Bulbapedia: Messages from the Editor — May 27th, 2024

The following is a detailed version of the Message from the Editor you can find on Bulbapedia's front page.

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Hello Pokémon Fans!

We’ve got some exciting updates about Bulbapedia to share with you today - let's get started!

First, let's start thinking with Browsing Portals! A Browsing Portal is a new, curated way to navigate the encyclopedia; you can explore a variety of topics all from a single landing page. Starting off, we have portals prepared for Video Games, Animation, and the TCG to help you navigate these media, with more to come later, so be sure to take a look.

Next, user account name changes are now live! If you’ve been waiting for this feature — or are simply in the mood for a change — you can post your request on the username policy talk page or message one of our many volunteer staff on their talk pages. They’ll be happy to help!

Now, we'd like to share a few policy updates:

• With an increasing number of leaks of TCG cards, we’ve updated our Unreleased Materials Policy to include illegally obtained cards. Going forward, leaks of cards and products that occur during the production process, such as theft or unauthorized photography from a printing facility, will not be covered on Bulbapedia.
• In order to provide further clarity and consistency across projects, we’ve updated the Bulbapedia manual of style with guidelines on how to title articles. These updated guidelines can be read in the cut below.

Article titles and terminology​

There are often several different viable ways to title the page for a specific topic. Terminology used within articles can also vary. In order to provide a authentic experience and consistent expectation with its readers and contributors, Bulbapedia has the following guidelines in place to determine which title or term is prioritized in a given circumstance throughout the encyclopedia.

Note that while these standards aim to provide comprehensive guidance, there may be unique cases where exceptions will apply.

• Language terms: English terms are preferred over equivalents in another language. For example, the English term "Pokémon animation" should be used to refer to official animated Pokémon media instead of the Japanese-based term "Pokémon anime", which may refer to Japanese animated Pokémon works only. Similarly, avoid specific industry terms that are not commonly understood by most English speakers. For example, use the term "voice actor" instead of the Japanese term "seiyū".
• Official names: Use the most recent official name used in English-speaking territories, provided it has been used consistently. For example, use "Thunder Shock" instead of "ThunderShock", "Never-Melt Ice" instead of "NeverMeltIce", and "first partner Pokémon" instead of "starter Pokémon".
  • This mainly applies to franchise terms and products, and does not apply universally to out-of-franchise or real-world terms, which may use their common name in descriptive titles. For example, the article "Pokémon in Brazil" uses the common name Brazil instead of the country’s official name, the Federative Republic of Brazil.
• Names of characters: The name of a character should be written as typically formatted in Pokémon media e.g. "Gary Oak", "Bill", and "Professor Oak". Other known names or abbreviations (such as "Prof. Oak" and "Samuel Oak") may be created as redirects, where applicable. (See the Names of people section for specifics on the names of real people.)
• Capitalization: Page titles are written in sentence case, not title case. Proper nouns that appear in page titles (such as the names of most locations) should be capitalized in line with official media. (''See the Capitalization section for specifics on franchise terms, which use their game capitalization.'')
• Singular vs. plural: In most cases, titles should be kept singular, such as "item" rather than "items". For comprehensive lists, consider a "List of" format e.g. "List of moves".
  • Exceptions include:
  • * Subjects that are always in the plural form, such as "Gold Teeth" or "Picnic-Knacks".
  • * A group name that is plural, such as "Eevee brothers" rather than "Eevee brother".
  • * Classes or groups of related items, such as "Cloning glitches" or "Pokémon dental products".
• Consistent formatting: Where possible, maintain consistency in the format of titles between similar types of articles. For example, avoid inconsistencies like "List of items in Pokémon Conquest" and "List of items (Shuffle)". The second article is instead titled "List of items in Pokémon Shuffle" to match the first article and other such list pages.
• Definite and indefinite articles: Do not use definite or indefinite articles such as ''the'', ''a'', or ''an'' at the beginning of titles unless they are part of the subject's proper name e.g. "The Teal Mask".
• Disambiguation: Disambiguation tags (dabtags) should only be used for subjects with the same or similar official names. Otherwise, prioritize using sentence-style descriptors over dabtags. For example, use "Pokémon in the United States" instead of "Pokémon (United States)". Exceptions apply for certain types of pages that are formatted in a consistent manner, such as the pages for types and moves. (''See the Disambiguation section for more details.'')
• Non-Latin characters: Do not use non-Latin characters such as Japanese, Chinese, or Korean characters. Instead, words in languages with a non-Latin alphabet should be romanized. (See the Opening line section and Bulbapedia:Manual of style/Romanization for more details.)
  • Exceptions may apply for the names of certain glitch Pokémon.
• Abbreviated titles:Certain articles may use abbreviated or shortened titles.
  • Articles about a group of individually named subjects that do not have a group name may omit shared words, provided it does not impact identifiability. For example, use "Pokémon Red and Blue Versions" instead of "Pokémon Red Version and Pokémon Blue Version", or "Chrom and Phossa Molybdenum" instead of "Chrom Molybdenum and Phossa Molybdenum".
  • Multiple articles whose names share a naming convention that cause searchability or understandability issues may use their own naming scheme. For example, the majority of TCG products are prefaced with "Pokémon TCG", from expansions to card sleeves. This is abbreviated to a (TCG) at the end of the title.
  • For some serialized media, Bulbapedia may forgo having titles be subject names in lieu of a standardized epicode format (e.g. EP001) for ease of use.
• Character limitations: Due to the MediaWiki software that Bulbapedia operates on, some characters cannot be used in article titles, such as {, [, and >. Additionally, while unicode characters that are not part of standard keyboard layouts such as the curly apostrophe ’ or double-barred dollar sign may be used in a subject's official name, article titles should use the similar characters found on keyboards for ease of use ' and $).
  • With regards to romanized Japanese titles, omit macrons ¯ and apostrophes ' in the title.

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And finally, I’m pleased to share that Bulbagarden and Bulbapedia are hosting a staff drive! Bulbagarden is currently looking for applicants for multiple branches of the website, but you can find the Bulbapedia application here:

• Bulbapedia Junior Administrators

If you have any interest in joining our volunteer staff team, fill out an application! We hope you take this chance to make a lasting impact on our community encyclopedia - we can’t wait to hear from you!

That’s all for now. See you next time!