This page is considered an official policy on the American Dad Wikia.
It has wide acceptance among editors and is considered a standard that everyone should follow.
Content
Introduction • Editing Policy • Picture & Video Policy
Style
Page layout
Interaction
Blocking policy • Code of conduct • Talk Page Policy • Protection Policy
User rights
Administrators
See also American Dad! Wiki:Picture Policy
- Main Episode Pages
Images used as the main image for an episode are usually provided by TBS, as well as possibly several backup images. In the event that TBS fails to provide images prior to an episode broadcast, a user provided image may be used. It is preferential that the main image tie strongly to the title or main plot and secondary image(s) to any subplots. Again, without interfering with page formatting.
- Air Dates are the date an episode is first shown on broadcast television anywhere worldwide. An episode may be previously released on DVD. See the page for that DVD for DVD release information.
- Guest Stars originally were guest voice actors featured by the FOX network, usually announced in a press release. As TBS rarely promotes even "A List" stars, there will be some discretion as to who will be promoted to guest status, but this will largely be limited to the actor's first American Dad! appearance. A complete list of all guest voices per episode are kept at: Guest Voice Credits by Season.
- Featuring are the main characters of the episode. Rarely does this include the entire Smith Family, but the main 2-4 characters involved.
- Also Appearing: Any other named character seen in an episode. A page for "Guy with mustache in crowd" will be deleted. Characters only heard or referenced are not listed here.
- An informal setup exists with the following hierarchy:
- Non-featured immediate family
- Major non-featured characters
- Other recurring characters
- New characters
- Animals and/or fictional characters
- Celebrities
- Musical Numbers: Songs sung with understandable lyrics by characters in the show. We will also consider songs contributed by primary cast or production crew that is used as background music on a case-by-case basis. Instrumentals and "nonsense" singing do not count. Background music such as pop songs are to be listed as Notes, not Musical Numbers. All songs that are not original to the show should also be listed in List of music used in American Dad.
Only the lyrics sung by the cast may be used in a page for musical numbers. Attempting to add full lyrics to a known song is a violation of copyright.
- Plot: The episode narrative is only intended to outline the plot and not document every single joke that the editor finds funny.
- It also should not be copied verbatim from another web page or wiki. It's ok to use another page as a reference, but try to make some of the work your own. At the same time, be aware that editors on this wiki may edit elsewhere. Similar entries may not be copying but cross-posting. Parenthesis should not used in plot descriptions. Make your narrative include all relevant information in a continuous flow.
- Do not rewrite descriptions to suit yourself, they will be reversed and persistence will result in being blocked. We encourage new information, not picking over past entries with a thesaurus. You may correct misspellings, as long as it is understood that American English is used here. If you wish to question the accuracy or wording of a statement, you may do so on the talk pages and it will be investigated or discussed.
- Original Character Pages
A good page should have a narrative of their actions in any episodes they appear. Three or more appearances may have a separate heading for "Filmography" or "Appearances" with a quick rundown of episodes. Deleted scenes do not count as an appearance. Appearances limited due to censorship or editing should be designated as such, using "DVD Exclusive", "Adult Swim" or similar. Alternate identities of characters should be mentioned in the main page for that character and not with a new page. Eight or more non-cameo background appearances are required for "Regular Character" and a Character Box template.
Due to American Dad!'s habit of including numerous background cameo characters, it is really only necessary to detail the first few appearances until editors get the hang of knowing what the character looks like. After that, only notable appearances have to be mentioned. If an editor spots a previously missed or retroactively named character in a scene, please use the summary to detail the character's location so it can be confirmed. Although cameo background characters are not given a character box template for multiple appearances, we do still use the listing of appearances.
- Places
The narrative should describe the events taking place at a given location. In the event of a real-world location, a short description of the history of the locale is preferred. Three or more multiple appearances may be given a quick list of 'Appearances".