Marvel Universe Help:Posting
Marvel.com's Marvel Universe is THE definitive online resource for information about Marvel's characters and history. Any Marvel fan can post to Marvel Universe, but please make sure you understand and adhere to the following guidelines before adding your contributions.
Posting and Approvals (or Why don't my posts show up?)
In order to maintain the accuracy of Marvel Universe, posts are reviewed by a group of Marvel editors, OHOTMU writers, and other Marvel.com users who have actively and accurately posted to Marvel Universe in the past. The decisions of approvers are final, even if you don't agree with them. If you have questions about why a post was or was not approved, ask it on the discussion page for that article.
Hero Points
When your posts are approved, they can be viewed by other people on the site and you gain Hero Points Users who earn enough Hero Points can become approvers as well. Hero Points also qualify you for other cool things that happen from time to time on Marvel.com.
Getting Started
If you're not sure where to post, check out the discussion pages for various articles and catgegories and see where they are heading. Also watch the wanted sections to see entries that need to be added, and the listing for articles that have been created but need more detailed information.
If you want to know some cool formatting tricks, check out the cheat sheet.
Posting Guidelines
Please keep the following in mind when adding entries to Marvel Universe:
Language
Keep all language neutral, factual, brief and informative. Focus on the facts as presented in our comics (or movies, video games, or tv shows if appropriate) not your personal opinions of them. Marvel has the best fans anywhere, so this goes without saying, but vulgar, abusive, offensive, racist, defamatory, or other inappropriate language will not be tolerated. Marvel reserves the right to block users permanently who break these rules. (Actually we have the right to block users for any reason we see fit but it wouldn't be any fun for us to do that). If you have questions about these see our terms and conditions page.
Style
Please use all that spelling and grammar that you were taught but slept through in school. Avoid slang, jargon, IM chat speak, smileys, L33t speak, and the like. Basically: "Peter can cling to most surfaces, has superhuman strength and is roughly 15 times faster than a regular human." = good
"Spid3y R00lz!" = bad
Also see below for more on language.
Sourcing
All entries and edits must come from published Marvel comics (or movies, video games, and/or TV shows for bios from those genres). Again, Published. Nothing is considered to have happened in the Marvel Universe until it has appeared in print (or on screen) in source material. This means do not post internet rumors, things you heard in a creator interview, blog posts, storylines from previews or preview art, or something you heard from some guy who says he totally knows the roommate of the cousin of some editor at Marvel. If the text of your post cannot be justified through direct source material, it probably won't get approved.
You do not need to include the source for your edits or additions in the body of the post itself, but your chances of having a post approved increase greatly if you a) include the source in the summary of your edit (the little box that says "summary" right below the edit window, and b) you mention the material in the discussion page for that article.
The best way to have a new profile or edit to an existing profile approved is if you do the research and writing yourself, and cite your sources as per above. Plagiarism is strongly frowned upon here at Marvel.com, and any posts found to have been copied or paraphrased from other sources (including all non-Marvel sites such as Wikipedia) will be rejected. Copying from the Official Handbooks is allowed - but please note your source of reference in the Summary box before posting.
Templates
Most articles will use one or more templates, which help keep the pages looking clean and the data for each article structured. The most important templates are:
If you are starting a new profile, select the appropriate template before posting. Each template page has instructions about how to use it, so please read them. Profiles submitted without templates will be deleted. If you want a new template to be created, post in the discussion page for the wanted page.
Formatting Guidelines
All entries should be written in "Handbook style", that is, following the format of profiles as laid down by the Official Handbooks. When beginning work on a new entry, you should go back and re-read every appearance of the character you're profiling and, if necessary, take notes. If you're editing an existing profile, then make sure you have the necessary issues at hand to refer to when necessary.
Don't ever rely on second- or third-hand information, such as unofficial Websites. Always get your information directly from the original sources. Also, please remember to always cite your sources in the Summary box before saving. See the Sourcing section above for more.
History Formatting
When writing, don't refer to things such as series titles, issue numbers, story arcs, pages, panels, etc. directly in the history text. Write is as if you're in the Marvel Universe witnessing the events firsthand. Also, please refrain from including personal comments and the like.
It's also usually a good idea to wait for a story arc to finish before adding any information therein to a profile. This will save you having to potentially rewrite it as the arc progresses.
Absolutely don't include any information from unofficial sources such as fan fiction, and don't create profiles for any characters that aren't the property of Marvel Comics. Any profiles found to contain such information will be deleted.
We would prefer that contributors not transcribe entries wholesale from past editions of the Handbook, especially the current editions, as the Handbook writers still retain copies of their work and, if desired, can post these themselves.
Regarding linking to other entries, you only need to link the first instance of a particular name in the profile, not every instance. Please ensure to link to the correct entry; ie, if you're wanting to link to the Peter Parker Spider-Man profile, link to "Spider-Man (Peter Parker)" (sans quotes). If in doubt, check on the category pages to see what a particular profile's title is.
When reviewing a profile, links to profiles/articles that already exist will show as blue links, while links to those yet to be created will show as red links.
Bibliography Formatting
Bibliographies should also be written in Handbook format. When it comes to referencing a specific series of a particular title, put the year of publication in brackets at the end. Don't list "Vol. 1" or "(1st series)" or the like.
The typical format for the Significant Issues section is: event (series #issue, year). When referencing multiple issues, the typical format is: event (series #issue/series #issue, year/year). If the year of publication is the same for all referenced issues, only list it once. That is: (series #issue/series #issue, year).
If in doubt about how to list something in a bibliography, check past Handbooks and you're bound to find an example. However, please don't copy the Handbook's bibliographies. As mentioned above, the Handbook writers will be able to do this far more easily if they so desire.
For a good example of bibliography formatting, check out the Wolverine profile currently online.
Image Guidelines
For more information on images see the cheat sheet.
All images should be of high quality, and be "clean" - that is, free of logos, URLs, text, or any other branding.
Existing images should only ever be replaced if they are of poor quality, or if they depict a subject other than the one being profiled.
Inline images should be used to showcase different looks/costumes, or for the case of deceased characters their death scene. Inline images that are not different enough from the main image (ie, another shot of the character in the same costume) will be removed.
Replacing interface images (such as the headings and graphics in templates) is strictly prohibited and will result in a ban.
Writing Guidelines
With thanks to the Official Handbook's Sean McQuaid, here are some handy tips for writing the perfect profile!
Use Passive Statements Sparingly
Good: "Scourge killed Norman Osborn."
Not So Good: "Norman Osborn was killed by Scourge."
No rules are absolute, and sometimes there's a good stylistic or content-driven reason to slip into passive voice--but it's not ideal form, especially in handbook-style material. Most of the time, passive statements needlessly bloat a sentence and suck energy out of the text.
Always Focus on Action, Seldom on Ability
Good: "Reed repaired H.E.R.B.I.E. the robot."
Bad: "Reed was able to repair H.E.R.B.I.E. the robot."
Good: "Tagak freed Starlight"
Bad: "Tagak managed to free Starlight"
Whenever possible, let the actions speak for themselves, stripped of embellishment. There are certainly cases where content calls for a little embellishment, because of something emotional or dramatic or unusual about the act in question, but bland, generic "able to" and "managed to" phrasings like the ones above almost never add anything worthwhile, and these pop up in the profiles way too often.
Don't Repeat Yourself
This comes up most often in overlap between History and Powers. If you've already addressed in History the fact that Doctor Sunshine is a superhuman mutate who got his powers from a vial of Happy Serum, you don't need to mention any of this stuff again in the Powers section.
Bad Powers Text: "Thanks to the Happy Serum that gave him his powers, Doctor Sunshine is a mutate who can generate "feelgood" vibes that "mellow out" his opponents."
Good Powers Text: "Doctor Sunshine generates "feelgood" vibes that "mellow out" his opponents."
Participles Are Your Pals (sometimes)
These profiles all force us to compress many, many events into one dense narrative. Present participle ("painting") and past participle ("painted") versions of your verbs can help compress things a bit.
Okay: "Brian O'Brien donned a mask and fought crime as The Clock."
Better: "Donning a mask, Brian O'Brien fought crime as The Clock."
In that particular case, the space savings are only very slight, but they add up over the course of a profile, and using fewer sentences helps keep the layout tighter.
Another example:
Not So Good: "Josie was stunned by Valerie's true feelings, and she insisted they remain just friends."
Better: "Stunned by Valerie's true feelings, Josie insisted they remain just friends."
Use Introductory Descriptions Sparingly
If a character is well known, don't go overboard introing him or her. Referring to "the insane symbiote-possessed superhuman criminal Venom", for instance, is a bit long. If Venom needs an intro at all when he's being mentioned in passing in someone else's entry, say "the mad super-criminal Venom" or something like that, at the very most. And avoid peppy but unhelpful descriptive phrases like "the wall-crawling Spider-Man", "the rampaging Hulk" and so on - most people already know these characters, and those sorts of phrases do nothing to inform the few who don't know these characters in any meaningful way.
That being said, intro phrases are more acceptable - encouraged, even - for more obscure characters: "the flying French mercenary Le Peregrine" for instance.
Never Send a Phrase to do a Noun's Job
Generally speaking, you're better off if you go with "crimes" instead of "illegal activities", "mistakes" instead of "errors in judgement", "battles" instead of "violent clashes" and so on. Unless there's something vitally, specifically descriptive in the phrase in question, a noun will usually serve you better.
Possessives are your Pals
Not So Good: "Fabian consulted Mister Costello, the lawyer to the Avengers."
Better: "Fabian consulted Mister Costello, the Avengers' lawyer."
It's a simple trick, but I see variations on this in the profiles a LOT, instances where a connection can be expressed more concisely through the use of possessive phrasing.
Avoid Unnecessary Analysis
We recount actions; we generally don't comment on the actions. If we detail a falling-out between Shades and Comanche, including Shades wounding Comanche, then close with Comanche pushing Shades off a cliff, we could do this two ways:
Okay: "Comanche exacted his revenge by pushing Shades off a cliff."
More Concise: "Comanche pushed Shades off a cliff."
It's a revenge act, sure, but if the History has already supplied the context of their relationship, we don't necessarily need to further underline the nature of their relationship while recounting the actions.
Conclusion
There's more stuff I could get into, but I've gotta get back to work, so I hope what little I've outlined above will be helpful. -- Sean McQuaid
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