy article due to the former being based on the original character.
  • Notes
    • Use the {{Notelist}} template here. This will produce a list of all notes in the article. To make a note, use the {{Note}} template.
    • Notes can be used to explain further details about specific issues relating to the article where it would be inappropriate to do so within the main sections.
  • References
    • Use the {{Reflist}} template here. This will produce a list of all citations within the article. For a full guide of using citations, see the "Citations" section.
  • Navbox
    • At the bottom of the page, place the appropriate navbox(es) under this heading.
    • For a category of available navbox templates, see Category:Navigation templates.
  • Display title
    • To modify the articles' names without redirecting, add {{DISPLAYTITLE:"Page name"}} under the navbox template.
  • Default sort
    • Add {{DEFAULTSORT:"Letter/symbol"}} to further keep the categories' page lists organized.
  • Interlanguage link
    • Add an interlanguage link if it has an Italian equivalent. To do this you should write [[it:"Name of the Italian page"]].
  • Categories

Uploading files

When uploading new files, please add summary description and put the files in their correct category. If a category does not yet exist, you may create it. You can find all existing categories here:

Please try to give files sensible titles. Uploading files with the title 56744asfd7asf657af.png, image.jpg, or video.mp4 is unhelpful and less easier to navigate. Do not upload files that serve no use for the articles.

Images

  • Make sure to upload screenshots or any images in 'jpg' or 'png' type, not 'webp' or other file types.
    • If you already saved a webp file but still wanting to upload it for articles, please first convert your files to 'jpg' or 'png' by using CloudConvert.

Audio files

  • When uploading audio clips from the game files, please make sure they are only used for audio log pages, music track pages, and character dialogue subpages. The wiki does not permit other sound files to be uploaded, excluding the unused and removed sounds for the scrapped content pages.
  • Make sure to only upload audio files in 'ogg' type instead of 'mp3' or 'wav'.

Videos

  • Upload trailers and other official videos in 'mp4' type only, rather than uploading YouTube links, as trying to insert YouTube links in the video gallery section does not work.
  • To convert YouTube videos to mp4 files, use TubeMP4.

Renders

Renders are model images of anything from the Bendy series, from characters to items, and they are mainly used as infobox images. Keep in mind that the renders, while using official models from the games, are not made by official developers but rather by the wiki's contributors. It also has a set of rules:

  • They must be at the highest quality.
  • Like other files, summary descriptions must be added to credit the render creators.

Officialism

This wiki is for the official Bendy franchise created by Joey Drew Studios Inc, meaning anything officially related to it may have an article on this wiki.

Fanon

Anything fan-related should be kept to an absolute minimum. This includes most but not limited to: Fanart, fan fiction, fan theories, fan games, OCs (fan-made characters), and even bootleg merchandise. The only exceptions are the winning fanarts from the official Bendy fanart contest but they were only used for this specific page.

Theories and speculations

To keep the wiki as authentic as possible, any speculations and theories should not be placed anywhere in the articles unless they were backed up by a source from the official developers.

Canon

For a wiki guide to the Bendy series' canon while editing articles, see Bendy Wiki:Canon.

Writing style

American English

This wiki is written in professional modern English, founded from the United States of America. The Bendy franchise is developed in Canada, but the American spelling usage is more common in this country so please use this form of English when writing articles.

Cultural slang should be avoided. For example, instead of using 'chap' which is British slang, use a more universally acceptable word such as 'man'.

Use 'among', not 'amongst'. Never use 'whilst' - instead, use 'while'. Whilst is a word that is becoming increasingly archaic, similar to how 'thee', 'thou', 'thine', 'hast', and 'hath' are rarely used. Using 'singular they' is also perfectly acceptable on this wiki.

Try not using British or other different accent-style terms. Use the Americanized 'color' and 'honor', not 'colour' and 'honour', use 'center' instead of 'centre' and 'theater' instead of 'theatre', use 'worshiping' and 'chili' instead of 'worshipping' and 'chilli', use 'realize' and 'organize' instead of 'realise' and 'organise', and so on.

Be succinct with your words, for example, 'uncertain' instead of 'not certain', 'exhaling' instead of 'breathing out', etc.

Using "you"

It is preferred that editors do not use 'you', as well as 'we', when referring to the protagonists as it sounds less professional. For example:

  • "Henry must wipe out all the enemies before progressing his journey.", not "You must wipe out all the enemies before progressing your journey"
  • "Bendy's whistle can be heard behind the door", not "We can hear Bendy's whistle behind the door"

Do not use 'the player' for the in-universe history information, although this term can be only used in guide-written parts, such as the "Gameplay" sections and walkthrough articles.

Do not mention fans or the fan community when editing articles unless they have an official impact with the official developers, especially on "Behind the scenes" sections. For example, writing something like "The fans can use hacks so they can get a huge glimpse at the Wandering Sin cutouts" is extremely useless and should be removed. Also, do not write something like "The Ink Demon was first thought to be Joey Drew himself (by fans) but it was later debunked in the final chapter" because not only it sounds redundant but also very speculative, whether it was debunked or not.

Another note that you should always avoid writing in the first-person when writing articles, especially in character and enemy pages. For examples: "I found Sammy's voice hot", "Fighting against the entire Butcher Gang is kinda difficult for me", etc.

Proper words

Always make sure to use words in articles like 'going to' and 'want to' instead of 'gonna' and 'wanna'. For example:

  • "Sammy is going to sacrifice Henry for the Ink Demon", not "Sammy is gonna sacrifice Henry for the Ink Demon"
  • "Henry has got to find and collect the pieces for Alice", not "Henry has gotta find and collect the pieces for Alice"
  • "Joey wants to bring his dreams to reality", not "Joey wanna bring his dreams to reality"

Titles

Consistency in the titling of pages is desired in that it makes for a much more professional looking wiki with regards to the public perception of the wiki. Any page title that has a name in it should not be stored in a biographical format; i.e., "Joey Drew", and not "Drew, Joey" as the page title for Joey Drew. For pages where only a first name (Bendy) exists, or where another character is known by a title (such as Boris the Wolf) more than their proper name, those should be used as the only title of the page.

Miscellaneous

  • Headcanon and personal opinion (e.g: "Bendy is better than Alice") should not be added to articles, no matter how popular they are.
  • Do not add "It should be noted..." or "It is notable that..." or "Of note...". It is unnecessary.
  • Furthermore, do not add "It is interesting that..." or "Interestingly, ...". Saying that something is interesting is technically an opinion.
  • Use 'real world' and 'real life' for different meanings. Real world refers to things that exist or happened outside of the ink realm (the main setting of the Bendy series), while real life refers to other things from our non-fictional world, including game developers and even topics mentioned in the novel series.

Capitalization

In headings and titles

Use sentence-style capitalization, not title-style capitalization: Capitalize the first letter of the first word and any proper nouns in headings, titles, etc, but leave the rest lower case. Thus "Rules and regulations", not "Rules and Regulations". For example:

  • List of characters, not List of Characters (or List Of Characters)
  • Early life, not Early Life
  • Joey Drew's meeting, not Joey Drew's Meeting
  • Behind the scenes, not Behind the Scenes (or Behind The Scenes)

The title-style capitalization is only used in the following:

  • Franchise entries (including video games, books, cartoons, etc).
  • Proper nouns (including characters, establishment locations, etc).
  • Titles used for audio logs, memos, achievements, music tracks, etc.

In the articles

You should always capitalize the names of characters and other things that are officially title-cased; they are considered proper nouns for the style of the Bendy Wiki. "Joey Drew Studios", "Ink Machine", "New York City", or "Bacon Soup" are all correct as written; a page would not be titled "Joey drew studios" or "New york city". Dialogue and phrases should match to the in-game text, for example:

  • "For our lord is calling to us, my little sheep.", not "For our Lord is calling to us, my little Sheep."

However, if most other subjects (such as locations, items, and objects) are written as sentence-cased instead of title-cased from official sources (in-game subtitles, books, etc.), do not write the terms/words as proper nouns; use common nouns. For example:

  • The "recording studio", not "Recording Studio"
  • "Joey Drew's office", not "Joey Drew's Office"
  • The "Tommy gun", not "Tommy Gun"
  • The "plush toy", not "Plush Toy"
  • The "real world", not "Real World"
  • The "ink realm", not "Ink Realm"
  • The "Easter egg", not "Easter Egg"
  • The "Bendy doll", not "Bendy Doll"

Capitalizing "the", "and", "to', etc

Please also make sure not to write the titles in full capitalization aside from the first letter, including "the", "and", "a", etc. For example:

  • Bendy and the Ink Machine, not Bendy And The Ink Machine
  • Bendy in Nightmare Run, not Bendy In Nightmare Run
  • Dreams Come to Life, not Dreams Come To Life
  • Rise and Fall, not Rise And Fall

Text styling

Italic

The names of video games, books, cartoons, and similar should be written in italic to distinguish their meaning. Do so by clicking the bent-shaped "I" button (found in between the bold-text button and the link button from the upper edit tool bar) or adding two upper commas (') on both sides. For example:

  • Bendy and the Ink Machine
  • Bendy: The Cage
  • Chapter 1: Moving Pictures
  • The Illusion of Living
  • Little Devil Darlin'

Page titles that is named after or using names from games and other media should also be written in italic by inserting the {{DISPLAYTITLE}} at the bottom of the page.

Bold

All articles' names from the first paragraph should be in bold text by clicking the capital B button or adding three apostrophes on each sides.

Colons

Use colons in titles where appropriate. For example:

  • Chapter 1: Moving Pictures, not Chapter 1 Moving Pictures
  • Bendy: The Cage, not Bendy The Cage

Link styling

Multiple links

Please avoid making two or more links to the same article. For example, if you already have a link to the page Bendy in an article, do not add another link to the same page later in the article.

Linking "the" or "a"

When linking, keep unnecessary words such as 'the' and 'a' out of the link itself. For example:

  • "Henry can grab the axe at the end of the chapter", not "Henry can grab the axe at the end of the chapter"

However if the articles are titled with the first word "the", then they should be linked. For example:

  • "The Patron is a Lost One individual", not "The Patron is a Lost One individual"

Citations

Sourcing

All content should be based on reliable sources, not original research and fan theories. Sourcing is not only useful but also helps readers and editors find reliable information on the topic. To insert references, add <ref></ref> or click on the bookmark icon (it was located in the editor tool's second box with the link and image buttons).

Ref structure

Secondly, to keep the citations organized in between <ref></ref>, please give them a proper styled structure and always start with the appropriate {{RefIcon}} template.

For citations in general:

  • Name - Name of the author.
  • Date - Full date complete with month, day and year. Keep the dates in between both brackets.
  • Body - Can be a title of the article or blog, a Twitter post, etc. Must be included with a hyperlink so users can access the source.
  • Site name - Can be YouTube, Twitter, Reddit, Facebook, or other social media platforms, along with miscellaneous websites. Do not forget to italic-text the name.

For media-related citations:

  • Name - Name of the video game, book, etc.
  • Level name - Name of the level, chapter, etc.
  • Body - Usually a brief info with the name of the development team and publisher, and ends with a release date.

For examples:
<ref>{{RefIcon|twitter}} theMeatly. (January 6, 2020). [https://twitter.com/themeatly/status/1214315901593538560 "Hey all you Bendy people out there! ^_^ Wanted to have some fun soooo.. post some words below you’d like Bendy characters that I voice to say and I’ll make a video soon reading off some of the fun ones in Wally’s or Henry’s voice! Maybe even Piper’s! Lol :D #Bendy #theMeatly"]. ''Twitter''.</ref>

<ref>{{RefIcon|batdr}} ''[[Bendy and the Dark Revival]]''. ''[[Chapter 1: Drawn to Darkness]]''. Developed and published by [[Joey Drew Studios Inc]] on November 15, 2022.</ref>

Archival links

A permanent archival link (also called a backup link) must be included in the reference when citing an external link, only if it links to posts or websites that no longer exist. For this purpose, use Internet Archive's Wayback Machine.

Gallery pages

The gallery sub-pages are available to be made as long as subjects have enough images. However, we have a set of guidelines regarding gallery pages.

Similar to the main pages, structure the gallery sub-pages in this way:

  • Screenshots
    • Official screenshots - Screenshots that were made for game pages and elsewhere.
    • Ingame screenshots - Besides official screenshots, you can also upload scratch-made screenshots:
      • Your screenshots must be in highest quality while at the monitor screen's size. Make sure to enable all advanced options for better resolution.
      • As this is the English-only wiki, the subtitles from your screenshots must be in English. Screenshots with subtitles in other languages are exclusive to non-English Bendy Wikis only.
      • Do not steal anyone else's screenshots from other sites.
      • Do not take screenshots from gameplay videos, especially with Let's Player/Youtuber's webcam faces and/or channel icons.
      • Do not make duplicated screenshots. Refrain from uploading in-game screenshots that include almost every single frame/shots from both gameplay and cutscenes, even in different angle. Thus, it is redundant to excessively space out screenshots.
      • Screenshots that use modding/hacking tools are not allowed, although they can be only uploaded to pages of out-of-bounds secrets.
  • Development
    • Concept art - Includes series of concept artworks.
    • Model views - Includes official model images from sites such as ArtStation.
    • Texture files - Includes texture maps and other image assets for related subjects.
    • Animations - Includes character model animations, but cutscene animations are not allowed due to file limitations.
  • Merchandise
    • Toy products - Image collection of plush toys, action figures, etc.
    • Apparel products - Image collection of T-shirts and other apparels with unique artwork.
    • Other products
  • Miscellaneous
    • For other images that do not fit anywhere in the pages' sections.

Redirects

Redirects help guide users to the correctly titled page when there is a discrepancy about how the article might be named. They should only be created and used sparingly, however. As for Boris the Wolf, redirects from "Boris" and "Boris the Wolf" may be used.

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