Guideline:Essays

On the BattleTechWiki, we have what is called "Essays" or pages that may be written by anyone; some represent widespread norms, others only represent viewpoints. Essays can be long monologues, serious or funny, informative or opinionated. Essays are the opinion or advice of an editor or group of editors. They may not be supported by a widespread consensus. They do not necessarily speak for the entire community and may be created and written without approval. Essays the author does not want others to edit, or that overtly contradict consensus, belong as an user essay.

Types of essays

BattleTech Essays

Main category: BattleTech Essays

BattleTech Essays are articles that seek to explain or investigate certain aspects of the BattleTech universe that have not been directly covered in official publications.

• BattleTech Essays seek to explain Canon, in accordance with our Policy:Notability, these essays should be used sparingly and only for informative content. The notability of any given BattleTech Essay may be challenged at any time, and is ultimately subject to user consensus, to be decided on a case-by-case basis.
• BattleTech Essays do not seek to add to Canon, while these essays may contain or point out information that is merely inferred from official publications, or even fill in blanks with educated guesswork, they are neither intended to add original content to BattleTech Canon nor are they in any position to do so. In this sense, BattleTech Essays can be regarded as meta-sources that are not canonical themselves, but exist as compilations of canonical information with added analysis of the data.
• BattleTech Essays are not ongoing discussions, typically, the essay should cover its subject completely and comprehensively. They are not the place for ongoing debate.

BattleTechWiki Essays

Main category: BattleTechWiki Essays

BattleTechWiki Essays are the opinion or advice of an editor or group of editors to explain their perspective regarding an administrative facet of BattleTechWiki. Oftentimes for which widespread consensus has not been established. BattleTechWiki essays are often referenced in issues or disputes, much in the same way as policies and guildlines. However, they should be referenced in an attempt to either educate or sway opinion, not necessarily as 'the answer,' as a policy or guideline may. When referenced, the opposing interested parties may respectfully state the essay does not truly apply, along with why it does not. It should be remembered that BattleTechWiki essays are to be seen as tools of explanation. As is true of policies and guidelines, things can change. Unlike them however, a new BattleTechWiki essay should be crafted and released when site consensus changes to a large extent (with the older BattleTechWiki essay possibly marked using the '{{Historical}}' template). It is to be remembered, despite the site's consensus regarding the position's validity, that it is the written opinion of an Editor (or group of Editors) and opinions cannot be invalidated. Examples of these are:

• Process pages, which facilitate the application of the policies and guidelines
• WikiProject essays, which are essays that have be written to give advice to other editors about their areas of interest,
• Information pages, which generally provide factual information,
• Supplements to guidelines and policies, which explain advice in greater detail,
• Historical pages, which are outdated.

User Essays

Main category: User Essays

User Essays are essays, editorials and concepts by the editors and writers of BattleTechWiki (BTW). The content of these articles, while based on the BattleTech universe, should not be considered canon and should not be quoted as a source of canon, even though there may be accurate canonical information within them. To be included in this category, articles should be stored on the author's user space and a link provided here by the author. As these are user written items, please do not edit them except for simple grammar and spelling. These pages provide a limited space on BTW for expressions of the BattleTech system and universe. However the pages are is not meant as a means to publish fan-fiction; rather essays put here by their author should be articles written about BattleTech rather than simply set in the BattleTech universe. Ideal user articles should be directly related to or directly address some aspect of canon. As the purpose is to provide value to the BTW community, articles ought to enhance the readers' understanding or appreciation of some aspect of the canonical BattleTech Universe. Additionally it should be understtod that these essays do not speak for the entire community and may be created and written without approval.

Creation and modification of essays

Before creating an essay, it is a good idea to check if similar essays already exist. Although there is no guideline or policy that explicitly prohibits it, writing redundant essays is discouraged. Additionally, you do not have to have created an essay to improve it. If an essay already exists, you can add to, remove from, or modify it as you wish, provided that you use good judgment. However, essays placed in the User: namespace are often—though not always—meant to represent the viewpoint of one user only. You should usually not substantively edit someone else's user essay without permission. To be on the safe side, discuss any edits before making them. If the original author is no longer active or available, seek consensus on the essay's talk page (other editors who have worked on the essay are likely to care about it), or just write a new one. Some other points:

• Authors are encouraged to include references where possible, and to cite as much proof and evidence from canon as possible for any inferences or educated guesses made throughout the work.
• If the original author permits it, Essays may be taken from forum entries or other external sources. In this case, please make sure to credit the original author.
• Avoid creating essays just to prove a point.
• Essays can also be moved into user space (or deleted) if they are found to be unhelpful, violate, or contradict one or more BattleTechWiki policies.
• User essays may be moved into other namespaces if they are frequently referenced, as evidenced by becoming an evolving expression of multiple editors.

Naming and categorization

When naming essay pages, make sure to give the page name the prefix "Essay:" and use the template {{Essay}} at the top of the page. This will automatically categorize your page into the correct category based on the namespace:

• Essays made in the Main namespace will be categorized as "BattleTech essays" and are added to Category:BattleTech Essays.
• Essays made in the Project namespaces will be categorized as "BattleTechWiki essays" and are added to Category:BattleTechWiki Essays.
• Essays made in the User namespace will be categorized as "User essays" and are added to Category:User Essays.