Citing sources is a common practice many wikis use to ensure the information reported on an article is factual and verifiable. The Battle for Dream Island Wiki uses sources to ensure the credibility of the information presented on the website.
This page presents a basic guide on how to use citations on the Wiki, as well a list of prioritized sources in the event one source of information contradicts another in an article, and which to give priority to.
Creating citations
Adding a citation
Sources are used next to information that should use extra verification.
To add a source, you can type the
<ref>
tag in VisualEditor to open a source citing menu, where you can add relavant links and images for your citation. If using the Source Editor, you may type a citation out like the following:
<ref>Reference text goes here [[File:image.png|Relavant image caption goes here|thumb]]</ref>
Repeatedly used citations in an article can also be relinked without creating a new citation. This can be accomplished by using the "name" tag and adding it to the starting tag of a citation.
First instance of a citation.<ref name="goiky">Reference text goes here [[File:image.png|Relavant image caption goes here|thumb]]</ref> Second instance of a citation, but reusing a previous one.<ref name="goiky"/>
Citations under certain contexts can also be grouped with tags, which can be displayed separately from a main body of citations. A group citation can be created by adding the "group" tag to the starting tag.
<ref group="note">Reference text goes here [[File:image.png|Relavant image caption goes here|thumb]]</ref>
Note that this is not a rigid example of how a citation is to be formatted. Citations can be simple links, some can be media such as images and videos, or they can be excerpts of dialogue from an episode.
Listing citations
Citations are traditionally listed under a dedicated "References" section, which is traditionally located near the bottom of a page, after a gallery but above any navigation templates. A reference list can be added in VisualEditor by clicking the "Insert" drop down menu in the formatting bar, selecting "More" for more options, and selecting "Reference list".
In the Source Editor, you can add a reference list by typing the following:
<references/>
To make a reference list specific to a certain group of citations, you can click a citation list in VisualEditor, select the Edit button specific to ot that appears, and type the name of group specific citations used.
In the Source Editor, you can add a group citation by typing the following:
<references group="note"/>
Source priority
Currently, there are five distinct classifications of sources for the Battle for Dream Island Wiki, with the priority as follows:
- Main continuity
- Official Character Guide
- Supplemental material
- Word of God
- Production material
In the event that two sources contradict one another, the one with a higher priority will be given credence, but information that is contradictory or otherwise noteworthy may still be listed on an article.
Further defintions of sources are as follows:
Main continuity
This refers to events that happen in the primary canon of the show, which includes:
- All seasons of Battle for Dream Island
- All seasons of BFDI Mini
- Total Firey Island
- "BFDI Is Back"
- "Paper Towel"
- "Plan Dissolve Adhesive"
Official Character Guide
This refers to information inside of the Battle for Dream Island: Official Character Guide, published in 2019. Some information in the book has since been contradicted by future episodes.
Supplemental Material
This refers to a variety of media that is official and presented through official means by Jacknjellify, such as comics, episode descriptions, and social media posts. This also includes non-canon videos, such as but not limited to subscriber specials and short videos. This loosely defines the realm of non-canonicity.
Content of disputed relation to the main canon, such as "X Finds Out His Value" or "BFDI APPISIOTE 225555555!!!!!" would generally fall under this category until proven to have relation to the main series.
Word of God
"Word of God" refers to any sort of clarifications, statements, or other means of revealing information by a creator of media outside of the media itself. In the case of Battle for Dream Island, this may refer to a showrunner on Jacknjellify such as Cary Huang, Michael Huang, Satomi Hinatsu, or Sam Thornbury making these sorts of comments on social media platforms and YouTube videos. QnA sessions from meetups also fall under this category.
Production material
Production material refers to media during the production of a greater piece of media. In context of Battle for Dream Island, it commonly refers to scripts, storyboards, and flash files made for an episode. As details change from the concept stage to the final product, information from this category is given the lowest priority, and information that is revealed in this category is considered to hold the least weight, but is still acceptable to use on the wiki.