Wikipedia:Writing about breeds

This is an essay. It contains the advice or opinions of one or more Wikipedia contributors. This page is not an encyclopedia article, nor is it one of Wikipedia's policies or guidelines, as it has not been thoroughly vetted by the community. Some essays represent widespread norms; others only represent minority viewpoints.

Shortcut WP:BREEDTIPS

This page in a nutshell: Wikipedia articles about breeds and other varieties of domesticated animal often show a lack of familiarity with basic Wikipedia policies and guidelines. They are often written off-the-cuff by fanciers or breeders new to Wikipedia, then not cleaned up by anyone for years. This is a summary of key points for how to write them properly.

Below is a crash course in the basics of writing a breed-related article on Wikipedia, without getting into administrative trouble or having the article deleted. All of Wikipedia's rules apply to breed articles, just like everything else. However, many people who want to write about them are fairly new to Wikipedia and do not understand yet what those policies and guidelines are and how they may apply.

While written mainly with

For how to provide reference citations, see WP:Citing sources.

All claims must be verifiable in reliable sources

Everything in a Wikipedia article must be

• This precludes opinional statements about a breed being "friendly" or "outgoing" or "good with kids" or "intelligent", unless there are reliable sources (e.g. dog behavior studies) that prove that a particular breed statistically stands out from the crowd in such a respect.
• Any potentially controversial claim without a source or with an unreliable source can be removed by any editor. Someone may "tag" such a claim with a cleanup or dispute template, such as {{
  unreliable source
  }}, or they may simply delete the questionable material.
• If two or more apparently reliable sources disagree, we note that they disagree (within the bounds of
  synthesize
  a compromise between them.
• You cannot just copy-paste from sources, even if you think they won't mind. Limited
  block-quotation
  is permissible, with proper sourcing and attribution. Even copying from a legally public-domain text requires attribution. Wikipedia doesn't rip off or regurgitate others' writing.
• Magazines can sometimes be used as references for non-controversial claims, but are considered weak sources because their fact-checking standards are low and their propensity for credulity and exaggeration is high. This is especially the case in the pet-breeding sphere; most breed profile articles are written by breeders of the breed in question, with a vested interest in promoting that breed and circumscribing its definition and nomenclature to match that of whatever organization they're a recognized breeder within.
• Breed registries are reliable sources for the content of their own breed standards. They are not reliable for scientific, medical, or historical claims about breeds (and frequently re-publish blatant misinformation in these regards – basically whatever breeder groups tell them). They are also not reliable for exaggeratory behavioral claims. Example:
  • The following (adapted from a real organization's breed description) is not encyclopedic information, but marketing by breeders, and nothing like it belongs in any article on Wikipedia, no matter who said it: "A very loving breed, they enjoy being in the middle of an active family. Their large size and silly personalities make them a perfect companion. They do not like to be left alone for long periods of time as they are very social, so be prepared to spend quality time snuggling." Such claims can only pertain to individual animals. There is no such thing a breed of anything that is loving, family-friendly, snuggly, or prone to separation anxiety as a breed trait. Neither pets nor livestock have a consistent personality across an entire breed. About the best we can do with this "information" is something like "[Organization name]'s overview of this large breed describes them as affectionate and social.^[1]"
  • Some behavioral traits do
    herding dogs, and the going-limp-when-picked-up reaction of the Ragdoll
    cat breed.
• Not all breed registries and federations are equivalent. Some are notable national and international organizations, others are "mills" with impressive-sounding names but terrible reputations, and others are simply non-notable little groups, which are often not independent publishers but have strong fiduciary ties to breeders. Registries that are non-notable (or infamous) do not help establish a breed's notability, and are categorically unreliable sources.
  • The documentation of some templates, including {{Infobox cat breed}} and {{Infobox dog breed}}, contain information on notable and reputable registries, and which ones are not. This feature may not be available for other-species breed infoboxes, in which case consider asking on the talk page of the relevant wikiproject (listed in the "See also" section, below).

Do not engage in what Wikipedia calls "original research", or treat Wikipedia as a forum

Wikipedia is

• Just include what the reliable sources say, without any "therefore, ..." conclusions being drawn by you (or manipulative wording to lead the reader to such a conclusion).
• Any claim that involves
  WP:PSTS
  (primary, secondary, tertiary sources).
• This is also not a place where anyone
  gets to control an article
  , even if they started it and wrote 99.99% of it. Wikipedia is not yours, and is not about you or your viewpoint.
• not a forum
  for discussing things like animal welfare, breeder and organization disputes, and other material that doesn't pertain to improving our encyclopedia articles.
• Trying to
  clear and meaningful edit summaries
  .)

Wikipedia is an encyclopedia and is written like one. We have an important policy about what Wikipedia is not (and is not written like), including guidebooks, news, blogs and op-eds, advertising, attack pages, personal memoirs, webboards, and everything else that isn't an encyclopedia.

Maintain neutrality

Writing for Wikipedia must express a neutral point of view. Avoid emotive language and personal opinion, including advocacy and criticism.

• Encyclopedic writing uses in a
  formal, dispassionate tone
  .
• Avoid skewed coverage; Wikipedia is neither a
  battleground for dispute
  . If there is real-world disagreement or controversy about a breed or breeder organization, that may be encyclopedia-worthy to cover (with sufficient sourcing, and not out-of-proportion to other material), but Wikipedia does not take sides.
• Any criticism of a breed must be found in reliable sources, like everything else. And see the example earlier in this page about excessive, promotional claims.

Wikipedia's Manual of Style and related rules do apply

There is no magical exception for anyone's favorite topic. Our

• Wikipedia is
  not news or written like journalism
  – of any kind, including fancier/breeder magazine or blog style.
• Wikipedia
  does not capitalize the names of any kind of grouping (type, breed group, feral population, landrace, species common name, etc.) of organism, including domesticated animals. An exception is made for the formal names of standardized breeds, which are treated as proper names
  and capitalized exactly as they appear in the breed standards.
• Do not over-capitalize "other stuff" related to dogs, horses, cats, or whatever – not animal sports, pet or livestock equipment types, coat color patterns, training types, working roles, or anything else – no matter how often dog, horse, or cat magazines do it. If you're capitalizing for emphasis, to stress the importance or specialness of something, you are a making a mistake.
• Do not directly address the reader in
  is not a guidebook
  .
• Do not write in
  is not a blog, journal, editorial, or column
  .
• Do not use "the [singular name here]" in reference to things that are not standardized breeds; use the plural. Standardized breeds: "The American Yorkshire is a breed of pig ...";
  feral populations: "Mustangs are free-roaming horses of the American west that ..."; landraces
  : "Van cats are a distinctive landrace of domestic cat, found in the Lake Van region of eastern Turkey."

WP:Article titles provides a checklist of criteria for a proper title of a Wikipedia article.

• Always start with the
  the five title criteria
  .
  • For breeds, this will almost always be a standardized breed name in a large breed registry.
  • Where a breed has multiple standardized names in different registries, use the most common one in English materials as the article title and as the primary way to refer to the breed in running text. Alternative names are given in a breed
    infobox template and in the lead section
    of the article.
  • If there's something problematic, under the criteria, with the most common name (perhaps is it not
    precise enough
    because another registry uses it for another breed), then try the second most common.
  • For horses, which tend to be standardized only by breed-specific or breed-group-specific registries rather than by all-breeds organizations, a common-name analysis is especially important. For other species, the most common name is almost always the name used by the largest all-breeds registry.
• If the best name to use for a breed article is already used for some other topic, the name needs to be disambiguated. Wikipedia only does this in particular ways.
  • For breeds, use
    Manx (cat), though the latter two may exist as redirects. Titles in the latter pattern are used for names of individual notable animals (e.g. Queen Mab (horse) and Moustache (dog)
    ).