Editorial Guide

Editorial Guide

Page types

Person pages

Namespace: Main (e.g. Jane Doe)

Encyclopedic article about a person. Documentary voice: third person, past tense, factual. The person page is a hub that links out to episode pages.

Lead paragraph: Biographical identity first, relationship to wiki owner in one sentence, arc in one more. No statistics in the lead — save those for a dedicated section. No emotional framing.

Jane Doe (born 3 May 1997) is a Berlin-based photographer and former classmate. She and the wiki owner exchanged 6,200 Instagram DMs between March 2021 and May 2022, the largest one-on-one thread in the archive. They connected over film photography, collaborated on a zine, and met in person in Berlin in November 2021. The conversation faded after Jane moved to Tokyo in early 2022.

What belongs: Biographical details, chronological arc (summarized not exhaustive), key statistics, links to episode pages, media embeds, source citations.

What doesn't belong: Full voice note transcriptions, raw research notes, detailed retellings of specific episodes (those get their own episode pages).

Blockquote discipline: Only quote when exact words matter more than the information — confessions, turning points, self-descriptions that can't be paraphrased without losing the voice. Let paraphrasing carry the rest.

Episode references: When the chronological arc mentions a story with its own episode page, summarize in one sentence and link out:

On 14 August, Jane described a disastrous shoot at Tempelhof
in a series of five voice notes (see [[Jane and the Tempelhof Disaster]]).

Episode pages

Naming: {Person} and the {Episode Title} (e.g. Jane and the Tempelhof Disaster)

Self-contained page for a specific story, event, or extended narrative. More narrative latitude than person pages, but still third-person and factual. The storytelling comes from sequencing, detail, and well-chosen quotes — not from the writer's adjectives.

Create when: 3+ voice notes telling a connected story, or a sustained back-and-forth that would take more than two paragraphs to tell properly.

What belongs: Full contextual setup, the story with detail, all relevant voice note transcriptions inline, audio/video embeds, surrounding messages, links back to person page and related episodes.

What it should feel like: Reading one should feel like being shown a specific memory. Beginning, middle, end.

Editorial standards

Core principles

1. One canonical home — every piece of content lives in one place. Other pages link to it; they don't duplicate it.
2. Prefer splitting to growing — a story that takes more than two paragraphs deserves its own page.
3. Documentary voice on person pages — third person, past tense, factual. Like Wikipedia.
4. Episode pages allow storytelling — still third-person and factual, but more narrative.

Don't interpret for the reader

• Don't editorialize: Replace adjectives with specifics. "They exchanged 1,800 messages in five days, averaging 360 per day" — not "The conversation density was staggering."
• Don't inflate significance: Cut "marking a pivotal turning point" and "reflecting a broader shift." If something is significant, facts demonstrate it without a caption.
• Don't use promotional language: No "vibrant," "rich," "renowned," "groundbreaking," "nestled," "showcases."
• Don't attribute vaguely: No "observers have noted" or "friends describe her as." Cite specific sources.

Prose quality

• Say "is" when you mean "is": Not "stands as" or "serves as."
• Keep sentences short: Split anything over ~40 words.
• Vary rhythm: Mix short and long sentences. Avoid the "rule of three" tic.
• Use punctuation precisely: Don't overuse em dashes as a Swiss Army knife.
• Don't cycle through synonyms: If you said "conversation," say "conversation" again.
• Avoid formulaic transitions: Cut "moreover," "furthermore," "notably," "additionally."
• Don't frame by negation: State what something is, not what it isn't.
• Don't end sections with summaries: No "In summary," "Overall," "In conclusion."

Words to watch

Certain words and phrases appear so frequently in low-quality encyclopedic prose that they've become red flags during editing. This is not a banned word list — context matters. But when these appear, pause to ask whether the sentence is actually saying something, or just performing the act of saying something.

Significance words: pivotal, crucial, vital, key (as adjective), fundamental, instrumental, transformative, groundbreaking, indelible, enduring, profound, testament

Promotional words: vibrant, rich (figurative), renowned, nestled, boasts, showcases, exemplifies, stunning, breathtaking, remarkable, extraordinary, spectacular, masterful

Empty intensifiers: genuine/genuinely, truly, deeply, incredibly, remarkably, undeniable, unmistakable

Vague framing: it's important to note, it is worth noting, no discussion would be complete without, what began as X evolved into Y, reflecting a broader trend

Inflated verbs: stands as, serves as (when "is" will do), marks/represents (a turning point), underscores, highlights (as verb), fosters, garners, encompasses, cultivates

Superficial connectors: moreover, furthermore, notably, additionally (sentence-initial), on the other hand, in terms of

The fix: Delete the word or phrase and see if the sentence still works. It almost always does. If the sentence collapses without the filler, that's a sign the sentence had nothing to say.

Quoting conventions

Use direct quotes when:

• The exact words matter (confessions, self-descriptions, turning points)
• The phrasing is distinctive and can't be paraphrased without losing character
• The quote is short (under ~30 words)

Don't quote:

• Routine factual statements that can be paraphrased
• Three quotes in a row saying similar things
• To show off the archive

Integrate quotes grammatically into sentences. Save {{Blockquote}} for extended passages (2+ sentences) that need to stand alone.

Talk page structure

Talk pages use these sections as needed, in this order. Omit any with no content.

1. Active gaps — open editorial questions marked {{Open}}
2. Resolved — closed questions marked {{Closed}}, corrected ones {{Superseded}}
3. Editorial decisions — choices about structure, scope, voice, what to include/exclude
4. Infrastructure — technical issues and their resolutions
5. Agent log — one entry per task: ID, date, what changed, link to task page
6. Research notes — index of raw research materials (what exists, where it is, which pages consumed it)
7. Voice note transcriptions — complete chronological index with inline audio embeds

Active gaps

=== Birth year unknown ===
{{Open}}
Likely 1996-1998 based on contextual clues. Never stated directly in DMs.
Would require external source to confirm.

Resolved

=== Did they meet in person? ===
{{Superseded}}
Previously resolved as one meeting (dinner, Nov 12).

{{Closed}}
Three meetings confirmed via WhatsApp thread (snapshot 3f0390a3...):
dinner (Nov 12), gallery opening (Nov 13), darkroom session (Nov 14).

Agent log

=== Task:0008 — Initial page creation ===
2026-02-15. Created page from Instagram DM research (6,200 messages).
Posted 3 open gaps. See [[Task:0008]].

What does NOT belong on talk pages

• Reader-facing content (goes on person/episode pages)
• Duplicate research indexes

Citation system

Inline citations use <ref> tags rendered via <references /> in a == References == section. This is standard MediaWiki.

Inline citation templates

Cite message — for text messages (DMs, chats):

<ref name="ig-2021-04-15">{{Cite message|snapshot=a1b2c3d4e5f6
|date=2021-04-15|thread=janedoe_12345|note=Family background exchange}}</ref>

Cite voice note — for voice note content:

<ref>{{Cite voice note|number=7|date=2021-06-03|speaker=Jane
|snapshot=a1b2c3d4e5f6|note=Darkroom discovery story}}</ref>

Cite photo — for facts derived from photos:

<ref>{{Cite photo|file=IMG_2847.jpg|hash=...|date=2021-05-20
|snapshot=a1b2c3d4e5f6|note=University ID confirming enrollment}}</ref>

Cite video — for video content:

<ref>{{Cite video|file=berlin_gallery_opening.mp4|date=2021-11-12
|snapshot=a1b2c3d4e5f6|note=Gallery opening footage}}</ref>

All templates include: snapshot (vault hash), date, note (human-readable description).

Bibliography template

Cite vault — for the Bibliography section, describes full vault snapshots consulted:

{{Cite vault|type=messages|snapshot=a1b2c3d4e5f6
|timestamp=2021-03-01/2022-05-15|note=Instagram DM thread with Jane Doe}}

Additional fields: type (messages, photos, video, etc.), timestamp (date range).

When to cite

Always cite: Biographical facts, direct quotes, specific event dates, statistics, claims corrected or disputed on the talk page.

Don't need citations: Broadly sourced observations, information already attributed inline with a date, episode page content drawn from a defined set of voice notes listed at the top.

Named refs for reuse

Jane's mother is from Munich.<ref name="ig-2021-04-15" />
Her father works in Zurich.<ref name="ig-2021-05-02">
{{Cite message|snapshot=a1b2c3d4e5f6|date=2021-05-02
|thread=janedoe_12345|note=Family details, father in Zurich}}</ref>
She has a younger brother named Max.<ref name="ig-2021-04-15" />

Page structure

Every person and episode page ends with:

== References ==
<references />

== Bibliography ==
{{Cite vault|type=messages|snapshot=a1b2c3d4e5f6
|timestamp=2021-03-01/2022-05-15|note=Instagram DM thread with Jane Doe}}
{{Cite vault|type=voice_notes|snapshot=b2c3d4e5f6a1
|timestamp=2021-04-12/2021-06-03|note=47 voice notes, Jane and wiki owner}}

References = inline citations tracing specific claims to specific moments in the vault.

Bibliography = full vault snapshots consulted for the page overall.

Namespaces