Wikimedia style guide

This is a style guide to help edit public descriptions of the Wikimedia projects and contributors. To help out with issues of style, you can add yourself to the list at Copyediting.

Naming edit

Personal Names edit

Names of Board members for official publications: see Board. Please use the full name (e.g., "Jimmy Wales", or "Wales" thereafter.

For informal official documents, such as the foundation pages on meta and perhaps the newsletter, when discussing anthere, mav, or other users who are known by their handles rather than their names, refer to them the first time by their full name (nick), before referring to them by their nick.

Foundation suborgs edit

The Foundation itself
"the Wikimedia Foundation", "WMF", sometimes "the Foundation", more rarely "Wikimedia" (pl).

The Board of Trustees
"the [Wikimedia] Board of Trustees", "the [WM] Board"

remember there may someday be a separate board (e.g., of advisors)

Titles edit

Titles for the Chairman
"Chairman of the Board [of Trustees]", "Director of the Wikimedia Foundation" (?? from jimmywales.com)

Other titles

  • "Treasurer of the Wikimedia Foundation", "the Board's Treasurer"
  • "Vice-Chair of the Board [of Trustees]"
  • "Volunteer User Representative [to the Board [of T.]]"
  • "Contributing User Representative [to the B. [of T.]]"


See also edit