General Guidelines[]
The most important thing to consider is the reader - how easy is this page to read? How easy is it to navigate to answer a specific question? How likely is it someone would want to follow that link? Does this photo enhance this page? Does this explanation make sense without significant research? Assume our readers are intelligent but lacking specific knowledge of this show - that's why they're here, they have questions and we need to provide the answers.
Page formatting should be kept as simple as possible. The pages are displayed across a wide variety of platforms, and while extra code may make the layout ideal on one setup, it may be unusable on another.
Please consider using the "Source Editor" over the "Visual Editor". While it requires learning a bit more about the code, it provides far greater control over your edits.
As per Wikipedia guidelines, links should only appear once per page - for example, it is not necessary to make every instance of the word "Bochum" into a link, it simply won't ever be used.
If you think an element of the wiki could be better, please suggest improvements! The best format is probably in a Blogs - everyone can read and comment.
Page Structure[]
Pages on this wiki follow a consistent structure to allow for easy browsing. This is most easily described with a few examples:
Performers' Pages[]
Sebastian Craig - Infobox, optional pre-chapter opening paragraph. List of Starlight credits, Biography with date - where multiple biographies are available, newer first. Gallery of show photos, separated by production and with onstage/backstage in separate galleries. This allows easy scanning through the images. Performance credits are the exception to the "One wiki link per page" rule, as consistent formatting makes the list much easier to read when each production and role is a link.
Personal Information should be kept to professional details - we do not need to add middle names or legal names where they differ from stage names etc. Where a performer has been credited under multiple names that information is appropriate to add; but birth names are not. Dates of birth should be kept to month/year - full dates of birth are private data, unless expressly publicised. Most of the performers in this database are not public figures, but normal people with an expectation of privacy.
Headshot photos should be kept to thumbnail size.
External links should be kept to relevant, public accounts. Wikipedia, IMDB etc pages are relevant if the performer is notable enough to have a page dedicated to them. Official sites are relevant, even when the performer has changed focus of their career. Unofficial/fan sites should be included only when good quality, and labelled as such. Social media accounts should only be linked when it is clear that the performer uses the account as promotion - with a focus on their performances and career. If an account is restricted or does not focus on their performance, it should be regarded as part of their private life and not linked here. Facebook accounts should not be included unless expressly career / fan focused. Feedback from performers is welcomed and any social media links will be added or removed on request.
Editors should periodically check that links to external sites are still active and accurate.
Character Pages[]
The_Japanese_Engine Following the basic format of Intro; Infobox; History; Role; Appearance (which may link to a sub-page when necessary); Gallery (always a link); Cast; Trivia. The Gallery section should contain a few key clear images to help a reader who is unfamiliar with the show identify the character, so only showcasing dramatically different looks. "History" should refer to the character's participation in various productions. "Role" should refer to what the character does within the show.
Musical Numbers[]
U.N.C.O.U.P.L.E.D. Context: how this song fits within the plot. Music: space for technical discussion of the music, influences, development, etc. History: how the song has developed through different productions. Lyrics: should be chronological, formatted in expanding tables to save space. Gallery: showcasing only a few key images from this number to help illustrate the scene. Video clips should also be included above still images.
Galleries[]
Production Gallery - 1988_Bochum_production/Gallery_2002 Should include infobox with the relevant key visual where possible; Info on significant events during that year; Performance images arranged by number where possible; staged Press photos; backstage photos; cast list. The intent is this page is more than simply a gallery of images but a snapshot of a year in the show's life.
Character Gallery - Buffy/Gallery_London Should include infobox linking to other connected pages; Headings for each first cast performer by year (with repeated headings where someone came back to the role). Photos should be arranged Performance / Press / Backstage. Where possible photos of swings should be added by year, with a best guess made for unknown dates.
Photos should be captioned but links in captions should be minimised - is the reader going to actually use that link? It is rarely helpful to caption a photo simply with the characters featured - it is better to include the performers, the scene, more information as is relevant to the gallery. For example, on a Performer's gallery it would be relevant to name the character and production, not the performer the gallery is dedicated to, that can be taken as read.
Near-Duplicate photos should be avoided. In instances where a large ensemble photo has been cropped down to focus on a few characters, the cropped version only should appear on the performers and character pages, not side by side with the uncropped version. The uncropped version should be used for the production and musical numbers pages.
Moving .gif files should always be in a separate gallery from stationary photos, as these files are much larger, and load notably slower, delaying the entire gallery loading.
Photo Format[]
Files must be uploaded with descriptive filenames. This works in conjunction with the Categories to allow easy, efficient browsing through the content on this wiki - checking for duplicates or looking for a specific file. The format for file names should be as follows:
"character / actor / production / year / detail, number"
ie.
"Dinah Buffy Claudia Bradley Diane Jenkins Bochum 1989.jpg"
or:
"scene / production / year / detail, number"
ie.
"Greaseball Pumping Iron B02 Drue Williams.jpg"
While this standard is not necessarily met by older uploads it should be followed for new files. Moving old files to filenames which follow this standard is an ongoing project.
Long character names should be shortened, performer names can be shortened as long as there is sufficient context for any editor to know what you mean. Special characters such as brackets, ampersand, commas, should not be used in file names as this can be garbled by some websites. Where the photo contains multiple characters, say a backstage photo of four or five people, the performers names should be included in the "Photo Description" once uploaded rather than in the filename. The goal is easy legibility when editing code or hunting for specific images.
Photos should only be uploaded if they are unique and interesting. Not every selfie posted to Instagram is needed on this wiki! If there is already a low-quality version of the image, then upload a new version to that file to update it, rather than creating a new file for the same image which then requires editing all the pages that use that image.
It is important to follow these rules on file names and categories in order to make it easy to check for duplicates and near-duplicates before uploading, and so all editors follow the same predictible standard.
Videos[]
Videos need similar filenames as photos - the file title uploaded to the wiki needs to be in English, needs to be descriptive, and does not need to start with "Starlight"! Videos need to be added to the category for that production, ie "Las Vegas Production Videos". Videos should also be added to articles, not just left sitting unused. It is important to understand that the wiki does not copy the video, only links to the source, so if the source of the video is removed the link breaks. This makes video content rather high maintenance, but worthwhile.
Making video recordings of the live show is illegal and not condoned by this wiki. However we are not responsible for content uploaded elsewhere on the internet, and will link to it where there is a lack of better reference material.
Categories[]
The Category system on this wiki is essential and very useful once understood. The system is somewhat like hashtags on social media; however you need to use the existing categories rather than creating new ones. Each category has a page which itself is added to the category tree, which allows you to browse through content easily.
Categories must be added to all pages and files on this wiki. Photos require the production and principal features of the image, such as "Images London Production" and "Images Greaseball". It is not necessary to add every character in an image, only those who you would say feature in the image - however this is subjective and flexible. If you have to really hunt to make out the character in the image, do not add them.
Creating new categories is entirely possible with good reason. If you feel that it would be particularly interesting to add a new category, please start a discussion about it.
Accuracy[]
We try to fact-check and maintain accuracy across this wiki, however mistakes do creep in, most commonly in identifying the performers in images. Please feel free to edit and correct mistakes. This involves re-naming the inaccurate file and correcting the file name on each page it has been used on; potentially removing the file entirely from some pages and adding it to the correct pages. Alternatively leave us a message with the details of the mistake and the correct information, and we will fix it.
Cite sources wherever possible, add as much information as possible to your edits. The references tag is slightly fussy to use but well worth learning. Do not remove material that you perceive as borderline inaccurate, but rather add a stronger, more factual rebuttal with links within the wiki and to external sources wherever possible.
Notability[]
This wiki aims to comprehensively cover all officially licensed, professional productions of Starlight Express. Amateur productions are logged here, notable regional productions such as Tuacahn_2013 are archived in a restricted way - the cast are not added to the database unless they have also performed in a replica production, and not all regional productions are considered notable enough to warrant an entry. Notability is decided by someone being invested enough to construct a page with sufficient details about the production - who, what, why, where, when.
Fandom[]
Starlight Express is a show that invites the audience to step into the world of a child's imagination - many details and background information is left for the audience to fill in as they will. This leaves us with the job of explaining what is set canon for the show - facts and trivia stated by the original creative team - from headcanons, logical assumptions and theories invented by fans. Many fans try to assign specific real-life identifications to the rolling stock portrayed in the show, despite their being representations of toys. This means there is no right or wrong answer, and all headcanons are welcome under "Headcanons" or "Trivia" chapters. Similarly beyond the clearly stated canon relationships, all further "Ships" are equally valid headcanons. Add your own theories but do not delete anyone else's ideas.