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RLMWiki:Style Guide

From Red Letter Media Wiki

Here are some guidelines on how pages are laid out on RLMWiki.

For more information about expectations when editing the wiki, see RLMWiki:Standards.

When to not write a page.[edit source]

Don't write a page if it would be better suited as a heading on another page. For example, Best of the Worst#Junka.

Don't write a page for a "theme" if

  • it's too broadly definable as a theme (like "cast members swearing")
  • it's too underrepresented to even be a common theme in RLM media (like "Existence of higher powers in Half In The Bag")
  • it's too overly specific to be anything more than an inside joke (like "potted plant gets smashed").

Don't write a page for special guests unless the guest becomes more regular on the show (e.g. Macaulay Culkin) or the guest does not have a relevant Wikipedia page (e.g. Len Kabasinksi).

Titles[edit source]

Titles for themes, categories, or big events in RLM canon can generally have any name you want, as long as it's distinct and snappy.

Episodes[edit source]

On the YouTube channel, RLM tends to write their episode titles in the format of either "Show Name: Title" (as in episodes of Best of the Worst) or "Title - Show Name" (as in episodes of re:View.) For our part, article titles should be equivalent to the episode titles alone. For example, the episode "Half in the Bag: Slender-Man" should have an article on this site called simply Slender-Man.

This creates a problem with Plinketto and WOTW episodes, since those use a pound symbol in their titles and MediaWiki cannot support that due to technical restrictions on URLs. These episodes have a DISPLAYTITLE variable set for their actual pages. Editors are asked to provide links to these episodes in the format [[Wheel of the Worst 7|Wheel of the Worst #7]] so that they can have their titles shown properly on most pages in spite of the technicality.

Where it would be prudent to include the name of the show, such as in example lists, these can be provided with alternate link text in the usual way: [[Article name|The text you want displayed]].

Some episodes are not privy to any show, do not have the show name in the title, or feature the show name as a part of the episode title. These should simply duplicate the title of the YouTube video.

Characters[edit source]

Titles for characters should have their full name where possible. Attempt to distinguish persons by name alone if possible (for example, Harry S. Plinkett vs Mr. Plinkett.) When this is not possible, parentheses will do (e.g. Mike (The Nerd Crew).)

Cast & Crew[edit source]

Titles for cast and crew must consist of their first and last name and may not include nicknames or shortenings. This is necessary to distinguish the various "Mike"s, "Jay"s, and "Rich"s in canon.

Locations[edit source]

If someone says the name of a set onscreen, that is the name of the location, and thus the title of the article about the location.

If a set or location has a given name, like a store, then the title of the article about that location should be that given name.

If a set represents a location owned by a person, name them in the title.

Otherwise, just make a best-guess effort.

Templates[edit source]

When creating a page for an episode, it is highly recommended that you use one of the prefilled episode templates to begin your page.

These templates are available at RLMWiki:Create a new episode. This link can also be found on the home page of the Wiki.

This will give you a ready-made page with an infobox and several common headings already prefilled in.

Common headings in episode articles[edit source]

Quote[edit source]

As a fun bit, most episode pages include a quote at the top of the article from one of the cast members. Not only does it allow editors to highlight one of their favorite lines from the episode, but it can help with searching if a user only knows of an episode as "The one where Jay says 'Turn around, Doug!'"

Which quote to add is up entirely to your discretion. It is recommended to use this template:

  • {{Quote | This is borderline experimental! | [[Jay Bauman]] }}

Which will appear as

This is borderline experimental!
— Jay Bauman

This will allow us to format quotes more nicely in the future if we wish.

Description[edit source]

All episodes should archive the YouTube description. Use the <blockquote> HTML tag to offset it in your article. If there is a pinned comment, it is a good idea to archive that as well. Multi-part episodes should archive both descriptions in separate blockquotes.

It is up to you whether themes present in the description should be under this heading or under the Themes heading. As a rule of thumb, consider filing themes under this heading if the other heading is getting a bit crowded.

Themes[edit source]

Themes are the general term for recurring motifs in RLM videos. Any recurring gag or bit can be a theme, but you are encouraged to add new themes at your discretion. Consider only marking themes you know are good, and adding new ones if multiple people talk about noticing it in the Talk section.

Of note, themes are not inside jokes. If something happens only twice or three times, it might be better suited for #Previously On or #Trivia.

Remarks[edit source]

If something is notable in the episode or you thought "Hey, I noticed that", it's a remark. You can add a separate "Trivia" section for things that seem inconsequential but noteworthy. This is roughly equivalent to the "Remarks" sections on HRWiki.

Previously On[edit source]

Mark any noteworthy callbacks to earlier RLM episodes. You should provide wikilinks to the appropriate article.

Up Next[edit source]

If discussions in this episode come up again on future episodes, mark them here. It may be overkill to provide this every single time a Previously On is used. Consider whether a call forward is really necessary to point out before adding this heading.


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