Board Thread:Editor Board/@comment-3551173-20131004024806/@comment-6697950-20131004094103

Well, guess I'll give a bit of an explanation on how to reference things on the timeline.

First of all, anime references are a last resort. They have already made 3 grave mistakes with their timeline, so anime references can only be used if they don't conflict with the novel and are more specific.

Secondly, since some newer editors believed that the refernces were used for marking where the events took place (for example, someone added a "does not actually take place in The Day Before" note next to an event), I'll just remind everyone that we reference sources for the specified date, not which publication the event takes place.

Now, for those who don't know how to code references, there are 3 ways to do so.

1. Unnamed references:

These references are mostly useful for one-use only references (usually very specific references that can only be used for referencing a single thing). Any references used more than once per article should be named. Technically, all references should be named, but references that are obviously not going to be used on the same page anymore, may be referenced like this if you are too lazy to name it.

2. Named references

A more common method of coding references, as it allows using repeated references.

3. Repeated references

Whenever a reference is already used at least once on the page, all you have to do is to repeat the reference name (don't forget the / is used to close the reference) and the wiki will just repeat the reference description itself.

Finally for reference names, I personally use volume numbers and chapter numbers, with only the first letters of "volume" and "chapter" (e.g. V7C3). If I use more specific references for Alicization or Progressive, I also add "Part x" (e.g. V9C1P4). For Volume 2 and 8 chapters and side stories, instead of the chapter number, I use either and abbreviation of the chapter name, or 1 word from the chapter name (e.g. V8Caliber, V8Murder, V2TBS (The Black Swordsman), V2MDG (Morning Dew Girl), V2WotH (Warmth of the Heart), TFA (The Fourteenth Autumn), TDB (The Day Before), TDA (The Day After) etc.

For references that can't be referenced by source (e.g. when the reference has to explain how a certain date was calculated from less specific details, like how I had to do for the Underworld timeline's earliest events), I use the date as the reference name (e.g. 100HWC; 23F23 (2023 February 23))

Finally, for dates that are specifically mentioned, referencing just the publication and as specific location as possible is enough. For dates that are derived from calculations based on hints (e.g. 2 months before event x) should have an explanation in the reference, as well as the source.