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Survivor Wiki:Manual of Style

Revision as of 13:18, 29 March 2021 by Sinjoh (Message Wall | contribs)
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The Manual of Style is currently under construction. It was last updated on October 30, 2020.

National varieties of English

As this wiki originally covered the U.S. Survivor series before branching out into the Survivor franchise as a whole, this wiki generally uses American English, and as a result uses the serial comma which is fairly common in American English. Other national varieties of English should only be used when quoting a person affiliated with a non-U.S. series - for instance, quotes from Survivor (U.K.) contestants may be written in British English, but American English is still allowed.

  • As an example, the correct spelling in American English is "Favorites", not "Favourites".

Spelling and Grammar

  • The location of Survivor: Cambodia and Survivor: Kaôh Rōng is usually spelled "Koh Rong" in English, despite how the name of the latter season is spelled.
    • The same applies to "Ko Lanta" (the location) and Koh-Lanta (the French version of Survivor), along with several tribes and non-U.S. seasons.
  • For possessives of a plural noun, omit the S after the apostrophe. For possessives of a non-plural noun, either is acceptable and you should use your own judgement.
  • Avoid the deprecated noun usage of "male" or "female"; use "man" or "woman" instead.

Glossary

See Survivor Wiki:Glossary

Official bios

In order to preserve official CBS.com contestant bios as closely as possible, special rules are used.

  • Nothing should be changed from official bios, except the following may be changed in order to follow other parts of wiki policy:
    • Code specific to MediaWiki, Wikia, and/or Survivor Wiki may be added, and HTML converted to wiki code.
    • White space may be altered to put every question on a separate line.
    • Capitalization and/or punctuation may be altered to conform with American English standards or the wiki's specific style guide. This rule is not intended to force American English usage on contestants from non-U.S. Survivor franchises.
    • Names of tribes, seasons, and contestants may be linked to other pages on the wiki; in the case of tribes, the appropriate highlighting template may be used.
    • Links to copyright-infringing or otherwise illegal content must be removed. Any content related to Survivor itself is considered fair use for the purposes of this rule.

Names of individual contestants

Individual contestants (or other Survivor personnel) are to be referred to by the name they used on Survivor, not their current name.

  • For first names, the season's "Ancient Voices" intro is usually sufficient. This isn't a strict rule.
  • A few contestants have competed under two different names. They use their later name, including for article titles, except when specifically referring to a season in which they used their earlier name; this applies both to text and piped links.
  • For statistical purposes, transgender and/or non-binary contestants are counted as their gender identity of the time. However, this applies only for statistical purposes; such contestants' personal pronouns will be dealt with on a case-by-case basis.
  • Elisabeth Filarski (Hasselbeck) and Vecepia Towery (Robinson), among others, changed their names after their appearance. They should be referred to by their current name only when dealing with events that happened after their name changed.
    • Contestants who changed their name as the result of marriage to a previous contestant, such as Jaime Dugan (Huffman), use the same policy as all other contestants who changed their names.
  • For the purposes of this rule, Gary Hogeboom and Lisa Whelchel are not to be considered to have used the names "Gary Hawkins" and "Lisa Cauble", as they were publicized under their birth names.
  • Contestants who used nicknames and were publicized as such should be referred to as such, except in the lede to their article. For example, Brad Culpepper is not to be referred to as "John Broward Culpepper" outside the lede of his article.
  • Contestants who commonly go by their last name within a certain season should be referred to as such. For instance, the shortened form of John Cochran is "Cochran", not "John".
    • For Kelley Wentworth and Kelly Wiglesworth in Cambodia, it is acceptable to use their last names when describing the events of the season, but all vote charts should refer to them by their first names. The same extends to John Rocker in San Juan del Sur, but not Jon Misch as Jon was commonly known by his first name.
    • If listing a last-name-basis contestant by their last name only would cause confusion, it is advised to use their full name. (Example: If Sarah Dawson and Max Dawson are both referred to within the same section, Sarah Dawson shouldn't be referred to solely as "Dawson".)
  • Special cases:
    • Suffixes (Sr., Jr., and Roman numerals) are included on a case-by-case basis.
    • Sierra Dawn Thomas is commonly known by her full name in both her seasons, despite officially being "Sierra Thomas" in her first season.

Season titles

Seasons should be referred to as Survivor: _____, in italics, where the underscores are replaced by the season's title.

Alternate Titles

The first two seasons of U.S. Survivor have alternate titles. This wiki has a policy for each of these titles.

  • Season 1, currently referred to as Survivor: Borneo, was originally given the retronym Survivor: Pulau Tiga. The latter name should not be used to refer to the season, except in direct quotations or when specifically mentioned as an alternate title.
  • Season 2, Survivor: The Australian Outback, is commonly given the alternate title Survivor: Australia. Both names are acceptable, because unlike the Pulau Tiga situation both remain in common use to this day.

"The" in Titles

Two seasons of the U.S. Survivor series have "The" at the start of the season name. On this wiki, the full season name includes the word "The".

  • Survivor: The Australian Outback is not to be referred to as Australian Outback or Survivor: Australian Outback. As mentioned above, the official shortened title, Australia or Survivor: Australia, should be used instead. However, Australian Outback is acceptable in very specific instances where including the "The" would cause grammatical issues.
  • Survivor: The Amazon is not to be referred to as Survivor: Amazon. If not preceded by "Survivor", the season can be referred to as either Amazon or The Amazon. For instance, the parenthetical disambiguation "Sleeping with the Enemy (Amazon)" uses the shorter name in its article title.
  • The subtitle for Survivor: Game Changers is Mamanuca Islands, not The Mamanuca Islands.

Subtitle Usage

Any subtitles of the season should not be included in the article title nor any links to the season, but should be noted in the lede of the season's article.

When referring to two seasons with the same subtitle collectively, use "both Fans vs. Favorites seasons" (substituting the appropriate subtitle) or simply the season names.

  • Survivor: Vanuatu, not Survivor: Vanuatu - Islands of Fire
  • Survivor: Guatemala, not Survivor: Guatemala - The Maya Empire
    • The subtitle in the season's logo uses "Maya", not "Mayan".
  • Survivor: Panama, not Survivor: Panama - Exile Island or Survivor: Exile Island
  • Survivor: Micronesia and Survivor: Caramoan, not Survivor: Micronesia - Fans vs. Favorites and Survivor: Caramoan - Fans vs. Favorites
  • Survivor: Gabon, not Survivor: Gabon - Earth's Last Eden
  • Survivor: Tocantins, not Survivor: Tocantins - The Brazilian Highlands
  • Survivor: Cagayan and Survivor: Kaôh Rōng, not Survivor: Cagayan - Brawn vs. Brains vs. Beauty and Survivor: Kaôh Rōng - Brains vs. Brawn vs. Beauty
    • For Cagayan, because this is not an official subtitle included on the season's primary logo, the lede says "also unofficially known as" to indicate this. The subtitle was made official in Kaôh Rōng.
    • In Cagayan, "Brawn" is first in the subtitle, while in Kaôh Rōng, "Brains" is first.
  • Survivor: Worlds Apart, not Survivor: Worlds Apart - White Collar vs. Blue Collar vs. No Collar
    • While the subtitle was not included on the season's primary logo, an alternate logo with the subtitle saw enough use for the subtitle to be considered official.
  • Survivor: Cambodia, not Survivor: Cambodia - Second Chance or Survivor: Second Chance
  • Survivor: Game Changers, not Survivor: Game Changers - Mamanuca Islands

If a season's subtitle conflicts with the title of another season, a disambiguation may be present at the shared (sub)title, but this is not required.

Tribe Names

  • Tribes are usually to be referred to by their official names: use "Malakal", not "Favorites".
    • Tribes in Battle of the Sexes seasons can be referred to as "the men" or "the women", but syntax such as [[Tambaqui|the men]] should be avoided if possible.
    • Descriptive terms (Fans, Favorites, etc.) are acceptable terms for the "groups" of castaways represented, especially in a post-switch or post-merge context, but should not be used to refer to the tribes, unless referring to two tribes with the same label or in a direct quotation. Furthermore, the tribes from Panama, Nicaragua, and Blood vs. Water are not to be given descriptive terms in this manner, except in direct quotations or tribe comparisons.
      • The plural forms of Brawn and Beauty are Brawns and Beauties, respectively. The plural form of Brains is Brains. The singular form of Brains is Brain.
  • The proper form is "[tribe name]", not "the [tribe name]", except when pluralized or formatted as "the [tribe name] tribe" – "Tagi" and "the Tagi tribe" are acceptable, as is "the Tagis", but not "the Tagi".
    • In image captions, "Tagi" should be used, not "the Tagi tribe", because of the limited amount of space available in captions.
    • The exceptions to this rule are the Outcasts from Survivor: Pearl Islands and the Heroes and Villains from Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains, as their names are themselves plural. For the former, the proper capitalization is "The Outcasts" but "the Outcasts tribe", not "The Outcasts tribe". The singular forms of these tribes are Outcast, Hero, and Villain respectively.
  • All tribe names, except the Outcasts/Heroes/Villains, are treated as singular for grammatical purposes. The proper wording is "Koror wins immunity", not "Koror win immunity"; however, "the Heroes win immunity" is correct, not "the Heroes wins immunity".

Capitalization

  • Trademarked words, other than acronyms/initialisms, should never be written in allcaps, even if this would ordinarily violate the rule against altering official bios. The sole exception to this rule is the use of "SURVIVOR" in official bios, and this exception applies only when referring to the franchise. When referring to individual seasons, "SURVIVOR" is altered to "Survivor".
Terms by capitalization:
The following words are proper nouns and require capitalization:
Correct Incorrect Notes
Day [#] day [#] When referring to a day within the game's 39 or 42-day format; includes Day Zero. Also, Day Zero is spelled out.
Do-It-Yourself Challenge do-it-yourself challenge
Do-it-yourself Challenge
Exile Island exile island
Exile island 		"Exile" as a noun is also capitalized, when referring to Exile Island. As a verb or adjective, "exile" is not capitalized.
Final Tribal Council final Tribal Council
Haves vs. Have Nots haves vs. have nots
Hero Challenge
Hero Duel 		hero challenge
hero duel
Hidden Immunity Idol hidden immunity idol
hidden Immunity Idol
Immunity Challenge immunity challenge
Immunity Idol immunity idol
Immunity Necklace immunity necklace Includes "Immunity Talisman" for the first few seasons
Loved Ones Challenge loved ones challenge
Redemption Island redemption island
Redemption island 		"Redemption" as a noun is also capitalized, when referring to Redemption Island or its associated arena
Redemption Island Arena Redemption Island arena Capitalized because it is the name of a location
Reward Challenge reward challenge
Schoolyard Pick schoolyard pick
Sole Survivor sole survivor On official bios, use "Sole Survivor" instead of "Sole SURVIVOR" even if it would ordinarily violate the direct-quotation rule.
Survivor survivor
SURVIVOR 		Includes any foreign names for the franchise; "SURVIVOR" is retained on official bios if referring to the franchise.
Survivor Auction Survivor auction
Tree Mail tree mail
Tree mail
Tribal Council tribal council
All tribe names are capitalized Includes "The Outcasts" only when referring to the tribe
The following words are not proper nouns and do not require capitalization:
Correct Incorrect Notes
auction Auction When not preceded by the word "Survivor"
duel Duel When not preceded by the word "Hero"; most commonly seen with "Redemption Island duel"
exile Exile As a verb or adjective
family visit Family Visit
final [#] Final [#] Unless referring to the group of contestants at the Final Tribal Council, in which case both casings are acceptable
firemaking
fire making
fire-making 		Fire Making
Fire-Making 		When referring to the tiebreaker.
idol Idol When not preceded by the word "Immunity"
immunity Immunity As a concept; includes "individual immunity" and "tribal immunity" except on contestant vote tables
individual Individual
jury Jury Was originally treated as a proper noun, but is no longer considered one
loved one(s) Loved One(s) When not followed by the word "Challenge"
medallion Medallion When referring to the Medallion of Power but not followed by the words "of Power"
merge Merge Was originally treated as a proper noun, but is no longer considered one
necklace Necklace When not preceded by the word "Immunity"; includes "talisman" for the first few seasons
reward Reward As a concept; includes "individual reward" and "tribal reward"
rock drawing Rock Drawing When referring to the tiebreaker
split vote Split Vote However, the page itself is located at Split Vote.
tribal Tribal As an adjective
tribe Tribe
tribe switch Tribe Switch Includes similar concepts like mutiny, tribe dissolve, et cetera. However, the page itself is located at Tribe Switch.
The following words have multiple acceptable casings:
Correct Incorrect Notes
buff / Buff BUFF Is a brand name, but is treated as a genericized trademark. Do not use all-caps.
final two / Final Two
final three / Final Three 		When referring to the group of contestants at the Final Tribal Council
tribal / Tribal When referring to Tribal Council but not followed by the word "Council"
The following phrases are title-case:
Correct Incorrect Notes
Medallion of Power medallion of power
Medallion Of Power 		Second word is not capitalized
the Outcasts the outcasts
The Outcasts 		When referring to the group of contestants from Pearl Islands or in the format "the Outcasts tribe"; see the tribe names section above
San Juan del Sur San Juan Del Sur Third word is not capitalized; for both the location and the season

Punctuation

  • As mentioned above, Survivor Wiki uses the serial comma: a list of three people is formatted "Kelly, Richard, and Rudy" – note the comma after Richard's name.
  • American English generally uses "vs." as the abbreviation for "versus", so all X vs. Y titles are styled in that way regardless of whether the period is included in the season's logo.
  • The name "Ancient Voices" is in quotation marks, as it is the name of a composition.

Text Formatting

Other

  • The official name of this wiki is "Survivor Wiki", not "the Survivor Wiki".
  • The phrase "final Tribal Council" is not to be used to refer to anything other than the Day 39/42 event, because of potential issues with the bot. Use "last Tribal Council" instead. The same applies to "final Immunity Challenge" as well.
  • The plural of "runner-up" is "runners-up", not "runner-ups".
  • The term "Twinnies" to refer to Nadiya Anderson and Natalie Anderson from Survivor: San Juan del Sur is discouraged without context, as a viewer of Survivor alone would not be familiar with the term from The Amazing Race.
  • The descriptive term for the original Takali tribe in Survivor: Millennials vs. Gen X is "Gen-X", not "Gen X". However, the season title does not use the hyphen.

Individual Contestant Vote Tables

For all of these examples, the links to footnotes have been removed for clarity.

  • In the "Votes Received" column, list castaways separated by commas. Do not put "and" between the second-to-last and last names, but do put a comma between them.
  • In the event of a tie vote where the contestant is not part of the tie and is eligible to vote/ineligible to receive votes at the revote, format the table as follows, and add a footnote below the table:
Brenda's Voting History
Episode Brenda's
Votes 		Voted Against
Brenda
6 Kelly B.;
Kelly B.1 		Jill, Marty;
-
  • In the event of a tie vote where the contestant is part of the tie and is ineligible to vote/eligible to receive votes at the revote, format the table as follows, and add a footnote below the table:
Angie's Voting History
Episode Angie's
Votes 		Voted Against
Angie
5 Bobby Jon;
Ineligible 		Bobby Jon, James;
Ibrehem, James,
Stephenie1
  • At a three-person Tribal Council at which the non-immune contestants do not vote, they should be listed as "Ineligible" in italics on their vote table, but no footnote should be used.
Aras's Voting History
Episode Aras's
Votes 		Voted Against
Aras
15 Ineligible -
Devon's Voting History
Episode Devon's
Votes 		Voted Against
Devon
13 Lost Challenge5
Eliminated, Day 38

Individual Immunity and Hidden Immunity Idols

All references to Hidden Immunity Idols also include similar concepts, such as the Survivor: Guatemala Double Tribal hidden immunity and the Survivor: Millennials vs. Gen X Legacy Advantage.

  • Individual Immunity is listed at all Tribal Councils where the contestant in question attended and voted while still in the game, but was ineligible to receive votes. If this immunity was not the result of winning an individual Immunity Challenge, a footnote is included below the chart.
Heidi's Voting History
Episode Heidi's
Votes 		Voted Against
Heidi
12 Christy Individual Immunity1
  • "Individual Immunity" is not listed if the contestant was eligible to receive votes, even if these votes would not count. If a contestant is "immune" in this way, all votes they receive are crossed out, and a footnote is included below the chart.
Malcolm's Voting History
Episode Malcolm's
Votes 		Voted Against
Malcolm
9 Reynold -1
10 Phillip Cochran, Phillip2
  • If a contestant casts a vote that is negated by a Hidden Immunity Idol, their vote is crossed out, and a footnote may be included below the chart.
Baylor's Voting History
Episode Baylor's
Votes 		Voted Against
Baylor
10 Keith2 -
  • "De facto" individual immunity via possession of a Panama-onward Hidden Immunity idol at the last Tribal Council in which idols can be played is not included, unless the idol is actually played.
Terry's Voting History
Episode Terry's
Votes 		Voted Against
Terry
14 Cirie -
  • Unusual circumstances involving immunity (such as giving away the Immunity Necklace) may be footnoted if an editor sees fit to do so. However, such contestants cannot be listed as "Individual Immunity" if they were eligible to receive votes, even if these votes would not be counted.
Erik's Voting History
Episode Erik's
Votes 		Voted Against
Erik
13 Parvati Amanda, Cirie,
Natalie, Parvati2

Extra Vote and Vote Steal Advantages

Footnotes are included for all these cases.

  • If a contestant casts two votes because of an Extra Vote or similar advantage, and these votes are for the same person, both votes should be listed either by "x2" notation or by listing the same name twice. If these votes do not count, only the names themselves should be crossed out, not the "x2" or "+" notation.
Tai's Voting History
Episode Tai's
Votes 		Voted Against
Tai
12 Michele +
Michele1 		-
  • If a contestant casts two votes because of an Extra Vote or similar advantage, and these votes are for two different people, both names are listed. If one or both of these votes do not count, only the name itself should be crossed out, not the "+" notation.
Stephen's Voting History
Episode Stephen's
Votes 		Voted Against
Stephen
11 Abi-Maria
+ Joe3 		Abi-Maria, Keith,
Kelley, Spencer
  • If a contestant receives two votes from the same person because of an Extra Vote advantage, both votes should be listed either by "x2" notation or by listing the same name twice. If these votes do not count, everything should be crossed out, including the "x2" notation if applicable.
Michele's Voting History
Episode Michele's
Votes 		Voted Against
Michele
12 Jason Tai (x2)1
  • If a contestant does not cast a vote because they are ineligible to do so, they should be listed as "Ineligible" in italics on their vote table.
Joe's Voting History
Episode Joe's
Votes 		Voted Against
Joe
11 Ineligible3 Jeremy, Stephen

Unusual Tribal Councils

  • At the Pearl Islands Outcast Tribal Council, the Outcasts each cast two votes, and those votes should be listed as they would with any other double-voter. Outcast returnees should have an additional line in their vote table indicating they returned to the game via the Outcast vote. Episode 7 is not listed on any Outcast vote table, as the returning Outcasts did not re-enter the game until episode 8.
Burton's Voting History
Episode Burton's
Votes 		Voted Against
Burton
8 Michelle,
Nicole 		Michelle,
Ryan S., Trish1
Returned, Day 19
  • At a Joint Tribal Council, the cell background color is the tribe the contestant was on, but members of the opposing tribe(s) are highlighted in their own tribe color(s). The footnote given here is for the use of a Hidden Immunity Idol, not for the Joint Tribal Council itself.
Malcolm's Voting History
Episode Malcolm's
Votes 		Voted Against
Malcolm
4 Sierra1 Brad, Debbie,
Hali, Sierra, Tai
Voted Out, Day 11
  • At his elimination Tribal Council in Game Changers, Jeff Varner did not cast a vote. He is listed as "None" in italics on his vote table.
Jeff's Voting History
Episode Jeff's
Votes 		Voted Against
Jeff
7 None2 Andrea, Debbie, Ozzy,
Sarah, Tai, Zeke
Voted Out, Day 18
  • At her elimination Tribal Council in Game Changers, Cirie Fields was eliminated by default as the only person without some form of immunity. She is listed as receiving no votes, and her non-counted vote cast against Sarah Lacina is footnoted. No second footnote is given on the "Eliminated" line, as the footnotes are essentially "merged" into a single footnote.
Cirie's Voting History
Episode Cirie's
Votes 		Voted Against
Cirie
12 Sarah1 -
Eliminated, Day 36
  • Votes held to remove one member of the jury, or to give one member of a tribe individual immunity of some kind, are not listed on any vote chart.

"No Tribal Council" and Similar Situations

For the purposes of these rules, in Redemption Island seasons, "elimination" refers to being eliminated from the main game, not from Redemption Island.

  • "No Tribal Council" should be listed on a contestant's vote table if no Tribal Council took place in the episode because of a non-vote elimination, and the contestant was not otherwise abstained from Tribal Council via immunity. In addition, it should be listed on those eliminated by non-vote means outside Tribal Council, unless a Tribal Council was held specifically to announce their elimination. If a contestant is individually immune but their immunity has no effect due to a non-vote elimination, this fact should be footnoted.
Keith's Voting History
Episode Keith's
Votes 		Voted Against
Keith
7 No Tribal Council1


Colton's Voting History
Episode Colton's
Votes 		Voted Against
Colton
3 No Tribal Council
Quit, Day 7
  • "No Vote" should be listed on a contestant's vote table if a Tribal Council took place in the episode, but no votes were cast, and the contestant was not otherwise abstained from Tribal Council via immunity. In addition, it should be listed on those eliminated by non-vote means if they do not qualify for the "No Tribal Council" criteria, and for the Morgan tribe at Osten Taylor's quit in Pearl Islands. The same footnoting rules apply as to "No Tribal Council".
Tom's Voting History
Episode Tom's
Votes 		Voted Against
Tom
10 No Vote1


Colton's Voting History
Episode Colton's
Votes 		Voted Against
Colton
6 No Vote
Evacuated, Day 16


Andrew's Voting History
Episode Andrew's
Votes 		Voted Against
Andrew
7 No Vote
Jonathan's Voting History
Episode Jonathan's
Votes 		Voted Against
Jonathan
1 Not Picked
Eliminated, Day 2
  • "No Elimination" or "Mock Vote" should be listed on a contestant's vote table if votes were cast at Tribal Council for some purpose, but no one was eliminated. As of 2020, this has only occurred on international versions of Survivor.
Locky's Voting History
Episode Locky's
Votes 		Voted Against
Locky
8 Mock Vote1
(2 episodes in between)
11 No Elimination2
  • If a contestant is abstained from Tribal Council by being on Exile Island, they should be listed as "On Exile Island" and footnoted. As Julia Sokolowski in Kaôh Rōng was not sent to an official Exile Island, the wording for her is instead "Exiled to To Tang Camp".
Bruce's Voting History
Episode Bruce's
Votes 		Voted Against
Bruce
2 On Exile Island1
  • If a contestant is abstained from Tribal Council by kidnapping or by winning a post-merge team Immunity Challenge, they should be listed as such and footnoted.
Nate's Voting History
Episode Nate's
Votes 		Voted Against
Nate
6 Kidnapped By Aitutaki1
  • If a contestant is abstained from Tribal Council by an advantage, they should be listed as such and footnoted.
Jeremy's Voting History
Episode Jeremy's
Votes 		Voted Against
Jeremy
10 Safety Without Power2


Differences from Wikipedia

Survivor Wiki policy is slightly different from Wikipedia's Survivor-related policy.

  • Survivor Wiki counts votes cast at revotes and votes negated by Hidden Immunity Idols in contestant vote totals, while Wikipedia does not.
  • Contestant tables on Survivor Wiki list each contestant once, regardless of the number of times they were voted out. Furthermore, the tables are organized by official placement rather than by the order they were voted out, which alters the contestant order in seasons with the Outcasts, Redemption Island, or Edge of Extinction twists.
Survivor Wiki Policies
User Rights Administration
General Policies Assume Good Faith • Blocking • Citation • Discussion • Manual of Style • Page Protection • Reversion of Edits • Social Media • Spoilers • Uploading Images
Other Policies Categories • User Blog • User Page
Community content is available under CC-BY-SA unless otherwise noted.
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