Help:Writing an article about an organization

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The term organization is used within this Pathfinder wiki to describe any grouping of people or other entities, similar to organizations in the real world.

You should begin the article by using the {{Organization}} template. Visit that template page, and copy the text from the usage box. You can paste this at the beginning of your article and fill in the blanks using the help given on the template page. The template automatically knows only to display the information that you fill in, so if you leave any of the fields blank, they will not be displayed but leave the blank lines in for a future editor to add information later. See the example template for Pathfinder Society on this page. You might also want to refer to the policy on citing sources to provide references for the statements in your article.

Sections

There are no hard-and-fast rules on what sections should and should not exist within an article, and it is likely you may be led by the main source describing the organization. You might consider using, but are not forced to use, the following sections in your article:

History: the background to the organization
Goals: why the organization exists
Structure: where the organization has its headquarters, who is its leader and how it is structured
Relationships: discussion of the organization's allies and enemies

References

Add the following text to the end of the sections which will automatically add a list of all the citations made within your text.

==References==
{{refs}}

Categorization

Although the following list is not exhaustive, generally an article about an organization should be categorized according to the following category areas. To add a category to an article, place the category name at the bottom of your article using the following construct, where 'XXX' is the name of the category you wish to add:

[[Category:XXX]]

Organization Name

For each organization a category in the organization's name may be added. From this top category, subcategories of areas associated with the particular organization may proceed, such as members. This should have the form as follows, using the Pathfinder Society as the example: Category:Pathfinder Society.

Alignment

Organizations may have one of the nine alignments and, if so, it should be categorized accordingly, for example, Category:Chaotic good organizations or Category:Neutral organizations.

Headquarters

Many organizations have a headquarters: a place from where the organization is managed. Categorization of the location of the headquarters can be made by adding a category with the following format using Absalom as an example: Category:Absalom/Organizations. The headquarters may be a plane, city or a nation, whichever is the most appropriate.

Racial Organizations

Some organizations may restrict membership to a particular race, halflings, for example. In these cases add a category to indicate this: Category:Halfling/Organizations.

Religious Organizations

Some organizations may be associated with a deity and its church, Iomedae, for example. In these cases add a category to indicate this: Category:Iomedae/Organizations.

Type of Organization

Some organizations fall into a common type of organization and, in this case, add that type of organization as a category. For instance, Category:Thieves' guilds, Category:Noble houses or Category:Military organizations. A list of currently used ones may be found in Category:Organizations and you may add a new one if a new type of organization is needed.

Category:Organizations

If none of the above possible categorizations may be made, apart from the organization name category, then use Category:Organizations as a generic categorization. Try not to use this except for those organizations that cannot be otherwise categorized.

Unsure about Categories?

If you have written an article and are unsure about which categories to apply, or simply want your categories double checked, then please feel free to add this text at the bottom of your article in this format:

[[Category:Please check categories]]

This will flag to others that the article's categories need checking or adding. We hope that, soon thereafter, another wiki member will be along to help.