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Help:Stub

Stubs are the beginnings of an article's life. At their core, they are an idea of what an article can be before even a rough draft. Basically, it asks the question of "What is this article about?" with some basic information.

There are two kinds of stubs.

  • Regular stubs: These are stubs that are on subjects of minor to reasonable importance and are tagged using the {{stub}} tag.
    • Example: An article on Rigel, a minor background character, would be of minor or reasonable importance.
  • Major stubs: These are stubs that are on subjects of uncontested high or pivotal importance and are tagged using the {{mstub}} tag.
    • Example: An article on Commander Adama would be of high importance.

The "size" of a stub varies depending on the amount of available content for an article. For instance, an article on Commander Adama would easily take up several paragraphs, and thus a stub article on Adama could vary between one to three paragraphs. In contrast, a little-known character such as Rigel would easily take up one to three paragraphs, which would be more than enough for a fleshed out, thorough article on her; a stub version of her article would be somewhere under a paragraph.

As it has been demonstrated, determining a "stub" is typically done in relation to the amount of content that could fill the article. The decision to tag the article as a stub is very much a decision that needs to be done on a case-by-case basis, with no hard and fast rules.

[edit] Creating a stub

Creating a stub is very much like creating an article. A stub article includes the general, basic ideas that are seedlings to an article. It doesn't have to be particularly detailed, though it should be reasonably well written; nothing Shakespearian, but readable and with good grammar.

When creating a stub, it is a good idea to determine if the article is of major or minor importance, and tag them accordingly per above.

[edit] What qualifies as a stub

A stub is typically for encyclopedic-like articles, and doesn't lend itself to creative submissions (stories, analytical pieces, op/ed, art) or news and rumor submission. So short stories, op/ed pieces, and anything in the vein of creativity or news reporting doesn't qualify for "stubbing".

[edit] Developing a stub

The very nature of a stub demands that it be developed into a full-fledged article. It doesn't have to happen over night and can be done gradually by adding pieces of information or expanding on ideas.

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