Scope
How prose should sound. The principles below are language-agnostic. Apply them whether the wiki's primary language is English, Russian, Serbian, or anything else.
Voice
Aim for Wikipedia voice: neutral, encyclopedic, impersonal. Concrete numbers over evaluative words. Specify the object: "exchanging dinars for forints", not "the exchange".
Length
Text is saved on its second pass, not its first. Reading it once to check that it is correct is not reading it to cut, and the two are different passes.
The cut costs minutes once, and skipping it costs every reader of the block, every time it is opened. Padding is also invisible from inside the draft, where length reads as substance, so the second read has to be a colder one rather than a more careful first.
Quoting sources
When a wiki cites a source, the reader should be able to verify the claim without leaving the page. The rules below make that possible.
Use blockquotes
Put quotations in markdown blockquotes (> ). Plain inline quotes get lost in dense prose; the indent and bar give the reader a visual cue.
Bilingual: original first, translation in italics
When the source is in a different language, quote the original first and put the translation in italics on the next line of the same blockquote. The reader sees both without leaving the page; an agent can verify the translation against the original later.
> "Original sentence in the source's language."
>
> *"Translation in the wiki's primary language."*