GTA Wiki:Cleanup

This page documents the Manual of Style guidelines of the GTA Wiki.

It concerns standards that all users should follow.

Cleanup refers to the process of keeping articles on the GTA Wiki clean and consistent.

Cleanup is an essential component of the Manual of Style; in order to enhance the overall user experience, it is essential that content is presented in a standardized and organized manner. This involves reviewing and editing articles to eliminate grammatical errors, inconsistencies, and any content that may be deemed irrelevant or unnecessary. By adhering to this cleanup process, contributors work collaboratively to elevate the professionalism and readability of the content within the GTA Wiki.

Manual of Style

There are three key stages to cleanup:

1. Removing vandalism: keeping articles clear from misleading, unauthorized and disruptive edits.
2. style and organization: ensuring that articles are consistent and polished, employing standardized formatting, clear language, and a logical structure.
3. Verifying accuracy: ensuring that information is accurate, up-to-date and references are supplied where necessary.

Removing vandalism

Main article: GTA Wiki:Vandalism

Vandalism refers to content on articles that is disruptive. This includes spam (text or external links), deliberately offensive content, malicious removal of useful content or addition of totally irrelevant content (including images).

There is zero tolerance on Vandalism on GTA Wiki. Any editor that spots vandalism should remove or correct it immediately and report it to a member of Staff. Users who perform mass-scale vandalism on articles are likely to be blocked.

Style and organisation

Main article: GTA Wiki:Manual of Style

Style and organization across articles is essential to ensure consistency, clarity, and professionalism in the presentation of information across articles.

The GTA Wiki has a rich set of manuals which cover the standardization of article structure and content of articles by type. These serve as a reference point for contributors, outlining best practices for formatting, writing style, and organization throughout the wiki. This includes things like page names, level of detail within descriptions, images, categories and templates. If multiple pages, images, templates or categories exist for the same subject, then cleanup is required.

This is a process generally implemented by Staff and other experienced users, mainly because they are the ones that are aware of the organization of the wiki. Likewise, it is usually new users who are not aware of these policies that make these mistakes.

Verifying accuracy

Main article: GTA Wiki:References

All information on GTA Wiki must be factual, and unknown information or data such as statistics or dates should be verified with a link to or mention of a reliable source.

Users should always strive to ensure the content they add is as close to accurate as possible before posting. Processes for verifying accuracy include repetition, shared user experiences and game file verification.

On the GTA Wiki, it is not mandatory to include references for every detail. However, when information can't be readily verified through in-game content or supported by images or screenshots, it's a signal that a reference is necessary. References manifest as tags alongside content, offering extra context, whether it be images, data, or links to external sources like websites, images, videos, or social media. These references are appended to the end of an article using the {{Reflist}} template. The more references an article has, the better.

A reliable source is an issue of much controversy at Wikipedia. On GTA Wiki, the rule of thumb is that a source must be from a well-known website, and not written by the person referencing that source.

Cleanup templates

Cleanup templates can be used to mark pages which require attention from other GTA Wiki editors or Staff members.

Any user can add or remove a cleanup notice to or from an article, although it is advised to read the reasons for the notice before considering removing it.

Template	Notice description	Required action(s)	Categories
{{Arrange}}	Used if an article or section is difficult to read.	Content requires rewording.	Articles requiring rewording
{{Cleanup}}	Used if an article or section requires a general cleanup (such as grammar, formatting, layout, etc).	Article requires a general cleanup.	Cleanup
{{Delete}}	Marks an article or file for deletion. Used if the reason for deletion is obvious (such as vandalism, missing files, etc).	Article or file deleted.	Delete Files marked for deletion (File pages)
{{Propose Delete}}	Proposes that an article or file should be deleted. Used if the reason for deletion may be disputed.	Article or file may be deleted.	Proposed for deletion Files proposed for deletion (File pages)
{{Images}}	Used to indicate that an article needs more (or updated) files.	Images are required.	Images Needed Articles requiring a Current Design Gallery (cdg=y)
{{Merge}}	Used to suggest that an article is merged with another.	Article may be merged with another.	Merge
{{Move}}	Used to suggest than article or file is renamed.	Article or file may be renamed.	Move Files to be moved (File pages)
{{Orphan}}	Used on articles that are not linked to, making them harder to find.	Links to this article are added elsewhere.	Orphans
{{Redlinks}}	Used on articles that contain red links - links to files or articles that do not exist.	Red links to missing files or renamed articles are updated or removed.	Articles containing red links
{{Replace}}	Used on files to indicate that it needs replacing with a better or higher quality version.	File is updated.	Replace
{{Speculation}}	Used on articles that are subjected to high amounts of speculation.	Users be weary of speculative content and add references to content that has not been verified.	Verify
{{Split}}	Used to suggest that an article is split up into two or more separate articles.	Article may be split up.	Split
{{Stub}}	Used to indicate that an article or section does not contain enough information.	More information is added.	Stub Articles with section stubs (section=y)
{{Style}}	Used to indicate that an article does not follow the GTA Wiki Manual of Style	Article is restructured and restyled according to the appropriate Manual of Style.	Articles requiring a Manual of Style cleanup
{{Under Construction}}	Used to indicate that an article or section is currently under construction, or has recently been created.	Users to be weary that content may be subject to change or improvements. New articles are regularly maintained and stripped of the template after 30 days.	Articles with sections under construction New articles (new=y)
{{Verify}}	Used to mark that an article or section requires verification.	Verification, such as images, videos or data are added as citations/references.	Verify

See Also

• Deletion
• Cleanup