Alternative History
Register
Advertisement

EDITORIAL GUIDELINES FOR THE 1983: DOOMSDAY ATL

This ATL evolved from a short TL written anonymously by 70.150.208.34; it was then adopted by Xi'Reney, and later the (fictional) WCRB. The main timeline summarizes the central events of this fictional world.

As a community timeline, new content and edits are always welcome. But because the timeline has become so large and complex, new content cannot automatically become "canon". New edits will have to be reviewed and harmonized with existing material to make sure it all fits together well.

Essential processes[]

These five processes are the heart of the 1983 project. Canon, Proposals, Obsolescence, Review, and Adoption are how we structure our writing and keep things moving.

Canon[]

It's important to respect the content that has already been accepted by the group as canon. New ideas have to fit into what is already accepted. This does not mean you will be barred from making any changes if it is more plausible to update the content of the TL, but it has to be discussed with the group. Talk:1983: Doomsday, the main page for discussion on the alternate history, has sections devoted to discussing various topics. Our policy toward canonical information is summarized by the related terms "QSS and QAA".

As DD has grown, many users with expert knowledge the history of different regions have contributed content. The results can be seen in some brilliant articles within this ATL.

Another thing to note: only canonical articles get categorized by topic in the various parts of Category:1983: Doomsday. Non-canon, whether proposals or obsolete pages, get placed in Category:Proposals or Category:Obsolete Pages (1983: Doomsday) only. This is so that somebody browsing the category by topic will only read information that is officially part of the timeline.

A Few Examples:

Proposals[]

Nuclear-explosion This 1983: Doomsday page is a Proposal.


It has not been ratified and is therefore not yet a part of the 1983: Doomsday Timeline. You are welcome to correct errors and/or comment at the Talk Page. If you add this label to an article, please do not forget to make mention of it on the main Discussion page for the Timeline.


When you create something new, it should be tagged as a Proposal. This is done by adding {{ddprop}} to the top of the page. This adds the article to Category:Proposals (1983: Doomsday). When you are ready to discuss your proposal, add a note about it to the bottom of Talk:1983: Doomsday#CURRENT ARTICLE PROPOSALS.

While a page is marked as a Proposal, the group spends time discussing, debating, and possibly recommending changes to it. Once there is consensus that your ideas will work within the timeline, you can remove the Proposal tag - we call this process "graduation". After that, the page will be considered a part of the Doomsday canon.

Note that there is no strict time limit on how long proposals can sit before there's clear consensus to graduate. If you've posted an idea and nobody has commented, do not assume that it's OK to graduate. Sometimes the project goes quiet for a period as members do other things, and a lack of comments probably means that nobody has seen your Proposal. Try to contact one of the recently active contributors or reach out on Alternate History Wiki's Discord, in the channel #1983-Doomsday. It can be slow and frustrating, but since we take canon seriously, the process is important.

Finally, note that the fact that a page or idea has been accepted/graduated does not mean that it is "finished". All of 1983DD's pages are undergoing constant updates and expansion. The graduation process simply means that what has been written - the essentials of the idea - are part of the timeline's canon. This means that you can update your own creations - and even create new fork articles - without going through the Proposal process, unless your updates have effects on the work of others.

Inactive Proposals[]

Wargames message
This 1983: Doomsday Proposal was marked Obsolete due to inactivity.

This article is not part of the 1983: Doomsday canon because it was abandoned during the proposal process. If you would like to resurrect this proposal, please comment on the main talk page.


Some proposals may have a plausible starting premise but never graduate. We encourage users to finish these articles when possible, even as brief plausible contributions that enrich the greater setting, however some proposal will inevitably not be finished at all. To prevent proposals in limbo from remaining in the main Discussion forever, we have developed a procedure to archive them in case someone wishes to revise them in the future. The {{ddinactive}} template is placed and they can also be found in Inactive proposals.

Obsolete[]

Falloutshelter
This 1983: Doomsday page is an obsolete proposal.

Information in this article is not part of the 1983: Doomsday timeline. The page has been saved for reference purposes. You can comment on this page's talkpage.


In your time in the 1983: Doomsday community you may come across archived articles marked with the Obsolete template. This is because they either contradict established canon, are too implausible to be a part of the timeline, or were proposals left incomplete after years by an inactive contributor, and no one (either the article's original creator or willing adoptee) is willing to revise the article.

Other articles are made obsolete as a part of the process of a larger Review. The Duchy_of_Orléans, for example, was a part of the canon for years, until a re-examination found the premise unrealistic. If this passes, the {{ddobsolete}} template is added to the top of the article and and they can be found in Category:Obsolete Pages (1983: Doomsday); all reference to obsolete articles are removed from the timeline. In Talk:1983: Doomsday#CURRENT ARTICLE PROPOSALS someone moves to archive the discussion and mark the article as obsolete.

If you want to rescue an obsolete article, you can add the proposal template to the article again, and re-list it on the main discussion page, explaining how you are changing the proposal to fit better into the timeline. The Republic of Iowa article is an example of an article that was revised after being marked as obsolete.

Review[]

H21 This 1983: Doomsday page is under Review.

Even though it is part of the 1983: Doomsday Timeline, there is debate about whether this article conflicts with older canon or is too implausible to remain as is. See the Talk Page for more details. If you add this label to an article, please do not forget to make mention of it on the main discussion page for the Timeline.


Sometimes, articles are graduated into canon even though they contradict current canon or are improbable. We have a procedure for dealing with that as well. If you feel an article should not be in canon, mark it with the {{ddreview}} template, which will place it in Category:Review (1983: Doomsday). State your reasons why on the article's talk page and at Talk:1983: Doomsday#CURRENT REVIEWS. The procedure for Reviewing content is similar to that for Proposals. If consensus is that the article is acceptable as it is, the Review template will be removed without having to change it. If consensus is that a change is needed, it will have to be either changed or marked as obsolete. Since changes to the canon are a serious matter, a Review should remain open for at least 30 days to make sure that all interested people can see and comment on it.

The article on Prussia was reviewed once and was revised, thus being allowed to return to canon.

Adopting articles[]

Dayafter1 Is anybody there? Anybody? Anybody at all...


This 1983: Doomsday article is open for adoption. Feel free to adopt and expand it.

This timeline is now over 15 years old; in that span of time, many of our editors have moved on to other things, leaving their articles with no one to update them. In our "live" timeline, the history of this world keeps marching on, and ideally these articles should be updated. Therefore we have an official adoption policy. If an editor has been missing for three months, another editor can adopt their articles. We ask that the adopting editor make an attempt to contact the missing editor by leaving a message on their talk page. If the missing editor does not respond in one week, the adopting editor can safely become the new caretaker of the article in question.

Naturally, we ask that the adopting editor respect the content of the work as it was when they adopted it. Remember that these works passed a consensus of your peers before you, and while opinions may change over time, the underlying premise of the article should be respected If you feel that there are issues with the plausibility of the content of an adopted article, bring it up to your peers to see if the above mentioned Review procedure would apply.

Another way to adopt an article is to find one with the {{Ofa83}} banner and remove, thus making you the new caretaker. But remember, RESPECT CANON. For a current list of adoptable articles, see Category:Adoption requests (1983: Doomsday).

Open articles[]

Editors welcome
This 1983: Doomsday article is considered canon, but experts on particular regions are still welcome to make changes or additions as appropriate.


Some articles are inherently never finished and open to all editors. These are generally topical articles that list or describe things all around the world. They are for anyone to edit, expand, or correct, as long as they are consistent with existing canon, are informed by historical research, and follow the timeline's standards for realism, plausibility and common sense. To mark an article as open to the community, use the {{DDedwelcome}} template.

Work In Progress[]

DD1983 WCRB Flag Reclamation in progress

This 1983: Doomsday article is currently being updated by its writers. Please do not edit or expand upon this page as it has not been completed. Feel free to comment on the talk page.
Thank you for your cooperation.

The template {{Increation83}} is a general notice that an article still has a lot of work to do. Maybe the article is accepted canon but is going through a major revision. Maybe it's a new article that's not ready to be a proposal yet. The owner of the article may tag it as such to alert others that work is being done. Out of courtesy to the writer, please do not edit these articles: even QAA will have to go through the talk page. Such a tag may be removed by the owner or by the community through consensus.

Guidelines for writing[]

The rest of this page offers guidelines for adding content to the timeline.

Plausibility[]

Please try to keep things to a plausible level. Despite changes in the timeline from ours, the real world works in the same way in this ATL as it does in OTL. Generally, things that couldn't possibly happen in our timeline shouldn't happen in this one. Please do not insert aliens, magic or supernatural elements - as this ATL is already quite fictional on its own. Also remember that even if certain things are possible for people or nations, they should remain at least somewhat practical and achievable for them to have it happen. Unlikely but possible things can be allowed, as long as there is a good explanation as for why it happened over a more likely thing or outcome.

Hometowns: Furthermore, the purpose of 1983: Doomsday is not to transform your hometown into the bright center of civilization. Chances are that the place you live is no better or worse off than its immediate neighbors. Keep that in mind if you ever try to develop a nation that encompasses your hometown.

Time Frame[]

This timeline's Point of Divergence is 26 September 1983 03:40 GMT - the moment when Soviet computers erroneously detected an incoming nuclear strike. This means that all of history up to that moment must be exactly the same as in our timeline, as closely as those events can be determined.

This ATL is intended to be a "current" or "Parallel" ATL where everything happens within the same time frame as OTL. Avoid future history apart from short-term scheduled events (sports, elections). However, feel free to fill in any historical gaps between September 1983 and the present day.

Some Tips[]

Some tips to help you in your editing:

  1. When in doubt, it was nuked.
  2. If the nation you are about to create was once a part of the British Empire, it's likely no one from the royal family is going to be leading it.
  3. To all Reich and Greater Germany Fanatics out there: The Bundesrepublik and the DDR being in the epicentre of nuclear warfare leaves NO WAY of any Neo-German Reich or empire being created...not in Germany, not in Europe, not in South America or Africa...NOT IN THIS TIMELINE !!
    1. Und nochmal in Deutsch: an alle "Freunde von Grossdeutschland und Deutschem Reich": Angesichts der Tatsache dass die BRD und die DDR im Epizentrum eines weltweiten nuklearen Krieges lagen, ist es in dieser Zeitlinie AUSGESCHLOSSEN dass ein wie auch immer geartetes Grossdeutschland oder Reich existiert. Weder in Europa, noch Südamerika, noch Afrika oder anderswo. NICHT IN DIESER ZEITLINIE !!!
  4. Remember that the Third World/Southern Hemisphere has a better chance of survival then the Northern Hemisphere/First and Second World.
  5. Small, self-sufficient communities are more likely to rise in targeted nations then large, complex nation-states.
  6. Lack of mention of a certain nation does not necessary mean that it does not exist. Remember that there are likely several small African and Asian nations that have survived, and are just waiting for someone to write about them.
  7. If you are going to use a historical figure, make sure to research where he or she was in 1983 because he or she may be turned into radioactive dust or stranded in a place where you don't want them. At the same time, this kind of research can get historical figures into interesting and unexpected situations. Margaret Thatcher, for example, was stranded in Canada and eventually became Governor-General. Prince Andrew was aboard a ship at the moment of Doomsday and later found himself ruler of an African kingdom.
  8. For the same reasons: don't invent fictional people who were born before 1983. Instead do some research. Maybe there's an obscure local activist or journalist who can survive and step into the role that you have in mind. Some older pages do not follow this rule, but we have tried to correct these as much as possible.
  9. Conversely, for people born after 1983, you almost certainly should invent a fictional character. The Doomsday event was incredibly disruptive to everyone's lives, everywhere on the planet. People's plans for education, travel, and marriage had to change. Birth rates dropped for years due to radioactive contamination. So it's highly unlikely that the same parents would get together in the same way to produce the same offspring as in our timeline.
  10. Slow down! Rome was not built in a day and neither were any of the nations that grew out of the post-Doomsday world. It is very unlikely that a struggling survivor community can become a major power in just a couple of decades.
  11. This is NOT the CIA World Factbook: feel free to write articles besides nation profiles.

Message from the WCRB[]

Thank you for your time reading these Guidelines! For any problem/comment on them please post them on the discussion page.

Your WCRB - Timekeepers

(We know this sounds very formal for a wikia creative site but the complexity of this timeline made it necessary to establish some kind of order and to maintain world order... well... that's very complex isn't it? ;)

See also[]

Advertisement