Editing Guidelines

General Guidelines
The most important thing to consider is the reader - how easy is this page to read? How easy is it to navigate to answer a specific question? How likely is it someone would want to follow that link? Does this photo enhance this page? Does this explanation make sense without significant research? Assume our readers are intelligent but lacking specific knowledge of this show - that's why they're here, they have questions and we need to provide the answers.

Page formatting should be kept as simple as possible. The pages are displayed across a wide variety of platforms, and while extra code may make the layout ideal on one setup, it may be unusable on another. Also, Fandom.com are in the process of updating the software that runs this wiki, and adjusting pages to fix a problem now may require un-fixing in the near future.

As per Wikipedia guidelines, links should only appear once per page - for example, it is not necessary to make every instance of the word "Munkustrap" into a link, it simply isn't necessary.

If you think an element of the wiki could be better, please suggest improvements! The best format is probably in a blog.

Page Structure
Pages on this wiki follow a consistent structure to allow for easy browsing. This is most easily described with a few examples:

Performers' Pages
John Partridge - page includes more information than is available for most performers, but shorter pages should follow the same structure.

Personal Information should be kept to professional details - we do not need to add middle names or legal names where they differ from stage names etc. Where a performer has been credited under multiple names that information is appropriate to add; but birth names are not. Dates of birth should be kept to month/year - full dates of birth are private data, unless expressly publicised. Most of the performers in this database are not public figures, but normal people with an expectation of privacy.

Headshot photos should be kept to thumbnail size.

External links should be kept to relevant, public accounts. Wikipedia, IMDB etc pages are relevant if the performer is notable enough to have a page dedicated to them. Official sites are relevant, even when the performer has changed focus of their career. Unofficial/fan sites should be included only when good quality, and labelled as such. Social media accounts should only be linked when it is clear that the performer uses the account as promotion - with a focus on their performances and career. If an account is restricted or does not focus on their performance, it should be regarded as part of their private life and not linked here. Facebook accounts should not be included unless expressly career / fan focused. Feedback from performers is welcomed and any social media links will be added or removed on request.

Editors should periodically check that links to external sites are still active and accurate.

Galleries
The Gallery format on this wiki is, admittedly, less than ideal, especially for a visual heavy subject such as ours. Changes are promised in the software so current workarounds should be viewed as temporary. In general terms it is better to break galleries into small sections, as this loads faster on mobile devices etc.

Galleries should follow a logical progression - chronological, alphabetical by character, by order of scenes, categorised by location (ie. Onstage, Backstage, Press photos). Our primary aim is to make finding material easy for readers.

Photos should be captioned but links in captions should be minimised - is the reader going to actually use that link? It is rarely helpful to caption a photo simply with the characters featured - it is better to include the performers, the scene, more information as is relevant to the gallery. For example, on a Performer's gallery it would be relevant to name the character and production, not the performer the gallery is dedicated to, that can be taken as read.

Moving .gif files should always be in a separate gallery from stationary photos, as these files are much larger, and load notably slower, delaying the entire gallery loading.

Character galleries should include productions grouped by region, then chronologically. Photos should include captions detailing performers when known, however each performer's page should only be linked once. This is to cut down on loading times of very data heavy pages.

Photo Format
Files must be uploaded with descriptive filenames. This works in conjunction with the Categories to allow easy, efficient browsing through the content on this wiki - checking for duplicates or looking for a specific file. The format for file names must be as follows:

"character / actor / production / year / detail, number"

ie.

"Misto Jacob Brent Broadway 1997 backstage 01"

or:

"scene / production / year / detail, number"

ie.

"Jellicle Ball UK Tour 1989 05"

Long character names should be shortened, performer names can be shortened as long as there is sufficient context for any editor to know what you mean. Special characters such as brackets, ampersand, commas, should not be used as this can be garbled by some websites. Where the photo contains multiple characters, say a backstage photo of four or five people, the performers names should be included in the "Photo Description" once uploaded rather than in the filename. The goal is easy legibility when editing code or hunting for specific images.

Photos should only be uploaded if they are unique and interesting. If there is already a low-quality version of the image, then you need to upload a new version to that file to update it, rather than creating a new file for the same image which then requires editing all the pages that use that image. It is important to follow these rules on file names and categories in order to make it easy to check for duplicates and near-duplicates before uploading.

Videos
Videos need similar filenames as photos - the file uploaded to the wiki needs to be in English, needs to be descriptive, and does not need to start with "Cats"! Videos need to be added to the category for that production, ie "UK International Tours Videos". Videos should also be added to articles, not just left sitting unused. It is important to understand that the wiki does not copy the video, only links to the source, so if the source of the video is removed the link breaks. This makes video content rather high maintenance, but worthwhile.

Making video recordings of the live show is illegal and not condoned by this wiki. However we are not responsible for content uploaded elsewhere on the internet, and will link to it where there is a lack of better reference material.

Categories
The Category system on this wiki is essential and very useful once understood. The system is somewhat like hashtags on social media; however you need to use the existing categories rather than creating new ones. Each category has a page which itself is added to the category tree, which allows you to browse through content easily.

Categories must be added to all pages and files on this wiki. Photos require the production and principal features of the image, such as "Images London Production" and "Images of Mistoffelees". It is not necessary to add every character in an image, only those who you would say feature in the image - however this is subjective and flexible. But don't add Rumpleteaser when you can only see her knee!

There are two categories per character, "Images of Mistoffelees" and "Mistoffelees Actor". The first is for photos, the second is for performers' pages. When presented side by side, the uses are obvious, but occasionally images end up mis-categorised into the "Actor" category, please be aware to avoid this.

Creating new categories is entirely possible with good reason. If you feel that it would be particularly interesting to add a new category, please start a discussion about it.

Accuracy
We try to fact-check and maintain accuracy across this wiki, however mistakes do creep in, most commonly in identifying the performers in images. Please feel free to edit and correct mistakes. This involves re-naming the inaccurate file and correcting the file name on each page it has been used on; potentially removing the file entirely from some pages and adding it to the correct pages. Alternatively leave us a message with the details of the mistake and the correct information, and we will fix it.

If possible quote sources for your information, tell us why your information is more reliable than what is already here.

Notability
This wiki aims to comprehensively cover all original, replica production of Cats - those that are fully licensed to use all aspects of the original Creative Team's work. This wiki does not aim to comprehensively cover Non-replica, Regional, and Amateur productions. Such productions can be included if an Editor considers them to be Notable - the criteria for Notability consists of being interesting enough for at least one Editor to write a complete page for the production!

A "Complete Page" includes the following elements:
 * Infobox
 * Production Specifics
 * Production and Creative team
 * Venue information
 * Cast
 * Gallery
 * References

Non-replica productions are restricted from full inclusion on the wiki in the following ways:
 * Cast lists should be included but pages should not be created for individual performers
 * Images should be added to a category for that production but not categorised per character
 * Images should not be included in Character Galleries
 * Non-Replica productions should be under Category:Non-Replica_Productions

Fandom
Cats is a show left open to interpretation far more than most media. It actively invites fan theories and headcanons, very little is set in stone across all productions. This requires us to describe elements in general terms: "is often", "can be seen", etc. When something has been stated on record by a member of the original production team, that is canon; everything else is subject to interpretation.

The Cats fandom is full of creativity and stories, however on this wiki we try to draw the line between what is definitely portrayed by the performers and what is extrapolated by fans. We have the Headcanons page to collate all theories, rather than adding to the individual character's pages. This is not the place for fantasy productions, dream casting should be kept to blog discussions, all the content should be factual and accurate.