Manual of style

This article is an official site guideline. It is strongly recommended to follow the suggestions outlined in this article when contributing to DM Live.

This is an instruction manual written to assist editors in understanding the standards adopted by DM Live with regards to writing, titles, articles, and linking to site content. It is recommended to read this manual prior to contributing to the DM Live project, as it includes tips and tricks to help you get started.

Article titles

The conventions for titles dictate that all proper nouns, locations, and names of people are capitalized unless specifically not capitalized. Titles are not written like book titles (where most words are capitalized) unless the article is about a book); note the title of this page is Manual of style, not Manual of Style.

Uniformity in the titling of articles is important as it makes for a professional appearance and adds consistency to the user experience. Any page title that includes a name should not be stored in a biographical format; i.e., "Daryl Bamonte", not "Bamonte, Daryl" as the page title for Daryl Bamonte. Titles referring to topics where there is more than one subject should be kept singular, such as ARP 2600 rather than ARP 2600s, Microphone rather than Microphones, and so on.

Opening line

The full linked name of the subject of an article should appear within the first few words of the article before the first page section. Any alternate names may be described later in the article.

Style of writing

This site is designed to be an encyclopedia, and as such, all DM Live editors must use the best possible level of literary style free of bias, typos, grammatical errors, and other issues that may inhibit users' ability to comprehend site content. It is important to write in such a way that a non-Depeche Mode fan can understand the meaning of a passage. For example, introducing a quote as "Alan writes on Shunt:" is incorrect, whereas "Former member Alan Wilder writes in response to a fan question regarding the use of a sample in the song 'Personal Jesus':" is preferable, as it provides key background context allowing readers to better understand the material.

To avoid repetitive blocks of text, it is recommended to fully write and link an individual's first and last name when mentioning them for the first time, and then use only their last name without a link for additional mentions within that page section. Please link to an article only once within a given portion of text whenever possible. In cases where there are multiple occurrences of a word with a notable distance between them, these may be linked multiple times at your discretion.

As a site dedicated to English music group Depeche Mode, use of British English is recommended when making edits to DM Live wherever possible. This helps to establish continuity between background text and direct quotes from group members, which often feature distinct British vocabulary (and, importantly, humour).

Point of view

It is recommended to avoid writing from a second person point of view, as this is informal and generally unsuitable for an encyclopedia. "You can hear Dave Gahan's backing vocals during the first two choruses of 'Home'" is incorrect, while "Dave Gahan's backing vocals can be heard during the first two chorus sections of 'Home'" is correct.

Be sure to check for obvious spelling or grammatical errors before entering a page; if you notice factual or spelling errors on a page, please feel free to correct the issue, as DM Live is an open project to all. In order to avoid disagreements over factual accuracy, it is best to cite sources wherever possible, especially for controversial statements.

How to use references

To cite a source for a statement or quote, place <ref></ref> tags after the sentence that uses information from a source. For quotes, the reference tags should be placed after the period and quotation mark.

How to use named references

For multiple statements or quotes that originate from a single source, it is recommended to use named references. Named references allow you to quickly repeat the source information for multiple sections of text without having to manually write out the source information each time. To create a named reference, use <ref name="RefName"></ref>.

For example, the following markup:

This sentence uses information derived from a third-party.<ref name="Ref1">Source: Reference 1.</ref> The following sentence also uses information from that same source, so we will cite the same source at the end of this sentence.<ref name="Ref1"></ref>.

Will produce the following when rendered on a page (note that the references cited in this sentence now appear at the bottom of this page under the References section):

This sentence uses information derived from a third-party. The following sentence also uses information from that same source, so we will cite the same source at the end of this sentence..

Quotes

When writing brief one or two sentence quotes, please integrate the quote into a sentence naturally or use a colon. For example:

Dave Gahan and Martin Gore stated in a 2013 Rolling Stone interview: "Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit."

Block quotes

When handling long quotes exceeding 40 words in length, please wrap the full quote in <blockquote></blockquote> tags. Block quotes should always start on their own line, and quotation marks should not be used. Any reference citations (which are added using <ref></ref> tags) should appear after the punctuation at the end of the block quote.

For example, the following markup:

<blockquote>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.<ref>Example reference.</ref></blockquote>

Will produce this when rendered on a page:

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.

Names of bands

It is recommended to write the full name of a musical act as opposed to using abbreviations in all cases. Remember to write from the perspective that the reader is completely unfamiliar with the group.

Names of people

When a person has a specific preference for the way their name is written, or where convention differs, please use that instead. For example, use Dave Gahan rather than David Gahan.

Names of concerts

When writing expository text that refers to specific concert dates, it is recommended to write the name of the city in which the concert took place with an embedded link to the page for that concert. This is done by inserting a pipe symbol after the link to the page followed by the name of the city. In cases where the concert in question is noteworthy or famous in some way, such as the Rose Bowl concert, defer instead to the name of the venue. This reference style is helpful as it helps communicate concert dates without interrupting the flow of the sentence.

For example, consider the following sentence: "The next two concerts, [[1981-08-06 Warehouse, Leeds, England, UK]], and [[1981-08-07 Nite Club, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK]], do not currently have any available recordings." This statement is poorly formatted, as the full titles of the concerts break the flow of the sentence and make it harder to read. This sentence would be better written as "The next two concerts, [[1981-08-06 Warehouse, Leeds, England, UK|Leeds]], and [[1981-08-07 Nite Club, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK|Edinburgh]], do not currently have any available recordings", which renders as "The next two concerts, Leeds, and Edinburgh, do not currently have any available recordings."

Image preferences

• Original photographs, artwork, or other official imagery is always preferred.
• In cases where there is no official image of an acceptable quality available, images created by the contributing user are preferred over imagery taken from a third-party sources.
• Overwriting existing images is permitted, as DM Live always favors the image with the highest quality. With this in mind, please make an effort to avoid disputes by discussing the desired change with the user who uploaded the former image prior to uploading the new version.

Page formatting preferences

• Obtrusively bright colours used for backgrounds or templates generally should be avoided. DM Live favors neutral colours such as greys, blacks, and whites for most elements, saving bright or potentially-distracting colours for important elements meant to catch the viewer's eye or as accents depending on the content. Borders with a thickness of 1px are preferred for tables used to display data or text, with thicker borders saved for non-article uses.
• The title of an album, song compilation, video release, video compilation, and other official releases that contain a collection of works should be italicized. In contrast, italics should not be used when writing the titles of individual songs. Song names are always wrapped in apostrophes and linked where possible.
  • It is recommended to use the {{S}} template to easily format song titles. For example, {{S|Halo}} produces "Halo", complete with apostrophes and an embedded link to the song's page. If an embedded link is not required, writing {{S|Halo|U}} will produce "Halo" without the embedded link.

External links

Links to trusted external sites (such as depechemode.com can be linked to using the {{EL}} template. For example, to link to depechemode.com, write: {{EL|http://depechemode.com/ depechemode.com}}. The text following the URL is what will display when the page is rendered, with the URL embedded within the text.

Third-party content

It is against DM Live's policy to directly copy text from other websites without permission from the original author. The only exception to this rule is if a third-party source consents to allowing their work to appear on DM Live and be subsequently edited and expanded upon to meet DM Live's style and standards, in which case editors may directly copy their text into DM Live. In these cases, the source must be credited using reference tags.

Wikipedia content

Please do not copy any text from Wikipedia directly into DM Live. DM Live strives for all written content to be original for legal and style reasons.

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We at DM Live are here to create and maintain the most accurate and all-encompassing encyclopedia of Depeche Mode information available. Your smallest contribution is always appreciated by us and the entire Depeche Mode community.