Policy:Canon

The BattleTechWiki's Canon Policy is simple: BattleTechWiki does not seek to define canonicity within this site. Instead, that is left up to the individual guest. BTW allows all things BattleTech into its pages, segregating unlicensed material from articles on licensed subjects.

As established in the BTW Policy:Notability, "Anything that has to do with BattleTech warrants inclusion" on the BattleTechWiki. However, it is sometimes difficult to discern what is canon for the fictional BattleTech universe, and the canonicity of a great deal of information remains unclear. This is discussed in detail in the Canon article.

The policy adopted by this Wiki is not to decide on the canonicity of a given source or piece of information, and to leave it up to the individual user instead to decide what information he deems canonical for his vision of the BattleTech universe, with the assistance of the information provided here. To this end, the BattleTechWiki shall:

• present the current state of the canonicity issue (in digested form), in the Canon article;
• cite sources for information presented;
• and clearly mark any information that is not taken from an undoubtedly licensed source (or that is un-licensed) with appropriate tags.

Producers of Licensed Material

We then...list...the various Grand Sources of licensed material and the general drift of their products (ex, FASA, FanPro, CGL, MicroSoft, ROC with sourcebooks, rulebooks, scenarios, computer games, novels, etc)[.]

Some Sources of Unlicensed Material

some of the larger unlicensed Grand Sources (BattleTechnology magazine, Neveron), as well as the inclusion of fandom articles (such as gaming campaigns, Neveron factions, player units & histories, etc.)

Articles on Licensed Sources

We then explain how licensed source articles (articles about individual sources, like games, scernarios, novels) are to be handled (description, with a brief analysis with how it is generally accepted in the overarching canonicity (but clearly not BTW's))

BattleTechWiki defines a source article as an article on the site that specifically addresses one specific source of information about the overall BattleTech universe. Licensed examples of these are:

• Rulebooks:
  • Tactical Handbook
  • TechManual
  • Tactical Operations
• Sourcebooks:
  • Field Manual: Crusader Clans
  • Handbook: House Marik
• Technical Readouts:
  • Technical Readout: 3025 Revised
  • Technical Readout: Project Phoenix
  • Technical Readout: Vehicle Annex
• Novels:
  • Flight of the Falcon
  • Ghost War
  • The Ruins of Power
• Computer Games:
  • Crescent Hawks Revenge
  • MechWarrior III
  • Virtual World

These articles are generally established in a similar mannaer: basic facts (price, producer, production code and year, creators, etc.) a summary of the source, what it includes, soem notes regarding the source and a brief analytical discussion as to the general validity of the source within the BattleTech universe. Links to both internal and external articles can be found in the See Also section, when relevant.

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Articles on Licensed Subjects

how licensed subject articles (Capellan Confederation, Hunter DropShip, Atlas BattleMech) are expected to have citations from these licensed sources within their articles

BattleTechWiki defines a subject article as an article on the site that specifically addresses one aspect of the BattleTech universe, whether it a BattleMech, a war, a character, a faction, or any of a myriad number of subjects that have been introduced in the vast breadth of BattleTech. Some examples of a licensed subject article include:

• Vehicles:
  • Awesome
  • Leopard CV
  • Bug-Eye
• Factions
  • Draconis Combine
  • Clan Jade Falcon
  • Fiefdom of Randis
• Characters
  • Aleksandr Kerensky
  • Kali Liao
  • Wayne Waco
• Units
  • Hansen's Roughriders
  • Northwind Highlanders
  • 48th Shadow Division
• Events
  • Operation Klondike
  • Second Exodus
  • War of 3039

As BattleTechWiki strives to be as precise an encyclopedia as possible, it is strongly encouraged to include citations to actual sources (to include the source's title and referencing page number, if applicable). It is imperative fan-created material is not incorporated into licensed subject articles and, if any significant doubt exists regarding an uncited statement, the statement may be removed from the article until either properly cited or consensus agrees the statement applies (in the absence of a citation). Guidance on citations can be found in the Help section.

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Fandom Articles

We can then finish up with a discussion as to how fandom articles are to be tagged at the top with the following code (blah-blah-blah-code-here) and are not to be included within licensed articles. Instead, a fandom article can be wiki-linked within a licensed article only in a ==See Also (Fandom)== section, so that people can find fan-created material through following the major links.

BattleTechWiki encourages and accepts fan-created articles, whether they be individually dervived or done as a group effort (such as by members of a Neveron faction or a roleplaying group). However, in order to foster a sense of trust in the articles on licensed materials, BattleTechWiki Editors strongly enforce the segregation of fan creations from the other articles. This is done by the Creator (or a later Editor) tagging each fan creation article with the following code at the top, upon first creation of the article: (blah-blah-blah-code-here). Fan-created material may not be included within the body of any licensed articles, but may be linked to in the ==See Also (Fandom)== section (please feel free to add this to any articles, if it is not already present). We also ask that fan created articles not be included in any categories that does not have a derivative of the word 'fan' in the category name.

We appreciate your adherence to this core policy and welcome you to actively join the community of Users, Creators and Editors of BattleTechWiki.

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