Editing Battlestar Wiki:Separate continuity

{{policy|23 October 2006|shortcut=BW:SEP}}
{{Battlestar Wiki List of Policies}}

'''Separate continuity''' articles discuss the content of official products whose characters, events and situations differ in significant context from aired episodes and their characters, situations and events that form the [[canon]] of the [[Original Series]], ''[[Galactica 1980]]'' or the [[Re-imagined Series]]. Separate continuity products have the official endorsement of the license holder for ''Battlestar Galactica'', but the content of the product is (by design or contract) not created or controlled by the license holder.''

<blockquote>'''In a nutshell, marking articles on Battlestar Wiki in this manner allows the wiki to host articles on these officially-licensed stories without causing confusion and inaccuracies in mixing this otherwise non-canonical data with aired, canonical episode data in the same article.'''</blockquote>

The {{tl|separate continuity}} tag should be placed at the top of such articles to indicate that the content of this article may be based on an aired series, but has content that has significant differences from the aired series that it must be treated as a separate continuity to avoid contraditions with canonical episodes.

Do not use the {{tl|separate continuity}} tag for [[fan fiction]]; Battlestar Wiki is not a repository for such information. This tag is for use only on officially published or manufactured items such as comics or books that have significant variations from the aired series' content.

Articles tagged as separate continuity will show a banner that notes the article's closest relation to a canonical continuity. The icon in the banner shows Commander [[William Adama]] with a [[Wikipedia:Goatee|goatee]] as an in-joke to the original ''Star Trek'' episode, "[[MemoryAlpha:Mirror, Mirror|Mirror, Mirror]]," where the [[Wikipedia:Evil twin|evil version]] of [[MemoryAlpha:Spock (mirror)|Mr. Spock sports a goatee]]. This reference has been a popular and humorous way of late to describe alternate-universe stories and events in popular literary and media circles.

To create a separate continuity article:

#Create your article, adding the {{tl|separate continuity}} template above all other content of the article, except disambiguations.
#Feel free to make links to canonical articles related to the separate continuity article. For instance, [[Zak Adama]] has a presence in both the [[Miniseries]] and "[[Act of Contrition]]", but is a character in the ''[[Battlestar Galactica 0]]'' comic. However, do NOT add any separate-continuity references or information to the canonical articles.
#Don't attempt to add the Separate Continuity category to the end of the article. This is added automatically when the {{tl|separate continuity}} template is used.
#Use all the relevant categories for your article. Chances are, you will need to add the article to the books, comics, or merchandise categories.


==Note==
*Despite the unpopularity of the short-lived ''[[Galactica 1980]]'' series among [[Original Series]] fans, the aired events, characters and situations presented there define it as canonical (albeit sometimes contradictory). Do not use the separate continuity feature to mark ''Galactica 1980'' articles.

*As characters, events and situations appear from novels based on the Re-imagined Series universe, contributors are encouraged to add new articles on these items to Battlestar Wiki, as long as the article is properly differentiated from its canonical parent by name and the separate continuity markers.