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class="firstHeading mw-first-heading"><span class="mw-page-title-namespace">Wikipedia</span><span class="mw-page-title-separator">:</span><span class="mw-page-title-main">Specialized-style fallacy</span></h1> <div id="p-lang-btn" class="vector-dropdown mw-portlet mw-portlet-lang" > <input type="checkbox" id="p-lang-btn-checkbox" role="button" aria-haspopup="true" data-event-name="ui.dropdown-p-lang-btn" class="vector-dropdown-checkbox mw-interlanguage-selector" aria-label="This article exist only in this language. 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<div class="mw-indicators"> </div> <div id="siteSub" class="noprint">From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia</div> </div> <div id="contentSub"><div id="mw-content-subtitle"><span class="mw-redirectedfrom">(Redirected from <a href="/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:SSF&redirect=no" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:SSF">Wikipedia:SSF</a>)</span></div></div> <div id="mw-content-text" class="mw-body-content"><div class="mw-content-ltr mw-parser-output" lang="en" dir="ltr"><div class="shortdescription nomobile noexcerpt noprint searchaux" style="display:none">Essay on editing Wikipedia</div><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1238436933">.mw-parser-output .ombox{margin:4px 0;border-collapse:collapse;border:1px solid #a2a9b1;background-color:var(--background-color-neutral-subtle,#f8f9fa);box-sizing:border-box;color:var(--color-base,#202122)}.mw-parser-output .ombox.mbox-small{font-size:88%;line-height:1.25em}.mw-parser-output .ombox-speedy{border:2px solid #b32424;background-color:#fee7e6}.mw-parser-output .ombox-delete{border:2px solid #b32424}.mw-parser-output .ombox-content{border:1px solid #f28500}.mw-parser-output .ombox-style{border:1px solid #fc3}.mw-parser-output .ombox-move{border:1px solid #9932cc}.mw-parser-output .ombox-protection{border:2px solid #a2a9b1}.mw-parser-output .ombox .mbox-text{border:none;padding:0.25em 0.9em;width:100%}.mw-parser-output .ombox .mbox-image{border:none;padding:2px 0 2px 0.9em;text-align:center}.mw-parser-output .ombox .mbox-imageright{border:none;padding:2px 0.9em 2px 0;text-align:center}.mw-parser-output .ombox .mbox-empty-cell{border:none;padding:0;width:1px}.mw-parser-output .ombox .mbox-invalid-type{text-align:center}@media(min-width:720px){.mw-parser-output .ombox{margin:4px 10%}.mw-parser-output .ombox.mbox-small{clear:right;float:right;margin:4px 0 4px 1em;width:238px}}body.skin--responsive .mw-parser-output table.ombox img{max-width:none!important}@media screen{html.skin-theme-clientpref-night .mw-parser-output .ombox-speedy{background-color:#310402}}@media screen and (prefers-color-scheme:dark){html.skin-theme-clientpref-os .mw-parser-output .ombox-speedy{background-color:#310402}}</style><table class="plainlinks ombox ombox-notice" role="presentation"><tbody><tr><td class="mbox-image"><span typeof="mw:File"><span><img alt="" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7e/Essay.svg/30px-Essay.svg.png" decoding="async" width="30" height="36" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7e/Essay.svg/45px-Essay.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7e/Essay.svg/60px-Essay.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="35" data-file-height="42" /></span></span></td><td class="mbox-text"><div style="padding-top: 6px; padding-bottom: 5px;"><b>This is an <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Essays" title="Wikipedia:Essays">essay</a> on the <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Article_titles" title="Wikipedia:Article titles">Wikipedia:Article titles</a> policy and the <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Manual_of_Style" title="Wikipedia:Manual of Style">Wikipedia:Manual of Style</a> guideline.</b><br /><div style="font-size: 90%;">It contains the advice or opinions of one or more Wikipedia contributors. This page is not an encyclopedia article, nor is it one of <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Policies_and_guidelines" title="Wikipedia:Policies and guidelines">Wikipedia's policies or guidelines</a>, as it has not been <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Consensus#Levels_of_consensus" title="Wikipedia:Consensus">thoroughly vetted by the community</a>. Some essays represent widespread norms; others only represent minority viewpoints.</div></div></td><td class="mbox-imageright"><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1252059228">.mw-parser-output .module-shortcutboxplain{float:right;margin:0 0 0 1em;border:1px solid var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1);background-color:var(--background-color-base,#fff);padding:0.3em 0.6em 0.2em 0.6em;text-align:center;font-size:85%}.mw-parser-output .module-shortcutboxleft{float:left;margin:0 1em 0 0}.mw-parser-output .module-shortcutlist{display:inline-block;border-bottom:1px solid var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1);margin-bottom:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .module-shortcutboxplain ul{font-weight:bold}.mw-parser-output .module-shortcutanchordiv{position:relative;top:-3em}.mw-parser-output li .module-shortcutanchordiv{float:right}.mw-parser-output .mbox-imageright .module-shortcutboxplain{padding:0.4em 1em 0.4em 1em;line-height:1.3;margin:0}</style><div class="module-shortcutanchordiv"><span id="WP:SPECIALSTYLE"></span><span id="WP:SSF"></span><span id="WP:RSSF"></span><span id="WP:SSM"></span></div><div class="module-shortcutboxplain noprint" role="note"><div class="module-shortcutlist"><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Shortcut" title="Wikipedia:Shortcut">Shortcuts</a></div><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1126788409">.mw-parser-output .plainlist ol,.mw-parser-output .plainlist ul{line-height:inherit;list-style:none;margin:0;padding:0}.mw-parser-output .plainlist ol li,.mw-parser-output .plainlist ul li{margin-bottom:0}</style><div class="plainlist"><ul><li><span class="plainlinks"><a class="external text" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:SPECIALSTYLE&redirect=no">WP:SPECIALSTYLE</a></span></li><li><span class="plainlinks"><a class="external text" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:SSF&redirect=no">WP:SSF</a></span></li><li><span class="plainlinks"><a class="external text" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:RSSF&redirect=no">WP:RSSF</a></span></li><li><span class="plainlinks"><a class="external text" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:SSM&redirect=no">WP:SSM</a></span></li></ul></div></div></td></tr></tbody></table> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238436933" /><table class="plainlinks ombox ombox-notice nutshell" role="presentation"><tbody><tr><td class="mbox-image"><span typeof="mw:File"><span><img alt="" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2b/Walnut.svg/30px-Walnut.svg.png" decoding="async" width="30" height="30" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2b/Walnut.svg/45px-Walnut.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2b/Walnut.svg/60px-Walnut.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="192" data-file-height="192" /></span></span></td><td class="mbox-text"><b>This page in a nutshell:</b> Wikipedia has its own set of guidelines for article layout, content formatting, and page naming. Facts on a subject should be drawn from reliable sources, but how content is styled is a matter for the Wikipedia community, which strongly favors the style found in general-audience works over highly specialized ones, because of the breadth of our audience.</td></tr></tbody></table> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1224211176">.mw-parser-output .quotebox{background-color:#F9F9F9;border:1px solid #aaa;box-sizing:border-box;padding:10px;font-size:88%;max-width:100%}.mw-parser-output .quotebox.floatleft{margin:.5em 1.4em .8em 0}.mw-parser-output .quotebox.floatright{margin:.5em 0 .8em 1.4em}.mw-parser-output .quotebox.centered{overflow:hidden;position:relative;margin:.5em auto .8em auto}.mw-parser-output .quotebox.floatleft span,.mw-parser-output .quotebox.floatright span{font-style:inherit}.mw-parser-output .quotebox>blockquote{margin:0;padding:0;border-left:0;font-family:inherit;font-size:inherit}.mw-parser-output .quotebox-title{text-align:center;font-size:110%;font-weight:bold}.mw-parser-output .quotebox-quote>:first-child{margin-top:0}.mw-parser-output .quotebox-quote:last-child>:last-child{margin-bottom:0}.mw-parser-output .quotebox-quote.quoted:before{font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;font-weight:bold;font-size:large;color:gray;content:" “ ";vertical-align:-45%;line-height:0}.mw-parser-output .quotebox-quote.quoted:after{font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;font-weight:bold;font-size:large;color:gray;content:" ” ";line-height:0}.mw-parser-output .quotebox .left-aligned{text-align:left}.mw-parser-output .quotebox .right-aligned{text-align:right}.mw-parser-output .quotebox .center-aligned{text-align:center}.mw-parser-output .quotebox .quote-title,.mw-parser-output .quotebox .quotebox-quote{display:block}.mw-parser-output .quotebox cite{display:block;font-style:normal}@media screen and (max-width:640px){.mw-parser-output .quotebox{width:100%!important;margin:0 0 .8em!important;float:none!important}}</style><div class="quotebox pullquote floatright" style="width:22em; ;"> <blockquote class="quotebox-quote left-aligned" style=""> <p><b>Why doesn't the Manual of Style always follow specialized practice?</b></p><p>Although Wikipedia contains some highly technical content, it is <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Make_technical_articles_understandable" title="Wikipedia:Make technical articles understandable">written for a general audience</a>. While specialized publications in a field, such as academic journals, are excellent sources for facts, they are not always the best sources for or examples of how to present those facts to non-experts. When adopting style recommendations from external sources, the Manual of Style incorporates a substantial number of practices from technical standards and field-specific academic style guides; however, Wikipedia defaults to preferring general-audience sources on style, especially when a specialized preference may conflict with most readers' expectations, and when different disciplines use conflicting styles.</p> </blockquote> <div style="padding-bottom: 0; padding-top: 0.5em"><cite class="right-aligned" style="">– <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:Manual_of_Style/FAQ" title="Wikipedia talk:Manual of Style/FAQ">Wikipedia talk:Manual of Style/FAQ</a></cite></div> </div> <p>The <b>specialized-style fallacy</b> (<b>SSF</b>) is a set of flawed arguments that are used in Wikipedia <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Manual_of_Style" title="Wikipedia:Manual of Style">style</a> and <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Article_titles" title="Wikipedia:Article titles">titling</a> discussions. The faulty reasoning behind the fallacy of specialized style is this: because the specialized literature on a topic is (<a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:FRINGE" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:FRINGE">usually</a>) the most <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Identifying_reliable_sources" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:Identifying reliable sources">reliable source</a> of detailed facts about the specialty, such as we might cite in a topical article, it <a href="/wiki/Argument_from_authority" title="Argument from authority">must also</a> be the most reliable source for deciding how Wikipedia should title or style articles about the topic and things within its scope. This fallacy is used to attempt to <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:SOAPBOX" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:SOAPBOX">justify</a> a <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:LOCALCONSENSUS" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:LOCALCONSENSUS">"local consensus"</a> of specializing editors, often a <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject" title="Wikipedia:WikiProject">WikiProject</a>, for specialized-sourced article naming and styling that other editors and readers (often not unfamiliar with the field) find strange, impenetrable, inappropriate, and/or grammatically incorrect. </p><p>It is also called the <b>reliable sources style fallacy</b> (<b>RSSF</b>), since it is an argument sometimes made by editors who "over-defer" to specialized works on style matters that are beyond the specialization's scope. The argument does not always depend on explicit reliable sources, and may instead take the form of an <a href="/wiki/Appeal_to_tradition" title="Appeal to tradition">appeal to tradition</a> and <a href="/wiki/Ipse_dixit" title="Ipse dixit"><i>ipse dixit</i>ism</a> (e.g. "that's just how it's done in this field"). This argument forgets that <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:What_Wikipedia_is_not" title="Wikipedia:What Wikipedia is not">Wikipedia is not</a> a specialized reference work, but <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:ENC" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:ENC">is a general-audience encyclopedia</a>. The RSSF is the flip side, the other extreme, of the <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Common-style_fallacy" title="Wikipedia:Common-style fallacy">common-style fallacy</a> about mimicking <a href="/wiki/News_style" title="News style">the style of journalistic writing</a>. </p><p>A secondary implication of either version of the fallacy, sometimes stated explicitly, is a <a href="/wiki/Straw_man" title="Straw man">straw man</a> argument: that disagreement with specialized naming and style preferences is a criticism of specialized sources or even a direct <a href="/wiki/Appeal_to_spite" class="mw-redirect" title="Appeal to spite">attack on the specialty</a> and editors who work in that particular field. This particular SSF variant is the <b>specialist straw man</b> (<b>SSM</b>). </p> <meta property="mw:PageProp/toc" /> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2 ext-discussiontools-init-section"><h2 id="Why_the_SSF's_underlying_assumption_about_reliability_is_wrong" data-mw-thread-id="h-Why_the_SSF's_underlying_assumption_about_reliability_is_wrong"><span id="Why_the_SSF.27s_underlying_assumption_about_reliability_is_wrong"></span><span data-mw-comment-start="" id="h-Why_the_SSF's_underlying_assumption_about_reliability_is_wrong"></span>Why the SSF's underlying assumption about reliability is wrong<span data-mw-comment-end="h-Why_the_SSF's_underlying_assumption_about_reliability_is_wrong"></span></h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Specialized-style_fallacy&action=edit&section=1" title="Edit section: Why the SSF's underlying assumption about reliability is wrong"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1224211176" /><div class="quotebox pullquote floatright" style="width:22em; ;"> <blockquote class="quotebox-quote left-aligned" style=""><p> Put the interests of readers before those of editors, and those of a general audience before those of specialists ...</p><p>[The] practice of using specialized names is often controversial, and should not be adopted unless it produces clear benefits outweighing the use of common names ...</p> </blockquote> <div style="padding-bottom: 0; padding-top: 0.5em"><cite class="right-aligned" style="">– <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Article_titles" title="Wikipedia:Article titles">Wikipedia:Article titles</a> policy</cite></div> </div> <p>The sources we use to <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Verifiability" title="Wikipedia:Verifiability">verify content</a> are not necessarily our best sources for style, even in cases where they may be reliable on certain style matters in specialized publications. Wikipedia and its <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Manual_of_Style" title="Wikipedia:Manual of Style">Manual of Style</a>, <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:AT" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:AT">article titles policy</a>, and related guidance draw primarily upon reliable <em>general-purpose, broad-scope</em> sources for editing guidelines. These sources include the best-accepted style guides for formal writing – like the current editions of <i><a href="/wiki/The_Chicago_Manual_of_Style" title="The Chicago Manual of Style">The Chicago Manual of Style</a></i>, the <i><a href="/wiki/New_Oxford_Style_Manual" class="mw-redirect" title="New Oxford Style Manual">New Oxford Style Manual</a></i> (a.k.a. <i>New Hart's Rules</i>), and the <i>New Oxford Dictionary for Scientific Writers and Editors</i> – and others, such as <i><a href="/wiki/Fowler%27s_Dictionary_of_Modern_English_Usage" class="mw-redirect" title="Fowler's Dictionary of Modern English Usage">Fowler's Dictionary of Modern English Usage</a></i>, Strunk & White's <i><a href="/wiki/The_Elements_of_Style" title="The Elements of Style">The Elements of Style</a></i>, the <i><a href="/wiki/MLA_Handbook" title="MLA Handbook">MLA Handbook</a></i>, etc.; dictionaries and other encyclopedias; as well as observation of what is <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:COMMONNAME" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:COMMONNAME">most commonly done</a> in reliable general-audience publications like newspapers and non-specialized magazines and websites, and even in refereed academic journals that broadly cover multiple fields (e.g. <i><a href="/wiki/Science_(journal)" title="Science (journal)">Science</a></i> and <i><a href="/wiki/Nature_(journal)" title="Nature (journal)">Nature</a></i>). </p><p>Typical SSF wording is "we are guided by the most reliable sources in our field", as if the Wikipedia community in writing the Manual of Style were relying on novels and blogs. The most reliable sources on how to capitalize, italicize, hyphenate, or otherwise style the name of a subject or its subtopics in a general-interest work like an encyclopedia are reliable works on style and grammar in English broadly, not just usage in the specialty at issue. Specialized works are notoriously unreliable for this purpose, because in a great many fields they tend to reflect conventions for specialized publications that widely depart from grammatical and style rules of <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:MODLANG" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:MODLANG">everyday English</a>, for reasons usually specific to that sort of publication, tailored for that field's special internal needs, or simply aimed at very expedient communication between experts in the same speciality. There is also a natural tendency to capitalize, italicize, boldface, or otherwise emphasize things that are important in one's field of interest, to highlight their special importance in that context; this is a bad habit more of technical professionals than others.<sup id="cite_ref-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-1"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>1<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> That specialized context is not the encyclopedic context that Wikipedia presents to its users. Yet specialists may push for such stylization to extremes.<sup id="cite_ref-2" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-2"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>2<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p><p>The Wikipedia community supports specialized publications' stylistic recommendations when they do not conflict with widespread <em>general</em> spelling, grammar, and other expectations. We side with general, not specialized, practice when there is a conflict, because <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:ENC" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:ENC">Wikipedia is the encyclopedia with the most general audience in the entire world</a>, and <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:NOT#JOURNAL" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:NOT">is not a specialized publication or collection of specialized publications</a>. Because <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:NOT#PAPER" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:NOT">Wikipedia is not paper</a>, it need not limit itself to non-specialized information, and can be as <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:SUMMARY" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:SUMMARY">rich in detail as we like</a>, but <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Make_technical_articles_understandable" title="Wikipedia:Make technical articles understandable">the audience has not changed when we present specialized information</a>. The Manual of Style most often does defer to style preferences espoused in academia, when those preferences are shared across multiple disciplines. The SSF is distinct from this is being the advancement of a style preferred by a narrow subset of disciplines (often just one), conflicting with other disciplines and with general usage. </p><p>The SSF not only errs in considering specialized sources reliable for encyclopedic style, but also in assuming opponents of a specialized style to be "generalist" editors, with inadequate understanding of the specialty field, interested primarily in applying rigid, simplistic rules with no regard for specialists' rationales. In fact, many opponents of specialized styles are themselves specialists, who understand that idiosyncratic and conflicting stylistic "specialisms" are distracting to encyclopedia readers and diminish the general accessibility of articles covering any topic in any specialty. In short, if every speciality is permitted to apply unusual stylization to whatever it wants to, then eventually virtually everything would have weird stylization applied to it, and editors would spend much of their time fighting about which stylization to apply instead of actually working on producing an understandable encyclopedia. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2 ext-discussiontools-init-section"><h2 id="How_the_SSF_works" data-mw-thread-id="h-How_the_SSF_works"><span data-mw-comment-start="" id="h-How_the_SSF_works"></span>How the SSF works<span data-mw-comment-end="h-How_the_SSF_works"></span></h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Specialized-style_fallacy&action=edit&section=2" title="Edit section: How the SSF works"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>The core tactic of the specialized-style fallacy is to claim that any disagreement with the specialist's <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Nobody_cares" title="Wikipedia:Nobody cares">very strongly held and argued</a> preference with regard to their specialty, or disagreement with the underlying premise that reliable sources on specialized facts are the most reliable sources on style when the specialized topic is involved at all, is <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r920966791">.mw-parser-output span.smallcaps{font-variant:small-caps}.mw-parser-output span.smallcaps-smaller{font-size:85%}</style><span class="smallcaps">[cue dramatic music here]</span> necessarily also an accusation that the specialized sources are faulty, inconsistent, don't exist, or don't say what they say. Alternatively, the claim may be that those who disagree with the specialized-source preference are criticizing the specialty itself and/or editors who come from that field. Next comes an attempt to shift debate into a long-winded proof against <a href="/wiki/Straw_man" title="Straw man">arguments no one actually made</a> about the value of these sources or of this specialty. This will sometimes be done using <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:No_angry_mastodons" title="Wikipedia:No angry mastodons">emotive</a>, even <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Civility" title="Wikipedia:Civility">insulting</a> language that generates heated responses and tends to derail discussions; the likelihood of this increases with the frequency of disagreements about the specialized practice under scrutiny, and with the rise in general consensus against it. </p> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1224211176" /><div class="quotebox pullquote floatleft" style="width:22em; ;"> <blockquote class="quotebox-quote left-aligned" style=""> <p>Every reasonable attempt should be made to ensure that material is presented in the most widely understandable manner possible. </p> </blockquote> <div style="padding-bottom: 0; padding-top: 0.5em"><cite class="right-aligned" style="">– <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Make_technical_articles_understandable" title="Wikipedia:Make technical articles understandable">Wikipedia:Make technical articles understandable</a></cite></div> </div> <p>Many specialists make this <a href="/wiki/Non_sequitur_(logic)" class="mw-redirect" title="Non sequitur (logic)">error</a>, being too concerned about their own specialized interests <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:NOTHERE" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:NOTHERE">versus the broader ones of the encyclopedia</a>, its readers, and its more general editorship; they are effectively <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Manual_of_Style/Medicine-related_articles#Writing_for_the_wrong_audience" title="Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Medicine-related articles">writing for the wrong audience</a>, the specialized one. They tend to be convinced that anyone who disagrees with their pet stylistic or naming scheme is <a href="/wiki/Credentialism" class="mw-redirect" title="Credentialism">surely ignorant</a> and simply <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:COMPETENCE" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:COMPETENCE">can't understand</a> or is just <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Randy_from_Boise" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:Randy from Boise">too much of a rube</a> to care. A few of them will <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Don%27t_be_a_jerk" title="Wikipedia:Don't be a jerk">even say so</a> dismissively. </p><p>Specialists may be anything from academics in a particular field, to devoted fans of a particular fiction or gaming franchise, to adherents of a particular religious or political point of view, to hobbyists of any kind, to students steeped in a particular pedagogical camp, to employees of a certain company or agency/ministry, to players of a particular sport or devotees of a specific team. If it has its own body of insider publications/sites and jargon, it is a specialty, and will have specialists. Fortunately, most of them do not engage in the SSF. Most specialists don't have any stylistic agenda to push, consciously or otherwise. Most Wikipedians are specialists of one or more kinds, and we always need to keep this in mind. There is no such thing as a conflict between "generalists" and specialists here, only between the Wikipedia community as a diverse, broad population, and specialists on a particular topic who are going a little too far. It's a "can't see the forest for the trees" problem of priorities and focus, not a mental disorder or (inherently) a bad attitude. </p><p>Specialists even unintentionally engaging in the SSF have a tendency to attempt to repetitively re-explain their belief that their specialty's preferences are absolutely paramount in Wikipedia articles in that field, simply because that's how the specialists write off-Wikipedia. They may thus dismiss or ignore, without fully engaging or addressing, any arguments by others that what is appropriate and standardized in specialized literature often has nothing at all to do with how Wikipedia should be written for a general audience. This argument may be lost on them for some time, even indefinitely, drowned out by <a href="/wiki/Argument_from_incredulity" title="Argument from incredulity">sheer disbelief</a> at the stupidity of anyone who cannot see that the only way to possibly write about "their" topic is their way. They may exhibit what can seem like signs of <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Don%27t_be_a_fanatic" title="Wikipedia:Don't be a fanatic">fanaticism</a> about or <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Beware_of_the_tigers" title="Wikipedia:Beware of the tigers">rampaging obsession</a> with the style issue, especially when debates become protracted and their opponents become less patient and more judgmental. When pushed to frustration themselves, specialists on a style mission may actually resort to <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Drama" title="Wikipedia:Drama">psychodrama</a> and <a href="/wiki/Appeal_to_emotion" title="Appeal to emotion">debate-skewing histrionics</a>, even <a href="/wiki/Appeal_to_pity" title="Appeal to pity">appeal to pity</a> like <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Don%27t_feed_the_divas" title="Wikipedia:Don't feed the divas">threatening to quit Wikipedia</a>, if <a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Megalomaniacal_point_of_view" class="extiw" title="m:Megalomaniacal point of view">their preference is not upheld as that of Wikipedia</a> itself, or <a href="/wiki/The_Fox_and_the_Grapes" title="The Fox and the Grapes">proclaiming that Wikipedia is going down the tubes and should be replaced</a> by something "more reliable" (i.e., friendlier to unreasonable demands made by some members of their specialty). </p> <figure class="mw-default-size" typeof="mw:File/Thumb"><a href="/wiki/File:Black_Back_eyes.jpg" class="mw-file-description"><img alt="Close-up of a gorilla's face" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d6/Black_Back_eyes.jpg/170px-Black_Back_eyes.jpg" decoding="async" width="170" height="255" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d6/Black_Back_eyes.jpg/255px-Black_Back_eyes.jpg 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d6/Black_Back_eyes.jpg/340px-Black_Back_eyes.jpg 2x" data-file-width="1518" data-file-height="2278" /></a><figcaption>Chest-beating to drive away the opposition is very effective – if you're a gorilla.</figcaption></figure> <p>Collections of specialists, typically in WikiProjects, may attempt to <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:OWN" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:OWN">exert an extreme level of control</a> over articles they consider within their scope, and <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Tendentious_editing" title="Wikipedia:Tendentious editing">badger</a> other editors to do things the specialists' way, often citing <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:LOCALCONSENSUS" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:LOCALCONSENSUS">"guidelines" written by the project</a>, specifically for articles on topics within the scope of the specialty, and which do not agree with mainstream, site-wide Wikipedia guidelines and policies. Such behavior is rarely initiated in bad faith, but can become quite problematic over time, especially if the most activist and combative of the specialists at a topical WikiProject decide amongst themselves to become entrenched, even to <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Don%27t_disrupt_Wikipedia_to_make_a_point" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:Don't disrupt Wikipedia to make a point">publicly threaten</a> to engage in <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:No_climbing_the_Reichstag_dressed_as_Spider-Man" title="Wikipedia:No climbing the Reichstag dressed as Spider-Man">strange protests</a>, like going on <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Boston_Tea_Party" title="Wikipedia:Boston Tea Party">an editorial strike</a>, if they <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Get_over_it" title="Wikipedia:Get over it">don't get their way</a>. When their heels are dug in this way, they believe they are <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:GREATWRONGS" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:GREATWRONGS">acting as defenders of the faith</a> against <a href="/wiki/Appeal_to_loyalty" title="Appeal to loyalty">any disagreement with their specialized practice</a>, however reasoned, or criticism of their behavior in their attempts to maintain and justify that practice, through <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:What_is_consensus%3F#Not_unanimity" title="Wikipedia:What is consensus?">obstinate filibustering</a> or <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Advocacy" title="Wikipedia:Advocacy">outright advocacy</a> against what they see as a rising tide of mean-spirited hostility. Many SSF cases begin as such attempts at protectionism and simply <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Don%27t_spite_your_face" title="Wikipedia:Don't spite your face">go off the deep end</a>, alienating more and more other editors. </p><p>A formerly common result of group action of this sort is a <i><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:FAITACCOMPLI" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:FAITACCOMPLI">fait accompli</a></i>, whereby the majority of articles within the scope of the specialty may be edited by the specialists to conform to the specialized-source style practice, through a combination of <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Edit_warring" title="Wikipedia:Edit warring">edit-warring</a>, using the SSF in edit summaries to confuse other editors into yielding, and the fact that most editors who don't focus on that specialty <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:DGAF" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:DGAF">won't care enough about the disagreement</a> at any given article to get into a <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Lamest_edit_wars" title="Wikipedia:Lamest edit wars">lame, protracted dispute</a> about it, but will just roll their eyes and <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:COOL" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:COOL">walk away</a>. No one likes <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9C8OEDsclUA&feature=related">chest-beating</a> except at the zoo. The group may then declare that the specialized practice is "normal Wikipedia practice" or a "standard operating procedure" in "their" articles (having chased off any who disagree), and should thus be <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Instruction_creep" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:Instruction creep">enshrined in the MoS</a> as "how it's done". They forget that MoS is a <a href="/wiki/Prescriptive_grammar" class="mw-redirect" title="Prescriptive grammar">prescriptive and proscriptive</a> internal guideline, based on a <a href="/wiki/Linguistic_description" title="Linguistic description">descriptivist interpretation</a> of reliable sources on grammar and style; MoS is <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:NOT#DEMOCRACY" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:NOT">not a vote</a>, <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:NOT#BUREAUCRACY" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:NOT">not a bureaucracy</a>, and not itself descriptivist, much less based primarily on specialized sources. MoS is an internal style manual for mooting style disputes and getting on with content writing; it is not style advice for the world, and it cannot possibly agree with all of the world's style advice since a large amount of it conflicts from source to source and audience to audience. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2 ext-discussiontools-init-section"><h2 id="When_the_SSF_is_most_disruptive" data-mw-thread-id="h-When_the_SSF_is_most_disruptive"><span data-mw-comment-start="" id="h-When_the_SSF_is_most_disruptive"></span>When the SSF is most disruptive<span data-mw-comment-end="h-When_the_SSF_is_most_disruptive"></span></h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Specialized-style_fallacy&action=edit&section=3" title="Edit section: When the SSF is most disruptive"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p><span class="anchor" id="When_SSF_is_bad_faith"></span><span class="anchor" id="When_the_SSF_is_bad_faith"></span> Rarely, but very disruptively, the specialized-style fallacy is deployed intentionally, as a strategic form of ideological and debatory <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:BATTLEGROUND" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:BATTLEGROUND">verbal combat</a>, especially to short-circuit the normal formation of <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Consensus" title="Wikipedia:Consensus">consensus</a> if it looks like the broader community is leaning away from the preference of an angry specialist or (sometimes) group thereof. An attempt may be made to employ the SSF to <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Disruptive_editing" title="Wikipedia:Disruptive editing">disrupt</a> a proposal, <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:POLL" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:POLL">poll</a>, <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Request_for_comments" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:Request for comments">RfC</a>, <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:XfD_today" title="Wikipedia:XfD today">XfD</a>, or other consensus discussion, to mire it in distracting arguments about the veracity of various sources, if any did not notice the <a href="/wiki/Bait_and_switch" class="mw-redirect" title="Bait and switch">bait and switch</a>, and fall into the argue-round-in-circles trap. Added to that pile of posts will be all those that refute that any of this nonsense is relevant, posted by those who <em>did</em> recognize it as blatant <a href="/wiki/Feint" title="Feint">misdirection</a> to a straw man. The combined <i>wall of text</i> could then result in a <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:TLDR" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:TLDR">"TL;DR"</a> situation that could derail the discussion, make it too difficult for incoming editors to figure out what the issues are, and confuse many of the extant participants, making it difficult to restart the consensus-building. When done by a group of like-minded specialized-style advocates, the SSF can even be used in an attempt to create a <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:False_consensus" title="Wikipedia:False consensus">false consensus</a> through <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Canvassing#Votestacking" title="Wikipedia:Canvassing">vote-stacking</a>. </p><p>On freewheeling Web forums and Internet mailing lists, such a tactic would rarely work, because it would be recognized as an obvious form of <a href="/wiki/Internet_troll" class="mw-redirect" title="Internet troll">trolling</a>. But because Wikipedia has a unique and formal guideline about <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:AGF" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:AGF">assuming good faith</a>, many editors will attempt to reason with SSF posters and reason against their arguments and straw men, sometimes at great length. That clouding, draining expense of time, energy and verbiage is the whole idea when SSF is undertaken in bad faith. (More often, it's what we could call "grey faith", a "the ends justify the means" use of inappropriate behaviors to try to achieve well-motivated goals; but it's not any less <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:DE" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:DE">disruptive</a>.) </p><p>Worse yet, some may attempt to repeatedly exploit Wikipedia's "assume good faith" default; this is a form of <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Gaming_the_system" title="Wikipedia:Gaming the system">gaming the system</a>. In this case, the SSF is also used as a <i><a href="/wiki/Red_herring" title="Red herring">red herring</a></i> fallacy, to cloud debate further by asserting even after discussion has moved on that the debate is actually <em>still</em> about what specialized sources do. In this hybrid "<a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:IDHT" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:IDHT">I didn't hear that</a>" siege, the SSF claim is inserted as often as possible into the debate, no matter how many times it is refuted – in any new subtopic that opens, in false response to every question, in any !vote as the commenter's only real content, in SSFer-created new subthreads declaring what the "real" issue is and that the preceding debate is a conspiracy to silence the specialists, in counter-polls that don't have a <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:SNOWBALL" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:SNOWBALL">snowball's chance</a> but divide attention or are stacked through on-wiki <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Canvassing" title="Wikipedia:Canvassing">canvassing</a> and off-wiki coordination via e-mail or outright "<a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:MEATPUPPET" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:MEATPUPPET">meatpuppetry</a>", and so on. </p><p>This can happen in more than one place – anywhere the topic comes up, or in new threads anywhere the specialist <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Forum_shopping" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:Forum shopping">thinks the audience may be more sympathetic</a> or just unaware of the nature or existence of prior debate about it – article talk pages, <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Dispute_resolution" title="Wikipedia:Dispute resolution">dispute resolution</a>, the <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:VP" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:VP">village pump</a>, user talk, <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:AN" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:AN">administrative noticeboards</a>, <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:POLICY" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:POLICY">policy and guideline talk pages</a> – anywhere. It is a <a href="/wiki/Memetics" title="Memetics">memetic</a>, written form of <a href="/wiki/Denial_of_service_attack" class="mw-redirect" title="Denial of service attack">denial of service attack</a>, flooding all "editorial ports" to the real issue with angry and <a href="/wiki/Special_pleading" title="Special pleading">plaintive specialist</a> "<a href="/wiki/Signal-to-noise_ratio" title="Signal-to-noise ratio">noise</a>". The goal is to <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Don%27t_bludgeon_the_process" title="Wikipedia:Don't bludgeon the process">generate as much heat about the spurious issue as possible</a> while shedding no light on the real one (that Wikipedia is a general-audience publication for a general audience, not a hostage to any specializations' demands). When used in concert with alarmist-worded canvassing of other such specialists, sometimes even those who have not been actively participating, into an <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:FACTION" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:FACTION">editing bloc or faction</a>, which they may figure cannot be stopped in time to make a difference, the combination may be intended to flatline even a major site-wide debate. Fortunately, steps can be taken to anticipate and curtail this effect. </p><p>Disruptive SSF is a cyclic process of smoke-bombing the targeted debate by raising the bogus "issue" of a supposed attack on specialized sources and specialists themselves – a straw man to beat with sticks to <a href="/wiki/Hand-waving" title="Hand-waving">distract</a> from the real debate – thereby producing lots of replies, pretending not to hear them, and re-clouding the discussion any time it starts to clear. The SSFers simply <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:DEADHORSE" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:DEADHORSE">repeat this pattern as often as necessary</a>, to inspire enough paragraphs of objectors re-re-re-explaining that this is not the real debate topic and has already been addressed, thus generating a confusing, drowning pile of noise, screenful after screenful. This effect is often enhanced by <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Civility" title="Wikipedia:Civility">incivility</a>, to raise the tempers of other participants and increase the verbosity and heat of their output. </p><p><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:ARBATC" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:ARBATC">The "ARBATC" Arbitration Committee case</a> has resulted in heavy-handed <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Discretionary_sanctions" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:Discretionary sanctions">discretionary sanctions</a> being authorized to stop style and article-title debates from getting out of hand, by any administrative means deemed necessary, including lengthy topic-bans and even <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:INDEF" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:INDEF">indefinite editing blocks</a>. Consequently, in today's Wikipedia, the goading of other editors into civility lapses over SSF matters has serious anti-collaborative ramifications that may drive some editors away permanently, and undermine the processes of Wikipedia self-governance that rely on genuine consensus building and dispute resolution. </p><p>Intentional use of the specialized-style fallacy in anything akin to this manner is one of the clearest examples of <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Tendentious_editing" title="Wikipedia:Tendentious editing">tendentious editing</a> in Wikipedia, and it is certainly a form of bad-faith conduct. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2 ext-discussiontools-init-section"><h2 id="What_to_do_about_the_SSF" data-mw-thread-id="h-What_to_do_about_the_SSF"><span data-mw-comment-start="" id="h-What_to_do_about_the_SSF"></span>What to do about the SSF<span data-mw-comment-end="h-What_to_do_about_the_SSF"></span></h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Specialized-style_fallacy&action=edit&section=4" title="Edit section: What to do about the SSF"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p><span class="anchor" id="What_to_do_about_SSF"></span> <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Assume_good_faith" title="Wikipedia:Assume good faith">Assume good faith</a> and attempt to deal with any raised concern, the first time it is raised, as clearly and forthrightly as possible. At this stage you don't know, after all, whether any given discussion point is being raised in earnest or is the beginning of an SSF, <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:ATONED" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:ATONED">even if the party raising it has previously engaged in an SSF</a>. It's almost always the former; specialists may feel strongly about specialized matters and fall into SSFs, but most of them really are here to help write an encyclopedia and are not single-mindedly obsessed with nomenclatural and style debates about a pet topic. </p><p>If the same issue is re-raised, point the specialist to the previous discussion where the issue was already addressed, and/or quote from it, and ask the specialist to please explain what they feel was not addressed the first time around; it is very likely that the person simply wasn't aware the issue has already been discussed, or that they were, but haven't yet articulated their own argument fully or understood those of others well enough, so some further discussion should clarify. </p><p>If it comes up a third time you may well be dealing with an SSFer. Continue to assume good faith, but cite this essay, in gentle terms, e.g. "This is starting to look like the <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:SSF" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:SSF">specialized-style fallacy</a> to me. Why do you keep re-raising the idea that your journals trump basic style guides on this issue, after it has already been addressed, <i>here</i> and <i>here</i>?" </p><p>A fourth time is almost certainly SSFing, and <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Call_a_spade_a_spade" title="Wikipedia:Call a spade a spade">you may as well say something</a> to the effect of "Just more <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:SPECIALSTYLE" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:SPECIALSTYLE">WP:SPECIALSTYLE</a> pleading; ignoring and moving on." At this point do not engage the SSF <a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/What_is_a_troll%3F" class="extiw" title="m:What is a troll?">wiki-troll</a> with longer responses, or you are <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:DONTFEED" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:DONTFEED">giving them precisely what they want</a> and helping derail the very debate or other process you want to protect. </p><p>While SSFing can sometimes raise specific policy issues, usually in combination with forbidden behaviors like <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Canvassing" title="Wikipedia:Canvassing">canvassing</a> and <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:NPA" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:NPA">personal attacks</a>, which can be addressed at <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:AN/I" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:AN/I">WP:AN/I</a>, the SSF tactic itself is simply disruptive and a pain. There's not much to do against it systematically, other than decline to enable it. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2 ext-discussiontools-init-section"><h2 id="See_also" data-mw-thread-id="h-See_also"><span data-mw-comment-start="" id="h-See_also"></span>See also<span data-mw-comment-end="h-See_also"></span></h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Specialized-style_fallacy&action=edit&section=5" title="Edit section: See also"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Article_titles#Deciding_on_an_article_title" title="Wikipedia:Article titles">Wikipedia:Article titles § Deciding on an article title</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Article_titles#Use_commonly_recognizable_names" title="Wikipedia:Article titles">Wikipedia:Article titles § Use commonly recognizable names</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Civility" title="Wikipedia:Civility">Wikipedia:Civility</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Common-style_fallacy" title="Wikipedia:Common-style fallacy">Wikipedia:Common-style fallacy</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Consensus" title="Wikipedia:Consensus">Wikipedia:Consensus</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Disruptive_editing" title="Wikipedia:Disruptive editing">Wikipedia:Disruptive editing</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Don%27t_be_a_fanatic" title="Wikipedia:Don't be a fanatic">Wikipedia:Don't be a fanatic</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Make_technical_articles_understandable" title="Wikipedia:Make technical articles understandable">Wikipedia:Make technical articles understandable</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Manual_of_Style/Capital_letters#Religions,_deities,_philosophies,_doctrines,_and_their_adherents" title="Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Capital letters">Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Capital letters § Religions, deities, philosophies, doctrines, and their adherents</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Manual_of_Style/Trademarks" title="Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Trademarks">Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Trademarks</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Relationships_with_academic_editors" title="Wikipedia:Relationships with academic editors">Wikipedia:Relationships with academic editors</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Tendentious_editing" title="Wikipedia:Tendentious editing">Wikipedia:Tendentious editing</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Tertiary-source_fallacy" title="Wikipedia:Tertiary-source fallacy">Wikipedia:Tertiary-source fallacy</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_editing_for_research_scientists" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:Wikipedia editing for research scientists">Wikipedia:Wikipedia editing for research scientists</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:Manual_of_Style/FAQ#Specialized" title="Wikipedia talk:Manual of Style/FAQ">Wikipedia talk:Manual of Style/FAQ § Why doesn't the Manual of Style always follow specialized practice?</a></li></ul> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2 ext-discussiontools-init-section"><h2 id="Notes" data-mw-thread-id="h-Notes"><span data-mw-comment-start="" id="h-Notes"></span>Notes<span data-mw-comment-end="h-Notes"></span></h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Specialized-style_fallacy&action=edit&section=6" title="Edit section: Notes"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1239543626">.mw-parser-output .reflist{margin-bottom:0.5em;list-style-type:decimal}@media screen{.mw-parser-output .reflist{font-size:90%}}.mw-parser-output .reflist .references{font-size:100%;margin-bottom:0;list-style-type:inherit}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns-2{column-width:30em}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns-3{column-width:25em}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns{margin-top:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns ol{margin-top:0}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns li{page-break-inside:avoid;break-inside:avoid-column}.mw-parser-output .reflist-upper-alpha{list-style-type:upper-alpha}.mw-parser-output .reflist-upper-roman{list-style-type:upper-roman}.mw-parser-output .reflist-lower-alpha{list-style-type:lower-alpha}.mw-parser-output .reflist-lower-greek{list-style-type:lower-greek}.mw-parser-output .reflist-lower-roman{list-style-type:lower-roman}</style><div class="reflist"> <div class="mw-references-wrap"><ol class="references"> <li id="cite_note-1"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-1">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1238218222">.mw-parser-output cite.citation{font-style:inherit;word-wrap:break-word}.mw-parser-output .citation q{quotes:"\"""\"""'""'"}.mw-parser-output .citation:target{background-color:rgba(0,127,255,0.133)}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-free.id-lock-free a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/65/Lock-green.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-limited.id-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .id-lock-registration.id-lock-registration a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d6/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-subscription.id-lock-subscription a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/aa/Lock-red-alt-2.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4c/Wikisource-logo.svg")right 0.1em center/12px no-repeat}body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-free a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-limited a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-registration a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-subscription a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon a{background-size:contain;padding:0 1em 0 0}.mw-parser-output .cs1-code{color:inherit;background:inherit;border:none;padding:inherit}.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-error{display:none;color:var(--color-error,#d33)}.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-error{color:var(--color-error,#d33)}.mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{display:none;color:#085;margin-left:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left{padding-left:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right{padding-right:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .citation .mw-selflink{font-weight:inherit}@media screen{.mw-parser-output .cs1-format{font-size:95%}html.skin-theme-clientpref-night .mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{color:#18911f}}@media screen and (prefers-color-scheme:dark){html.skin-theme-clientpref-os .mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{color:#18911f}}</style><cite id="CITEREFMcMurrey" class="citation web cs1">McMurrey, David. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.prismnet.com/~hcexres/textbook/high.html#caps">"Highlighting and Emphasis: Cue Readers About What to Do, What's Important"</a>. <i>Online Technical Writing</i>. "Capitalization" section<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">13 January</span> 2018</span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=unknown&rft.jtitle=Online+Technical+Writing&rft.atitle=Highlighting+and+Emphasis%3A+Cue+Readers+About+What+to+Do%2C+What%27s+Important&rft.pages=%22Capitalization%22+section&rft.aulast=McMurrey&rft.aufirst=David&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.prismnet.com%2F~hcexres%2Ftextbook%2Fhigh.html%23caps&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AWikipedia%3ASpecialized-style+fallacy" class="Z3988"></span> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1244412712">.mw-parser-output .templatequote{overflow:hidden;margin:1em 0;padding:0 32px}.mw-parser-output .templatequotecite{line-height:1.5em;text-align:left;margin-top:0}@media(min-width:500px){.mw-parser-output .templatequotecite{padding-left:1.6em}}</style><blockquote class="templatequote"><p>In technical publishing, there seems to be a running battle between technical writers and technical experts over capitalization. Technical experts like to use initial caps for practically every component and process in a system. Also, technical experts (and management) typically use all caps for text they consider important and want readers to attend to. Meanwhile, technical writers and editors (rightly) insist on using caps for proper names only. ... As a technical writer, hold the line against capitalization. Capital letters are distracting .... Capital letters create a busy text, which sends lots of unnecessary signals. Capital letters are traditionally intended for proper names ...</p></blockquote></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-2"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-2">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">For an example of extreme "specialist capitalization" at work, since how much of it had to be cleaned up at a single article, see <a href="/wiki/Glossary_of_power_generation" title="Glossary of power generation">Glossary of power generation</a>, in <a class="external text" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Glossary_of_power_generation&type=revision&diff=803061771&oldid=769787200">this version</a>.</span> </li> </ol></div></div>    </div><noscript><img src="https://login.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:CentralAutoLogin/start?useformat=desktop&type=1x1&usesul3=0" alt="" width="1" height="1" style="border: none; position: absolute;"></noscript> <div class="printfooter" data-nosnippet="">Retrieved from "<a dir="ltr" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Specialized-style_fallacy&oldid=1245285217">https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Specialized-style_fallacy&oldid=1245285217</a>"</div></div> <div id="catlinks" class="catlinks" data-mw="interface"><div id="mw-normal-catlinks" class="mw-normal-catlinks"><a href="/wiki/Help:Category" title="Help:Category">Categories</a>: <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Category:Wikipedia_essays" title="Category:Wikipedia essays">Wikipedia essays</a></li><li><a href="/wiki/Category:Wikipedia_essays_about_Wikipedian_fallacies" title="Category:Wikipedia essays about Wikipedian fallacies">Wikipedia essays about Wikipedian fallacies</a></li><li><a href="/wiki/Category:Wikipedia_essays_about_civility" title="Category:Wikipedia essays about civility">Wikipedia essays about civility</a></li><li><a href="/wiki/Category:Wikipedia_essays_about_style" title="Category:Wikipedia essays about style">Wikipedia essays about style</a></li><li><a href="/wiki/Category:Wikipedia_essays_about_experts_and_expertise" title="Category:Wikipedia essays about experts and expertise">Wikipedia essays about experts and expertise</a></li></ul></div></div> </div> </main> </div> <div class="mw-footer-container"> <footer id="footer" class="mw-footer" > <ul id="footer-info"> <li id="footer-info-lastmod"> This page was last edited on 12 September 2024, at 03:12<span class="anonymous-show"> (UTC)</span>.</li> <li id="footer-info-copyright">Text is available under the <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Text_of_the_Creative_Commons_Attribution-ShareAlike_4.0_International_License" title="Wikipedia:Text of the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License">Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License</a>; additional terms may apply. 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