NOTICE The Marvel Database is continually revising our naming conventions. Please check back here on a routine basis for updated versions.

Foreword

The Marvel Database Project contains tens of thousands of articles and images. In order to keep the site organized, we use a uniform set of rules when naming articles and files. These conventions attempt to cover the vast majority of situations, though exceptions may arise. The conventions are not optional since often unseen aspects of the site's inner workings depend heavily on consistency.

(Thanks!)

General Conventions

Page Names

• Page names always begin with a capital letter. No matter what the circumstance or word that may start the article title. (This is a software requirement.)

• Spaces in the title of your page. If you are creating an page with more than one word in the title, using an underscore between the words is the same as a space. (This is a software requirement.) (eg. Marvel_Comics = Marvel Comics)

• The following words should not be capitalized in a page name unless they are the first word: (see above)

• Capitalize every word in the title (except as above). The convention prevents the confusion of whether certain words should be capitalized or not. (eg. Senator_Kelly_for_President, not Senator_Kelly_for_president)

• Do not use a pound symbol (#) in page names. The # symbol is reserved in html code to signify links to a specific area of a page. For more information on this subject, please refer to our help file on how to edit. (This is a technological restriction.)

• Do not begin a top-level page name with a slash (/ or \). Using the / symbol at the beginning of a page name can cause unexpected behaviour. (This is a software requirement.) Using a slash inside a page name is acceptable. If a page called 'foo' already exists, you can use a forward slash to create sub-pages of 'foo'. (eg. 'foo/bar') In this case, the forward slash symbol (/) is reserved in our software code to signify a separation between sub-pages. If 'foo' does not yet exist, the page will be called 'foo/bar' and no sub-page will be created.

• Avoid using a period (aka full-stop) (.) at the end of an page name. In certain cases having a period at the end of your page name can cause some very unexpected and unwanted results. This is not a requirement as this only occurs when the page is viewed with certain web-browsers.

Articles

Characters

• Character Entries. Character entries should be listed by the real name and earth-designation of the character if possible.
  • If real name is given:
    • Real Name consists of: "First name" "Used name" (if not the same as first name) "Surname" "Jr" (if applicable). None of the names should be shortened in any way. Monet St.Croix, Robert Bruce Banner, James MacDonald Jr, Robert Drake (instead of Bobby), etc
    • Surnames must be the birthname, unless specifically legally changed (not by Marriage). Luke Cage instead of Carl Lucas, Susan Storm instead of Susan Richards.
    • No degrees or titles.
    • Characters use the naming convention of their own culture. The Chinese list their surname first, etc.
  • If the real name is not given:
    • Name consists of the most well known (or latest) codename and the partial real name (or alias) in parenthesis. Rogue (Anna Marie).
    • Any titles in the codename will be written completely. Doctor, Mister.
    • Most well known codename is better than the latest, and the real name is better than the alias, even if it should be more complete.
  • Earth-designation is given: The Earth-designation is listed after the real name in parenthesis. (Earth-616), (Earth-712).
  • Earth-designation is not given:
    • Utilize the TRN system. Making sure to check that it is, in fact, not a known reality.
  • As long as a character has a specific universe of origin, that Earth-designation is given to him/her/it.
  • If a character is a clone, the pagename should be "Character who they were cloned from (unique name for the clone, if one exists. Otherwise just "clone") (reality number)". Peter Parker (Benjamin Reilly) (Earth-616), for instance.

• Multiple Articles of the same name.
  • Articles receive additional parenthesis before the Earth-designation to specify the difference between two or more articles with the same name (and Earth-designation). Hamilton Slade (Vampire) (Earth-616), Hamilton Slade (Rider) (Earth-616).

Disambiguation Pages

• Disambig pages will be created for aliases utilized by more than one character. Real names will link to the most common alias used by the character (James Howlett to Wolverine, Scott Summers to Cyclops).

Items/Vehicles/Locations/Races

Page Names

• Items, vehicles, races and locations should utilize a single, standard page, for all information about their various alternate reality counterparts. All Asgards should be on the page titled Asgard. All Quinjets on the Quinjet page. Etc. Each alternate reality version, when enough information is present to require one, should be presented as a separate section of that page.
• When sharing a name with anything else, the item should have (Item) after its name, the vehicle should have (Vehicle) after its name, and so on. Infinity Gauntlet (Event), Infinity Gauntlet (Item)

Comics Section

Page Names

• Naming Comic Articles. All comics should be named according to the following format where possible:

'x Vol y z' where x is the comic title, y is the volume number and z is the issue number. (eg. Iron Man Vol 1 3)

• • Please Note: There are no # or . symbols in the title (see above).

Movie Section

Page Names

• Pages should be the movie's full release title. If no release title is yet known, or it shares its name with an existing page, the film's year of release and the word film should be added in parenthesis following the title. Amazing Spider-Man (2012 film), for instance.

Television Series Section

Page Names

• Naming Episodes. All episodes should be named according to the following format where possible:

'x Season y z' where x is the Series title, y is the Season number and z is the Episode number. (eg. Fantastic Four: World's Greatest Heroes Season 1 1)

• • Please Note: There are no # or . symbols in the title (see above).
    • Previously, there was no format for Episode or series naming.

Novel Section

Page Names

• Novels should have the full title of the novel, with "(Novel)" following it. Wolverine: Election Day (Novel), for instance.

Images

Page Names

• Use descriptive titles. Images should be named following the conventions as set out below.

====Comic Images==== (use this format when selecting the majority of a scene or the entire comic page)

Comic title_Vol_volume number_issue number.jpg (Please use .jpg, .gif or .png format, in lowercase.)

Example: Uncanny_X-Men_Vol_1_233.jpg

Volume number is required, even if it is volume 1, and volume 2 does not yet exist.

Example: Uncanny_X-Men_Vol_1_233_Variant_1.jpg

Variant numbers can be appended in the form Variant_variant number. (Does not apply to textless covers, see below)

Example: Uncanny_X-Men_Vol_1_233_Textless.jpg

Textless covers should be named as in the example above, simply be appending Textless to the end.

Images taken from inside a comic should be named as above, with an appended, incremental number:

Example: Uncanny_X-Men_Vol_1_233_001.jpg, Uncanny_X-Men_Vol_1_233_002.gif, etc

Volume number is required, even if it is volume 1, and volume 2 does not yet exist.

====Character / Team Images==== (use this format when selecting a head or body shot)

Primary subject_source_incremental number(if needed).jpg (Please use .jpg, .gif or .png format, in lowercase.)

Example: Remy_LeBeau_(Earth-616)_from_Uncanny_X-Men_Vol_1_233_0001.jpg, Remy_LeBeau_(Earth-616)_from_Uncanny_X-Men_Vol_1_233_0002.gif, etc

The incremental number must be 4 digits long to ensure there will be sufficient numbers for future use.

Fan Art

Primary subject_incremental number_Fan_Art.jpg

Example: Peter_Parker_(Earth-9997)_0001_Fan_Art.jpg etc

Fan Art is defined as any artwork not officially published by Marvel or any of its holdings, (Malibu, MAX, etc). This includes, but is not limited to drawings or sketches produced by official Marvel artists at conventions and signings, and art produced by you or your friends.

Miscellaneous

• Avoid Abbreviations. The title of a file for Uncanny X-Men Volume 1, #20, should not be 'UXM120.jpg', but rather more fully written out like 'Uncanny X-Men Vol 1 20.jpg'. This helps our search feature more easily locate these images later. It also avoids possibility of conflicting names. The first example is ambiguous and could be interpreted as either Uncanny X-Men #120 or Uncanny X-Men, Volume 1, #20.

Sub-pages

• In order to keep related pages grouped together, sub-pages are often utilized. Sub-pages exist in the same namespace as their parent page and can usually be found from automatically generated links in corresponding article templates.

• Some subpage examples include:
  • Character/Fan_Art
  • Character/Gallery
  • Comic/Covers
  • Staff/Artist
  • Staff/Colourist
  • Staff/Cover Artist
  • Staff/Editor
  • Staff/Editor-in-Chief
  • Staff/Inker
  • Staff/Penciler
  • Staff/Writer
  • Team/Fan_Art
  • Team/Gallery
  • User/Blog
  • User/Collection
  • User/Favourites
  • User/Gallery
  • User/News
  • User/Sandbox
  • User/Wishlist

Please submit any questions regarding special circumstances or any other concerns to the wiki editors forum for review and we will either establish a new, relevant convention or direct you to the existing convention that would be applicable in that case.

Thank you again!