Battlestar Wiki:Citation Jihad

This page is one of Battlestar Wiki's many projects. This page serves to coordinate discussion on a particular aspect of this Wiki. The formal recommendations of a project may be treated as policies.

Jihad is an arabic word meaning "to exert utmost effort, to strive, to struggle." At the Battlestar Wiki, we strive to be a comprehensive and accurate source of canonical information. Because of the nature of a wikipedia to which anyone may contribute, it is vital that sources be cited and facts checked. This project page is intended to serve as the hub of these operations.

Preamble

Battlestar Wiki's primary goals do not include discerning which unofficial sources have valid information. Our primary goal is to report valid information in an encyclopedic medium. Due to this, we will not be citing rumors from any sources other than official channels (SCI-FI Channel, Ronald D. Moore, and current cast and crew). Any information from sources other than those in the list will be immediately removed from the wiki; actions which lead to the repeated reintroduction of said unofficial and unverifiable material will be dealt accordingly by an on-duty administrator.

Acceptable Sources

In roughly descending order of reliability:

1. On-screen evidence
   • TWIZ TV is a good source for episode transcripts
   • DVDs (subtitles, visual evidence, and behind-the-scenes material)
2. Official comments from the producers:
   • Episode podcasts
     • Podcast transcripts are being coordinated at Battlestar Wiki:Podcast Transcripts.
   • DVD commentaries
   • Ronald D. Moore's blog
   • David Eick's video blog
3. Other statements from producers, cast, and crew
   • Interviews
   • Cast and crewmember websites
   • Battlestar Galactica: The Official Companion
4. The SciFi channel and SkyOne websites

This list is an important guideline, but its order is not to be slavishly obeyed. If David Eick mentions offhand that Galactica is four inches long, but a reliable source from Zoic gives scaling information used in the visual effects sequences, deference should be given to Zoic's field of expertise. (This would also fall under the guideline of placing on-screen evidence before producer's commentary). Obvious gaffes and bloopers should also be ignored.

Where later comments contradict earlier ones, defer to the most recent statement and make a note at Continuity errors (RDM). An example of this is the size of the fleet, increased from 40 ships in the miniseries to 75 in the series. If the issue is not decisively settled, make a note at the bottom of the page (see Olympic Carrier#Notes for an example).

List of sites that are not good sources

• Battlestar Wiki itself – This is important. If you read information here that you have not verified yourself, do not trust it.
• Wikipedia – Where Wikipedia cites its own sources, it can be a useful guide. However, uncited assertions should not be trusted.
• IMDB – IMDB has not demonstrated a rigorous standard of fact-checking.
• Fan sites such as Battlestar Galactica Tech Manual, Colonial History, Galactica Station where they do not themselves cite sources.
• Anonymous sources, including those that cite an anonymous source. The validity of these sources cannot be verified without bias.

Our Weapons

Footnote Templates

We support the Cite.php script for the purpose of making footnotes where in-text citations become too cumbersome. This is the prefered way of citing sources. If you use this method, please make sure the <references/> tag is flanked like so: <div style="font-size:85%"><references/></div>

In the past, we have used {{ref}} and {{note}} (imported from Wikipedia) for this purpose. They have no been removed from the system. Please see Cite.php script for examples on how to use the new tags.

We also have taken the liberty of adding {{citation needed}}, a template which does double duty by adding articles needing citations to the Articles requiring citations category as well as indicating which paragraph or sentence requires the citation.

Sources namespace

You can view all the sources here, Category:Sources.

The Sources: namespace exists to host primary source content. See Sources:Correspondence with Jose Perez for an example.

How to cite print sources

Print sources, such as "Battlestar Galactica: The Official Magazine" should be cited with a full MLA style citation in the footnote and, where possible, a brief and pertinent quote. See Saul Tigh#Sources for an example.

Our Missions

Articles needing sources

Category:Articles requiring citations provides a list of articles already tagged with {{citation needed}}.

• Original Battlestar (RDM) - Many technical items found here without sources.
• Battlestar Group - there's an unsourced comment from Moore's blog here.
• Viper (TOS) - Unsourced dimensions of the vehicles.
• Any of the alleged Zoic battlestars not authenticated in episodes or elsewhere: Prometheus; Pacifica; Rycon (of which a battlestar does exist in TOS); Poseidon; Argo; Acropolis.
• Need source on director Ahmer Lateaf from TOS episode "Greetings from Earth"; does not appear in IMDB.

Widespread misconceptions (aka "Fanon")

• The RDM Galactica is not equipped with railguns (see link for firm evidence)
• It has never been definitively stated that there are twelve Lords of Kobol.

Members

Show your commitment to accuracy. Join up!

• Peter Farago 01:19, 29 September 2005 (EDT)
• Spencerian 10:20, 29 September 2005 (EDT) (self-dubbed Lord of "It's Galactica not the Galactica" Corrections)
• Day 21:49, 30 September 2005 (EDT)

  "Your episode citations go inside the period."

• Ricimer 13 October, 2005 (EDT) - I tape and watch the reruns like a hawk; should get all of the names from the credits this time around.
• BMS 17:45, 30 January 2006 (EST) I need to start citing my contribs, and I'll get right on that from here on
• Fearpi 15:50, 11 February 2006 (EST)
• CalculatinAvatar 11:21, 17 April 2006 (CDT)