Board Thread:Timeline Discussions/@comment-27573690-20180122201650

While Alternate History Wiki is focused primarily on history and fiction writing components of English as an academic study are important. English in the context of grammar and style , fictional non-wikipedia style storytelling is also included here.

As our users are as diverse as the population of internet users timelines, have different ways of being structured, of being written and formatted. In this sense is there no 'one' correct style.

However, this is correct and incorrect English, and as bother to put our creativity and historical enthusiasm out for the world to see proper English written. This includes- but is not limited to spelling, punctuation, and syntax. We should work together to make sure everything we right is correct and appropriate for a certain reading level. By reading level I mean that most writing should at least attempt to be at 10th grade reading level, that is certainly not a requirement, but a desirable benchmark so that our articles can be the best they can be.

While users certainly can edit other people’s articles to correct them- just as  Eo guy did for years this wiki would benefit from a designated location to talk about writing-mechanics issues. Similar to mechanics is the writing style, though style does not indicate correct or incorrect English writing style is a core factor in determining whether an article is reaching its full premise.

Also, in this same threat we will discuss format I have seen many timelines with excellent premises, and correct grammar but at least subjectively- bad format.

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:11pt;margin-bottom:11pt;"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;color:#3a3a3a;font-weight:400;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">For example having huge blocks of texts is usually not the most appropriate for a wiki- because the way the website is designed blocks of text tend to looks bad and confusing to the eye.

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;font-weight:400;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">But what is good style? There is more than one way to format one’s timeline and organize articles, the chief priority is that format is taken into consideration. A good example of format are most of Nuclear Vacume’s articles, a clean presentation accompanied with appropriate visual aids makes all the difference in establishing a good time-line.

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;font-weight:400;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">This thread is meant to <span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;font-weight:700;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">help, <span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;font-weight:400;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">no one should feel ostracized or criticized for their writing here, the goal is establish a place where we can all collaborate to improve our writing skills. Remember- collaboration- and the ability to do so is one of the reasons why Alternate History Wiki exists, there are other places for the subject matter but this Wiki’s technical format provides opportunity for users to work together.

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;font-weight:400;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">All of the above being said, this thread is <span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;font-weight:400;font-style:italic;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">not <span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;font-weight:400;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">the place to discuss content of timelines, though of course the subject will inevitably come up. Let’s use this threat to create the best writing and presentation so that our good ideas can be displayed in the best ways possible.

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;font-weight:400;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">Post your ideas, and concerns below, or  place an excerpt of text here that you would like help with.

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;font-weight:400;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">And,

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;font-weight:400;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">Don’t forget to have fun!

<ac_metadata title="The Grammar, Format and Style Thread"> </ac_metadata>