Bully Wiki's Manual of Style is a guideline on how to properly write and format articles on Bully Wiki. It is not an absolute law, but it should not be deviated from without a valid rationale.
General principles
Articles must be written in an encyclopedic tone with proper grammar and spelling. Personal opinions and commentary should not be included in the articles.
Language
American English is the official language of this wiki. Editors who are more comfortable writing in other English variants may feel free to do so, but non-American spellings may be changed to American spellings (e.g. 'colour' to 'color') by any editor. The only exception to this is in instances where the game itself uses non-American English variants, e.g. the mission Small Offences.
Articles in non-English languages are not acceptable and will be deleted.
Commonly used words are preferred over obscure, archaic, and/or overly technical words. For two relevant examples, 'last name' is preferred over 'surname,' and 'wears' is preferred over 'dons.'
Links
On any article page, other articles should be linked only the first time their name appears in the text of the article. If they appear in the infobox, their name should be linked there in addition to the first time it appears in the text of the article.
Tone
Articles should be written in an informative, encyclopedic tone. Personal opinions and excessively flowery language are inappropriate for article content (and try to avoid writing in parenthesis).
"You"
When writing about missions, using the pronoun 'you' should be avoided. For example, if a mission involves climbing a ladder, it should be written as "Jimmy must climb the ladder" rather than "you have to climb the ladder".
"You" is used to refer specifically to the person playing the game and not Jimmy Hopkins.
It is fine to use 'you' on the various pages about glitches, since the glitches are dependent on player action and unrelated to the plot of the game.
Wikilinks
An article should only be linked from another article once, the first time it appears. Additionally, redirects exist for a reason - a link to Jimmy's article should simply be [[Jimmy]] instead of [[Jimmy Hopkins|Jimmy]].
Our policy on wikilinks has reversed since the early days of the wiki. If you find an article with extensive redirect links, feel free to edit them out.
Naming conventions
Character articles
There is a hierarchy as to which criteria are used in determining an article's location.
- The Game - If the game and any other sources contradict each other, the game itself is correct. For example, since Ted was given the last name of Thompson in the game and Sinclair on the website, his article is located at Ted Thompson rather than at Ted Sinclair.
- The Credits - If a character is known by multiple names, then his article should be located under the name he was credited as. For example, Pete is often called Petey and his full name is Peter, but since he's credited as Pete Kowalski that is what his article is named.
- Bully Peripherals - This includes all the pages on the official Bully website, the instruction manual, and the fold-out map that came with legitimate copies of the game. There are numerous contradictions between the peripherals and the game, and the game is always considered correct, however, if there are no outright contradictions the peripherals are acceptable sources. For example, although Ted Thompson's given name on the Soundboard is contradicted by the game, Damon West wasn't given a last name within the game and so the Soundboard-provided name is acceptable.
- Game data files - The game data files have numerous large errors, such as calling the Townies the Dropouts, and naming Miss Danvers as "Miss Winston". The files can be used to name characters who were otherwise uncredited, but are the least authoritative of the available sources.
- "Fanon" - Fanon, short for fan canon, should never be used. This includes information on unofficial websites and message boards.
Mission articles
Mission articles should be titled exactly as the mission appears in the game, regardless of grammatical errors.
Minigame articles
Minigame articles should be named as close to the name of the minigame as possible. If the article is about a single game (i.e. Nut Shots), the proper title is fine. If it is a composite article about multiple games, it should be named as the base. For example, Lawn Mowing covers all the various lawn mowing minigames, and Future Street Racer covers both FSR 3D and FSR 2165.
Clint (aka Henry)'s name
The character Clint (aka Henry) should be referred to as Clint (aka Henry) in his name's first appearance in any given article, and thereafter as Clint. This is because although the name Henry was used more often in the original Bully, all other releases have referred to the character almost exclusively as Clint. This is also a unique and explicit exception to the standard naming conventions, as the character is credited as "Clint (AKA Henry)".
Character Article layout
The following sections describe the subsections of a character article and what should be contained in them.
All character articles should start with the character's name and identify what clique or group of townsfolk he or she is a member of.
Fighting style descriptions should not be added, since these can be read in the article Fighting.
Articles should be linked in the infobox, and also linked the first time they appear in the article prose.
Infobox Character
Name
The character's full name, as per the naming conventions described above and the article's location.
Image
If available, a 100px headshot of the character. If not, leave blank.
Clique
If the character is a member of the Bullies, Nerds, Preppies, Greasers, Jocks, or Townies, put it in this field, otherwise leave this field blank. Do NOT put Non-Clique Student in this field, as by definition Non-Clique means Not In A Clique.
Gender
Male or female. No character is to be considered transgender or non-binary, barring any word from the game's developers to the contrary.
Family
Only list characters notable enough for their own article here, not unseen but mentioned characters.
Specify the relation and then how tight the confirmation is, as in (relationship/confirmation). For example, since it is 100% confirmed that Dan is Thad's older brother, on Thad's article place Dan Wilson (older brother/confirmed).
If it is likely two characters are related, use 'likely.' For example, Officer Williams' article would have Norton Williams (son/likely).
If there is an implication two characters are related and no implications otherwise, use 'possibly.' For example there's a faint implication that Freeley is Algie's father and no facts or implications to the contrary, and so Freeley (father/possibly) is added to Algie's article.
If it is technically possible two characters could be related, but there is evidence and reason that they aren't, do not list them. For example, Cornelius Johnson and Fatty Johnson share a last name. However, they are of different races, and also Fatty's last name came from the Soundboard, whereas Cornelius' came from the game itself and was given a different last name (Thomas) on the soundboard. So while there are ways they could possibly be related, the likelihood that they are is too low to make it appropriate to list.
Kissible
Can the character be kissed by Jimmy? Yes or No.
Missions
Which missions do they appear in? They don't have to have uniquely coded dialogue, but they do have to actually take part in the mission, even if only as enemies to beat up, or in the background of a cutscene.
Voice
Link the character's voice actor.
Character description
This section describes the character's physical appearance, including but not limited to size, build, hair and skin color, and attire in both winter and summer. Characters with black skin are to be described as black rather than with any geopolitical title.
Characteristics
This should describe the character's personality and behavior. It should also describe a character's relations with other students that aren't a part of the actual storyline. The etymology/ethnic origins of characters' last names generally should not be noted.
Role in game
This section consists of the character's actions primarily during the missions in the game. Things that are extremely notable, such as Damon West's tendency to attack the player as soon as he's within sight of the gymnasium, should also be noted here.
Deleted content
Any deleted content that a character featured in should be added as a subsection to the Role in game section.
Trivia
Any interesting points that don't fit in well in any other section. For example, Christy Martin sharing a name with a female boxer is a trivia note. Also note the Trivia Policy.
Quotes
A link to the main Quotes article should be placed beneath the Trivia section and the Gallery.
For the template used for Quotes articles, please see Bully Wiki:Manual of Style/Quotes Template.
Gallery
Galleries should be the last section before references.
References
Should an article contain references, the references should be listed at the bottom of the article.
Mission articles layout
Mission articles should start by identifying what Chapter a mission becomes available in and whether it is part of the main storyline or not.
Intro
Describe the opening cutscene(s). Do not insert scripts, scripts are not permitted on Bully Wiki per the Fair Use laws on text.
Walkthrough
Describe the actions Jimmy must take to complete the mission, and any important actions that take place in the background. If there are mid-mission cutscenes, they should be described in this section as well.
Afterwards
If there is a cutscene of any sort that takes place after the mission is completed, it should be placed in this section. If there is none, this section should not be included.
Glitches
Any known glitches during the mission, whether they are game-breaking or just incidental. Glitches that cannot be activated without a cheat should not be listed, as cheats aren't part of standard gameplay and glitches are an inherent risk when using cheats.
Trivia
- See also: Bully Wiki:Trivia
Trivia is discouraged but allowed on Bully Wiki. Most trivial information is better suited to being added to the article itself than a trivia section.
Script
A link to the mission script should be at the bottom of the article, just above Gallery and References if either are present.
Categories
Categories should be set so that they sort by a character's last name. For example, Jimmy Hopkins is [[Category:Main Characters|Hopkins, Jimmy]], and Dr. Slawter is at [[Category:Teachers|Slawter, Dr.]]. If a character has only one name, e.g. Duncan, this isn't necessary.