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## Wiki Discussion

### Writing in the second person - should it be allowed at certain times? - Page 1

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#### Writing in the second person - should it be allowed at certain times?

Posted by: Torchickens
Date: 2014-07-11 17:24:09
From the manual of style.

> Articles must not use second ("you") or first person ("I" or "me") point of view. The player of the game, who is assumed to be performing the glitch, is either referred to as "the player" or not at all. Phrases such as "you must use a Pokémon with a Special of 21 to get a Mew" might be reworded as "Using a Pokémon with a Special stat of 21 results in a Mew."

This is a common rule on other wikis, but sometimes writing in the second person does not make the article harder to read, and is it really 'unprofessional'?. I feel it could be helpful when you are instructing the player what to do. I don't know if it's just me, but for a wiki about teaching the player about different glitches and tricks, having 'you' appear sounds friendlier and makes the information sink in more if it is used appropriately. StrategyWiki and Wikitravel do this.
I'm not saying that "Using a Pokémon with a Special stat of 21 results in a Mew." sounds worse than "you must use a Pokémon with a Special of 21 to get a Mew" though. In fact, I think it sounds better; it doesn't use 'you' or 'the player' and it has a clearer meaning.
But, I don't think simply replacing 'you' with 'the player' is the way to go.
Thoughts?

#### Re: Writing in the second person - should it be allowed at certain times?

Posted by: OwnageMuch
Date: 2014-07-11 18:13:18
I agree yeah.
It's not necessary to follow one method of writing just because wikipedia/bulbpedia uses it, whatever sounds more natural is correct in my opinion, even if that is second person in some cases.

#### Re: Writing in the second person - should it be allowed at certain times?

Posted by: Raven Freak
Date: 2014-07-11 21:54:57
I agree as well. Sure you want to sound professional while writing articles on a wiki or any site, but using certain words doesn't necessarily make it any less unprofessional.

#### Re: Writing in the second person - should it be allowed at certain times?

Posted by: Torchickens
Date: 2014-07-12 09:06:27
Thanks for your input guys. I'll wait two weeks or so and see what the consensus is, and for Abwayax's opinion because I don't want to make any changes to the rules without his permission.

#### Re: Writing in the second person - should it be allowed at certain times?

Posted by: Abwayax
Date: 2014-07-13 05:27:32
While I personally prefer a formal encyclopedic tone, if the consensus is to change the manual of style to allow for the second person (and it seems to be so at the moment), I have no objections against doing so.

#### Re: Writing in the second person - should it be allowed at certain times?

Posted by: Ketsuban
Date: 2014-07-13 09:34:12
The consensus is wrong.

#### Re: Writing in the second person - should it be allowed at certain times?

Posted by: Bent`
Date: 2014-07-18 21:03:09
I usually avoid actual use of you in technical documentation. But second person in general makes sense, like:
In order to do x,

- Start y
- Execute z

Saying the player must just sounds stilted.
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