Wikipedia:Subject-specific guidelines proposal

This is a failed proposal.

Consensus for its implementation was not established within a reasonable period of time. If you want to revive discussion, please use the talk page or initiate a thread at the village pump.

Subject-specific guidelines (SSG) are guidelines for matters related to specific subjects treated in Wikipedia articles. They are intended to encourage editors to follow consistent usage and formatting across articles with related content. Once a guide has gathered consensus for adoption, tag it with {{Subject-specific guidelines}}.

Scope and layout

Subject-specific guidelines concern only articles with content related to a particular subject matter, as opposed to general Manual of Style guidelines, which are applicable to most articles regardless of their content.

A guide may contain advice related to style, content, naming conventions, or other aspects of an article.

Topics covered by multiple SSGs

If an article falls within the scope of two or more SSGs, determine by consensus the primary SSG that should be applied on matters where the relevant SSGs differ: for example, the primary SSG for Irish Rebellion of 1798 in regard to Irish flags is Subject-specific guideline (Ireland-related) instead of Subject-specific guideline (Military history). Where the scope of SSGs intersect, a note should be made at the relevant SSGs (example).

Precedence

SSGs should make all attempts possible to comply with other guidelines. When there is a valid, subject-specific reason for the SSG to not comply with others guidelines, the SSG takes precedence. For example Subject-specific guideline (Ireland-related) does not follow Manual of Style (icons) regarding the Irish rugby flag.

However, the SSG does not automatically take precedence over other guidelines. If an SSG becomes out of date or consensus changes, and there is no subject-specific reason for the SSG to not comply with other guidelines, the other guideline takes precedence and the SSG should be updated to reflect the new consensus.

Naming

SSGs formerly a part of the Manual of Style with the previous naming convention of Wikipedia:Manual of Style (x) should be moved to the title format Wikipedia:Subject-specific guideline (x), where "x" is the subject. Pages elsewhere can adopt the title format if they have consensus.