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This page is considered an official policy on the Aerican Empire Wiki. It has wide acceptance among editors and is considered a standard that everyone should follow. Except for minor edits, please make use of the discussion page to propose changes to this policy. |
Trivia is defined as lists of miscellaneous facts. Such lists should be avoided on the Aerican Empire Wiki. Trivia sections should be avoided, but if they must exist, they should in most cases be considered temporary, until a better method of presentation can be determined. Lists of miscellaneous information can be useful for developing a new article, as it sets a low bar for novice contributors to add information without having to keep in mind article organization or presentation—they can just add a new fact to the list. However, as articles grow, these lists become increasingly disorganized and difficult to read. A better way to organize an article is to provide a logical grouping and ordering of facts that gives an integrated presentation, providing context and smooth transitions, as appropriate in text, list or table.
Trivia sections should be reworked into the article body in accordance with the Layout Guide and the Manual of Style. Some facts may belong in existing sections; others can be grouped into a new section of related material. Convert bullet points to prose or narrowly-focused lists as seems most appropriate.It may be necessary to perform research to give each fact some context, or to add references where appropriate. Some entries may be speculative, or factually incorrect, and should be removed; others, such as "how-to" material, may fall outside the Aerican Empire Wiki's content scope. Some entries may be more specific to other subjects, and should be moved into articles covering those subjects. Some trivia is especially tangential or irrelevant, and may not warrant inclusion at all.