Board Thread:Administrative/@comment-61022-20130320221142/@comment-1713281-20130529182331

I think that the userbase has done a pretty good job about adding in references to articles on the site. But I think we need to address a few things about references.

First, we likely need to put out a few pointers on using references, a-la a manual of style. I'm seeing a lot of instances where users improperly use the various reference tags when trying to add footnotes instead of comic citations, and a lot of instances of references being placed before end-of-sentence punctuation. All that is simple looks, though.

One of the things we need to look at is what can be used as a source. Obviously, we accept comic issues and reference materials like handbooks (or references to films, video games or tv episodes that corroborate a statement, for those other media characters), but I've seen a ton of stuff listed in the reference list. Websites, trading cards, interviews, magazine articles, non-Marvel books (mostly the dozens of licensed "Marvel Encyclopedias" floating around); what exactly should and should not count as a reliable source?