Wikipedia:Update/1/General style changes during April 2009


 * Avoid peacock terms
 * Added "successful"


 * Avoid weasel words
 * Added to WP:WEASEL: "Time sense. There is an "as of" guideline to help with articles that incorrectly use "recently" and "currently". The When template can be used where an editor wants to bring attention to a vague time reference in an article."


 * Citing sources
 * Small changes to WP:CITE
 * Minor wording changes to WP:CITE
 * In WP:CITE, the paragraph beginning "Editors are free to use any method" was shortened to remove some of the longer descriptions of the links.
 * The WP:CITE subsection was removed.
 * Links added to WP:CITE: Template:Citations missing, Citation needed.


 * External links
 * Added to WP:EL: "Twitter feeds"
 * Expanded WP:EL
 * Added to WP:EL: "[When linking to large database-driven sites] like the Internet Movie Database, [try to use an external link template]."


 * How to copy-edit
 * Added to top: "To find a list of articles that need copy editing, see Community_portal."


 * Layout
 * In WP:LAYOUT, after "A reasonable number of relevant links that would be in the body of a hypothetical "perfect article" are suitable to add to the "See also" appendix of a less developed one.": removed the footnote, "This of course refers only to links related to the topic, not links that are incidental, e.g. linking to a jargon word in a sentence."
 * Added to WP:LAYOUT: "Please see WP:IG for further information on the use of galleries."


 * Lead section
 * Removed "short, independent" from: "The lead serves ... as a short, independent summary"
 * Added to WP:LEAD: pointer to Naming conventions (geographic names)
 * Added to WP:LEAD: "[Registered users can override this default via:] checkbox on Special:Preferences > Editing called "Enable section editing by right-clicking on section titles" (requires JavaScript)"


 * Linking
 * Significant changes to WP:LINKING
 * Merge into WP:LINKING from WP:BTW: "Wikipedia is based on hypertext, and aims to "build the web" to enable readers to find relevant information on other pages with just a click of the mouse. Therefore in adding or removing links, consider an article's place in the knowledge tree."


 * Manual of Style (capital letters)
 * Added to WP:MOSCAPS: "In mathematics, ideas named after people are almost always capitalised (Hermitian matrix, Lorentz transformation), but a small number of exceptions exists (abelian group)."
 * Added to WP:MOSCAPS: "[Avoid writing in all capitals:] For Latin language quotations and terms, even when lowercase letters are anachronistic. This also applies to small caps; see Manual of Style (text formatting)."


 * Manual of Style (dates and numbers)
 * In WP:MOSNUM, changed "... unless tackling region-specific topics, use international units." to "... apart from US and some UK specific topics, use metric units." and removed "Mentioning the issue on the MOSNUM talk page and on the article's associated Wikiproject might also be a good idea, especially if the problem is not restricted to a specific article."
 * Significant changes to WP:MOSNUM
 * Several changes to WP:MOSNUM
 * New subsections: WP:MOSNUM and WP:MOSNUM. Removed lower section with similar information, WP:MOSNUM.
 * Several changes to WP:MOSNUM


 * Manual of Style (spelling)
 * Removed a number of options from the Canadian list; most of the words removed were the preferred American spellings.
 * Added to WP:SPELLING: "Older sources use many archaic variants (such as shew for show), which are not to be used outside quotations except in special circumstances (for example, quire may be used instead of choir in architectural contexts)."
 * Added to WP:SPELLING: Manual of Style (dates and numbers); "note that American and British dates are written differently"


 * Manual of Style (text formatting)
 * Added to WP:MOSTEXT: "[Use italics for] Feature-length films or documentaries, such as The Terminator or Super Size Me", and "[Use quotation marks for] Short films or documentaries"
 * Added (see WP:SPELLING above): "For better accessibility, Latin language quotations should never be set in all-capitals or small capitals, even when such use might seem anachronistic."


 * Manual of Style (titles)
 * Same change as WP:MOSTEXT


 * Words to avoid
 * Changes in the last paragraph of WP:AVOID
 * Added to WP:AVOID: "Take care if applying this guideline to precise discussions of technical subjects, as many of these words, and their related adjectives are used uncontroversially, and often with a very particular meaning." Also added examples.