wiki

Formatting

For the writing standards, see: Article style criteria/Writing
Notice: This article uses RFC 2119 to describe requirement levels.

Locales

Listed below are the properly supported locales for the wiki:

File Name Locale Name Native Script
en.md English English
ar.md Arabic اَلْعَرَبِيَّةُ
be.md Belarusian Беларуская мова
bg.md Bulgarian Български
ca.md Catalan Català
cs.md Czech Česky
da.md Danish Dansk
de.md German Deutsch
el.md Greek Ελληνικά
es.md Spanish Español
fi.md Finnish Suomi
fil.md Filipino Wikang Filipino
fr.md French Français
he.md Hebrew עִבְרִית
hu.md Hungarian Magyar
id.md Indonesian Bahasa Indonesia
it.md Italian Italiano
ja.md Japanese 日本語
ko.md Korean 한국어
lt.md Lithuanian Lietuvių kalba
nl.md Dutch Nederlands
no.md Norwegian Norsk
pl.md Polish Polski
pt.md Portuguese Português
pt-br.md Brazilian Portuguese Português (Brasil)
ro.md Romanian Română
ru.md Russian Русский
sk.md Slovak Slovenčina
sl.md Slovenian Slovenščina
sr.md Serbian Српски
sv.md Swedish Svenska
th.md Thai ไทย
tr.md Turkish Türkçe
uk.md Ukrainian Українська мова
vi.md Vietnamese Tiếng Việt
zh.md Simplified Chinese 简体中文
zh-tw.md Traditional Chinese (Taiwan) 繁體中文(台灣)

Note: The website will give readers their selected language's version of an article. If it is not available, the English version will be given.

Front matter

Front matter must be placed at the very top of the file. It is written in YAML and describes additional information about the article. This must be surrounded by three hyphens (---) on the lines above and below it, and an empty line must follow it before the title heading.

Articles that need help

Note: Avoid translating English articles with this tag. In addition to this, this tag should be added when the translation needs its own clean up.

The needs_cleanup tag may be added to articles that need rewriting or formatting help. It is also acceptable to open an issue on GitHub for this purpose. This tag must be written as shown below:

needs_cleanup: true

When adding this tag to an article, comments should also be added to explain what needs to be done to remove the tag.

Outdated articles

Note: Avoid translating English articles with this tag. If the English article has this tag, the translation must also have this tag.

English articles may become outdated when the content they contain is misleading or no longer relevant. These should receive an outdated tag, which must be written as shown below:

outdated: true

When adding this tag to an article, comments should also be added to explain what needs to be updated to remove the tag.

Outdated translations

Translated articles that are outdated must use the outdated_translation tag when the English variant is updated, except for minor rewording, grammatical adjustments, and the like, that do not affect the meaning of the article.

outdated_translation: true

When outdating translations, they must also receive an outdated_since tag that points to the first commit where the English version is updated.

outdated_since: 29eac89cd535f8b071ca000af8fe4f0be22bdc9b

Tagging articles

Tags help the website's search engine query articles better. Tags should be written in the same language as the article and include the original list of tags. Tags should use lowercase letters where applicable.

For example, an article called "Beatmap discussion" may include the following tags:

tags:
  - beatmap discussions
  - modding V2
  - MV2

Translations without reviews

Note: Wiki maintainers will determine and apply this tag prior to merging.

Sometimes, translations are added to the wiki without review from other native speakers of the language. In this case, the no_native_review tag is added to let future translators know that it may need to be checked again:

no_native_review: true

Alternatively, the no_native_review_since tag can be used to indicate the commit where the first unreviewed edit was introduced, as well as who edited the translation since then:

no_native_review_since: 5539d9e8c943605a7be186dc3f5ab10569275b05 Doryan

Article naming

See also: Folder names and Titles

Article titles should be singular and use sentence case. See Wikipedia's naming conventions article for more details.

Article titles should match the folder name it is in (spaces may replace underscores (_) where appropriate). If the folder name changes, the article title should be changed to match it and vice versa.


Contest and tournament articles are an exception. The folder name must use abbreviations, acronyms, or initialisms. The article's title must be the full name of the contest or tournament.

Folder and file structure

Folder names

See also: Article naming

Folder names must be in English and use sentence case.

Folder names must only use these characters:

  • uppercase and lowercase letters
  • numbers
  • underscores (_)
  • hyphens (-)
  • exclamation marks (!)

Article file names

The file name of an article can be found in the File Name column of the locales section. The location of a translated article must be placed in the same folder as the English article.

Index articles

An index article must be created if the folder is intended to only hold other articles. Index articles must contain a list of articles that are inside its own folder. They may also contain other information, such as a lead paragraph or descriptions of the linked articles.

Disambiguation articles

Disambiguation articles must be placed in the /wiki/Disambiguation folder. The main page must be updated to include the disambiguation article. Refer to Disambiguation/Mod as an example.

Redirects must be updated to have the ambiguous keyword(s) redirect to the disambiguation article.

Articles linked from a disambiguation article must have a For other uses hatnote.

HTML

HTML must not be used, with exception for comments. The structure of the article must be redone if HTML is used.

Comments

HTML comments should be used for marking to-dos, but may also be used to annotate text. They should be on their own line, but can be placed inline in a paragraph. If placed inline, the start of the comment must not have a space.

Bad example:

HTML comments <!-- TODO explain HTML comments --> should be used for marking to-dos or annotate text.

Good example:

HTML comments<!-- TODO explain HTML comments --> should be used for marking to-dos or annotate text.

Editing

End of line sequence

Caution: Uploading Markdown files using CRLF (carriage return and line feed) via GitHub will result in those files using CRLF. To prevent this, set the line ending to LF (line feed) before uploading.

Markdown files must be checked in using the LF end of line sequence.

Escaping

Markdown syntax should be escaped as needed. However, article titles are parsed as plain text and so must not be escaped.

Paragraphs

Each paragraph must be followed by one empty line.

Line breaks

Line breaks must use a backslash (\).

Line breaks must be used sparingly.

Hatnote

Not to be confused with Notice.

Hatnotes are short notes placed at the top of an article or section to help readers navigate to related articles or inform them about related topics.

Hatnotes must be italicised and be placed immediately after the heading. If multiple hatnotes are used, they must be on the same paragraph separated with a line break.

Main page

Main page hatnotes direct the reader to the main article of a topic. When this hatnote is used, it implies that the section it is on is a summary of what the linked page is about. This hatnote should have only one link. These must be formatted as follows:

*Main page: {article}*

*Main pages: {article} and {article}*

See also

See also hatnotes suggest to readers other points of interest from a given article or section. These must be formatted as follows:

*See also: {article}*

*See also: {article} and {article}*

For see

For see hatnotes are similar to see also hatnotes, but are generally more descriptive and direct. This hatnote may use more than one link if necessary. These must be formatted as follows:

*For {description}, see: {article}*

*For {description}, see: {article} and {article}*

Not to be confused with

Not to be confused with hatnotes help distinguish ambiguous or misunderstood article titles or sections. This hatnote may use more than one link if necessary. These must be formatted as follows:

*Not to be confused with {article}.*

*Not to be confused with {article} or {article}.*

For other uses

For other uses hatnotes are similar to not to be confused with hatnotes, but links directly to the disambiguation article. This hatnote must only link to the disambiguation article. These must be formatted as follows:

*For other uses, see {disambiguation article}.*

Notice

Not to be confused with Hatnote.

A notice should be placed where appropriate in a section, but must start off the paragraph and use italics. Notices may contain bolding where appropriate, but should be kept to a minimum. Notices must be written as complete sentences. Thus, unlike most hatnotes, notices must use a full stop (.) or an exclamation mark (!) if appropriate. Anything within the same paragraph of a notice must also be italicised. These must be formatted as follows:

*Note: {note}.*

*Notice: {notice}.*

*Caution: {caution}.*

*Warning: {warning}.*
  • Note should be used for factual or trivial details.
  • Notice should be used for reminders or to draw attention to something that the reader should be made aware of.
  • Caution should be used to warn the reader to avoid unintended consequences.
  • Warning should be used to warn the reader that action may be taken against them.

Stacked hatnotes and notices

Multiple hatnotes and notices may be stacked when necessary. When doing this, they must be stacked without blank lines and use trailing backslashes:

*Warning: {warning}.*\
*See also: {article}*

In many cases, it may be more fitting to embed extraneous hatnotes or notices into paragraph text instead of stacking many of them.

Emphasising

Bolding

Bold text must use double asterisks (**).

Lead paragraphs may bold the first occurrence of the article's title.

Italics

Italics must use single asterisks (*).

The first occurrence of an abbreviation, acronym, or initialism may be italicised.

Italics may also be used to provide emphasis or help with readability.

Names of work or video games should be italicised. osu! — the game — is exempt from this.

As an example, when referring to songs in the format of {artist} - {title}, the whole part is a reference to the work and should therefore be italicised:

*cYsmix - triangles* is a one of the three intro songs that can be heard when starting the game client.

Artist names are otherwise generally not italicised. This means that in free-form references, only the title should be italicised, because the artist name is then not part of the name of the work:

*Blue Zenith* by xi is an infamous song in the osu! community due to a famous score set by a top player on a certain beatmap.

Linked text appears in a different colour which already provides emphasis, and therefore does not need further emphasis:

[Camellia - OOPARTS](https://cametek.bandcamp.com/track/parts) is an example of a song officially created specifically for osu!, otherwise known as an *osu! original*, since it was specifically commissioned for the osu! World Cup 2020 tiebreaker.

This however does not apply if the referenced work is not the only part of the link:

[Voltaeyx's beatmap of *TheFatRat - Mayday (feat. Laura Brehm)*](https://osu.ppy.sh/beatmapsets/756794) amassed considerable popularity in 2018 due to its unique overlapping slider patterns.

The above type of construction should be used sparingly, and must not be used in places with many links, such as tables or lists.

Headings

All headings must use sentence case.

Headings must use the ATX (hash) style and must have an empty line before and after the heading. The title heading is an exception when it is on the first line. If this is the case, there only needs to be an empty line after the title heading.

Headings must not exceed a heading level of 5 and must not be used to style or format text.

Titles

See also: Article naming
Caution: Titles are parsed as plain text; they must not be escaped.

The first heading in all articles must be a level 1 heading, being the article's title. All headings afterwards must be section headings. Titles must not contain formatting, links, or images.

The title heading must be on the first line, unless front matter is being used. If that is the case, the title heading must go after it and have an empty line before the title heading.

Sections

Section headings must use levels 2 to 5. The section heading proceeding the title heading must be a level 2 heading. Unlike titles, section headings may have small image icons.

Section headings must not skip a heading level (i.e. do not go from a level 2 heading to a level 4 heading) and must not contain formatting or links.

Notice: On the website, heading levels 4 and 5 will not appear in the table of contents.

Custom identifiers

It is possible to redefine a section's identifier, which is used for linking to it directly. Custom identifiers should be used in case the automatically generated ones are too long or contain tricky punctuation marks or images:

## My cooldown has passed. How do I appeal? {id=appeal}

## Various examples of osu! gameplay {id=osu!-gameplay}

This feature can also be used for tagging a specific part of the article which doesn't have a heading. Use it sparingly:

> That's it! You're well on your way to becoming an osu! rhythm champion!
{id=tutorial-quote}

Lists

Lists should not go over 4 levels of indentation and should not have an empty line in between each item.

For nested lists, bullets or numbers must align with the item content of their parent lists.

The following example was done incorrectly (take note of the spacing before the bullet):

1. Fly a kite
  - Don't fly a kite if it's raining

The following example was done correctly:

1. Fly a kite
   - Don't fly a kite if it's raining

Bulleted

Bulleted lists must use a hyphen (-). These must then be followed by one space. (Example shown below.)

- osu!
  - Hit circle
    - Combo number
    - Approach circle
  - Slider
    - Hit circles
    - Slider body
    - Slider ticks
  - Spinner
- osu!taiko

Numbered

The numbers in a numbered list must be incremented to represent their step.

1. Download the osu! installer.
2. Run the installer.
   1. To change the installation location, click the text underneath the progression bar.
   2. The installer will prompt for a new location, choose the installation folder.
3. osu! will start up once installation is complete.
4. Sign in.

Mixed

Combining both bulleted and numbered lists should be done sparingly.

1. Download a skin from the forums.
2. Load the skin file into osu!.
   - If the file is a `.zip`, unzip it and move the contents into the `Skins/` folder (found in your osu! installation folder).
   - If the file is a `.osk`, open it on your desktop or drag-and-drop it into the game client.
3. Open osu!, if it is not opened, and select the skin in the options.
   - This may have been completed if you opened the `.osk` file or drag-and-dropped it into the game client.

Code

The markup for code is a grave mark (`). To put grave marks in code, use double grave marks instead. If the grave mark is at the start or end, pad it with one space. (Example shown below.)

`` ` ``
`` `Space` ``

Keyboard keys

Notice: When denoting the letter itself, and not the keyboard key, use quotation marks instead.

When representing keyboard keys, use capital letters for single characters and title case for modifiers. Use the plus symbol (+) (without code) to represent key combinations. (Example shown below.)

pippi is spelt with a lowercase "p" like peppy.

Press `Ctrl` + `O` to open the open dialog.

When representing a space or the spacebar, use `Space`.

Button and menu text

When copying the text from a menu or button, the letter casing should be copied as it appears. (Example shown below.)

The `osu!direct` button is visible in the main menu on the right side, if you have an active osu!supporter tag.

Folder and directory names

When copying the name of a folder or directory, the letter casing should be copied as it appears, but prefer lowercased paths when possible. Directory paths must not be absolute (i.e. do not start the directory name from the drive letter or from the root folder). (Example shown below.)

osu! is installed in the `AppData/Local` folder by default, unless specified otherwise during installation.

Keywords and commands

When copying a keyword or command, the letter casing should be copied as it appears or how someone normally would type it. If applicable, prefer lowercase letters. (Example shown below.)

As of now, the `Name` and `Author` commands in the skin configuration file (`skin.ini`) do nothing.

File names

When copying the name of a file, the letter casing should be copied as it appears. If applicable, prefer lowercase letters. (Example shown below.)

To play osu!, double click the `osu!.exe` icon.

File extensions

Notice: File formats (not to be confused with file extensions) must be written in capital letters without the prefixed fullstop (.).

File extensions must be prefixed with a fullstop (.) and be followed by the file extension in lowercase letters. (Example shown below.)

The JPG (or JPEG) file format has the `.jpg` (or `.jpeg`) extension.

Chat channels

When copying the name of a chat channel, start it with a hash (#), followed by the channel name in lowercase letters. (Example shown below.)

`#lobby` is where you can advertise your multi room.

Preformatted text (code blocks)

Notice: Syntax highlighting for preformatted text is not implemented on the website yet.

Preformatted text (also known as code blocks) must be fenced using three grave marks. They should set the language identifier for syntax highlighting.

See also: Footnotes

There are two types of links: inline and reference. Inline has two styles.

The following is an example of both inline styles:

[Game modifier](/wiki/Gameplay/Game_modifier)

<https://osu.ppy.sh/home>

The following is an example of the reference style:

[Game modifier][game mods link]

[game mods link]: /wiki/Game_modifier

Links must use the inline style if they are only referenced once. The inline angle brackets style should be avoided. References to reference links must be placed at the bottom of the article.

Note: Internal links refer to links that stay inside the https://osu.ppy.sh/ domain.

All links that point to a wiki article should start with /wiki/ followed by the path to get to the article you are targeting. Relative links may also be used. Some examples include the following:

[FAQ](/wiki/FAQ)
[pippi](/wiki/Mascots#pippi)
[Beatmaps](../)
[Pattern](./Pattern)

Wiki links must not use redirects and must not have a trailing forward slash (/).

Bad examples include the following:

[Article styling criteria](/wiki/ASC)
[Developers](/wiki/Developers/)
[Developers](/wiki/Developers/#game-client-developers)

Good examples include the following:

[Article styling criteria](/wiki/Article_styling_criteria)
[Developers](/wiki/People/Developers)
[Developers](/wiki/People/Developers#game-client-developers)
Sub-article links

Wiki links that point to a sub-article should include the parent article's folder name in its link text. See the following example:

*See also: [Beatmap Editor/Design](/wiki/Client/Beatmap_editor/Design)*

Notice: On the website, heading levels 4 and 5 are not given the id attribute. This means that they can not be linked to directly.

Wiki links that point to a section of an article may use the section sign symbol (§). See the following example:

*For timing rules, see: [Ranking Criteria § Timing](/wiki/Ranking_criteria#timing)*

The URL from the address bar of your web browser should be copied as it is when linking to other osu! web pages. The https://osu.ppy.sh part of the URL must be kept.

User profiles

All usernames must be linked on first occurrence. Other occurrences are optional, but must be consistent throughout the entire article for all usernames. If it is difficult to determine the user's id, it may be skipped over.

When linking to a user profile, the user's id number must be used. Use the new website (https://osu.ppy.sh/users/{username}) to get the user's id.

The link text of the user link should be the user's current name.

Difficulties

Whenever linking to a single difficulty, use this format as the link text:

{artist} - {title} ({creator}) [{difficulty_name}]

The link must actually link to that difficulty. Beatmap difficulty URLs must be formatted as follows:

https://osu.ppy.sh/beatmapsets/{BeatmapSetID}#{mode}/{BeatmapID}

The difficulty name may be left outside of the link text, but doing so must be consistent throughout the entire article.

Beatmaps

Whenever linking to a beatmap, use this format as the link text:

{artist} - {title} ({creator})

All beatmap URLs must be formatted as follows:

https://osu.ppy.sh/beatmapsets/{BeatmapSetID}

Notice: External links refers to links that go outside the https://osu.ppy.sh/ domain.

The https protocol must be used, unless the site does not support it. External links must be a clean and direct link to a reputable source. The URL from the address bar of your web browser should be copied as it is when linking to other external pages.

There are no visual differences between external and osu! web links. Due to this, the website name should be included in the title text. See the following example:

*For more information about music theory, see: [Music theory](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_theory)*

Images

There are two types of image links: inline and reference. Examples:

Inline style:

![Gold crown](/wiki/shared/crown-gold.png "1st place")

Reference style:

![Gold crown][GCrown]

[GCrown]: /wiki/shared/crown-gold.png "1st place"

Images should use the inline linking style. Reference link definitions must be placed at the bottom of the article.

All block images on the page (that have nothing else on the same line) are combined into a single gallery, which can be navigated using arrow icons on both sides of the screen, keyboard shortcuts, or screen swipes.

Alternative and title text

The text in the first pair of square brackets (alternative text) should describe the image literally. It is used by screen readers or when the image fails to load. It can be omitted if it is identical to the title text or if the image is included only for decorative purposes.

The text in the quotation marks (title text) should give additional context to the image or indicate its meaning. It is displayed as a tooltip when hovering over the image and used as a caption if applicable. It does not support any markdown formatting.

Display

If an image is the sole content of a paragraph, it displays as a centred block. Otherwise, it flows with the surrounding inline text.

Block images with title text display the title text as a caption below the image. Avoid adding HTML comment or any other text on the same line as the image, as this will cause the caption not to be rendered.

Block images are commonly paired with infobox formatting to reduce their initial size and float them to the side of other content:

::: Infobox
![](img/mod-response.png "An example of a response to a mod")
:::

Image caching

Images on the website are cached for up to 60 days. The cached image is matched with the image link's URL.

When updating an image, either change the image's name or append a query string to the URL. In both cases, all translations linking to the updated image should also be updated.

Formats and quality

Images should use the JPG format at quality 8 (80 or 80%, depending on the program). If the image contains transparency or has text that must be readable, use the PNG format instead. If the image contains an animation, the GIF format can be used; however, this should be used sparingly as these may take longer to load or can be bigger than the max file size.

File size

Images must be under 1 megabyte, otherwise they will fail to load. Downscaling and using JPG at 80% quality is almost always under the size limit.

All images should be optimised as much as possible. Use jpeg-archive to compress JPEG images. For consistency, use the following command for jpeg-archive:

jpeg-recompress -am smallfry <input> <output>

Alternatively, ezgif.com can be used to convert and optimise images.

File names

Notice: File extensions must use lowercase letters, otherwise they will fail to load!

Use hyphens (-) when spacing words. When naming an image, the file name should be meaningful or descriptive but short.

Images must be placed in a folder named img under the article's folder. Images that are used in multiple articles should be stored in the /wiki/shared folder.

Max image width

The website's max image width is the width of the article body. Images should be no wider than 800 pixels.

Annotating images

When annotating images, use Torus Regular. For Chinese, Korean, Japanese characters, use Microsoft YaHei.

Annotating images should be avoided, as it is difficult for translators (and other editors) to edit them.

Translating annotated images

When translating annotated images, the localised image version must be placed in the same directory as the original version (i.e. the English version). The filename of a localised image version must start with the original version's name, followed by a hyphen, followed by the locale name (in capital letters). See the following examples:

  • hardrock-mod-vs-easy-mod.jpg for English
  • hardrock-mod-vs-easy-mod-DE.jpg for German
  • hardrock-mod-vs-easy-mod-ZH-TW.jpg for Traditional Chinese

Screenshots of gameplay

All screenshots of gameplay must be done in the stable build, unless it is for a specific feature that is unavailable in the stable build. You should use the in-game screenshot feature (F12).

Game client settings

Note: If you do not want to change your current settings for the wiki, you can move your osu!.<ComputerUser>.cfg out of the osu! folder and move it back later.

You must set these settings before taking a screenshot of the game client (settings not stated below are assumed to be at their defaults):

  • Select language: English
  • Prefer metadata in original language: Enabled
  • Resolution: 1280x720
  • Fullscreen mode: Disabled
  • Parallax: Disabled
  • Menu tips: Disabled
  • Seasonal backgrounds: Never
  • Always show key overlay: Enabled
  • Current skin: Default (first option)

Notice to translators: If you are translating an article containing screenshots of the game, you may set the game client's language to the language you are translating in.

Images must not be part of a link text.

Flag icons

The flag icons use the two letter code (in all capital letters) to match a certain territory. When adding a flag inline, use this format:

::{ flag=XX }::

Where XX is the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 two-lettered country code for the flag.

Tables

Tables on the website only support headings along the first row.

Tables must not be beautified (i.e. do not pad cells with extra spaces to make their widths uniform). They must have a vertical bar (|) on the left and right sides and the text of each cell must be padded with one space on both sides. Empty cells must use a vertical bar (|) followed by two spaces and another vertical bar (|).

The delimiter row (the next line after the table heading) must use only three characters per column (and be padded with a space on both sides), which must look like one of the following:

  • :-- (for left align)
  • :-: (for centre align)
  • --: (for right align)

The following is an example of what a table should look like:

| Team "Picturesque" Red | Score | Team "Statuesque" Blue | Average Beatmap Stars |
| :-- | :-: | --: | :-- |
| **peppy** | 5 - 2 | pippi | 9.3 stars |
| Aiko | 1 - 6 | **Alisa** | 4.2 stars |
| Ryūta | 3 - 4 | **Yuzu** | 5.1 stars |
| **Taikonator** | 7 - 0 | Tama | 13.37 stars |
| Maria | No Contest | Mocha |  |

Infoboxes

An infobox is a fixed-width block which is aligned to the right side of the article. It may contain a relevant image, which explains the surrounding text, or a block of navigation that links to other articles from the same category.

Example use, rendered on the right (or above, on narrow displays):

Sudden Death mod icon

::: Infobox
![](/wiki/shared/mods/SD.png "Sudden Death mod icon")
:::

Infoboxes should be used with caution in the following cases:

  • Short sections: the next section's heading appears below any infoboxes, leaving a large gap after the text.
  • Several images at once: instead, use individual infoboxes for better design.

Only heading levels 4 and 5 are allowed inside an infobox. These do not appear in the table of contents and anything lower is too large. Any CI check errors may need to be bypassed because of this.

Footnotes

Footnotes are short notes located at the end of the page. They are used for citing sources, or providing background information that would otherwise disrupt the flow of the article. Footnotes may contain text formatting and links.

In the osu! wiki, footnotes are implemented using special syntax ([^identifier]). Footnotes can use any identifier, but they will automatically be rendered as superscripts with increasing numbers in order of their first appearance. Translations must not modify identifiers of footnotes.

Footnote references are placed directly after the words, phrases, or sentences they explain, with no space in between. These references must be placed after punctuation, except for parentheses, when they pertain to the contents inside, and dashes.

The footnotes themselves must be placed in a separate second-level heading at the end of the article. Depending on the content, the heading used may be References, Notes, or Notes and references.

Correct usage examples:

The osu! wiki is a project that was meant to replace the old FAQ system.[^wiki-faq] It was named after the rhythm game osu![^osu] and the largest open online encyclopedia, Wikipedia. From the very start, it had attracted skillful translators[^wiki-tl] and editors.

## References

[^wiki-faq]: https://osu.ppy.sh/community/forums/topics/68525
[^wiki-tl]: https://osu.ppy.sh/community/forums/posts/1177500
[^osu]: https://osu.ppy.sh/community/forums/posts/1178153

Citations

Citations, or references, are used to identify a source of information. Citations via footnotes should be preferred over inline links.

References should whenever applicable specify author, date, service/platform, and title. The exact format may vary depending on the referenced material with a preference for brevity.

Examples:

The first version of the osu!api was made available on July 2, 2013.[^api-first-usage] It had received critical acclaim from users.[^api-praise] A new version of API, released several years later, contains many more capabilities.[^api-v2-2020] Endpoint versioning is common among web APIs.[^web-api]

## References

[^api-first-usage]: [Forum thread by peppy (2013-07-02) "osu!api open beta"](https://osu.ppy.sh/community/forums/posts/2403913)
[^api-praise]: [Forum post by Menchi (2013-11-02) in "osu!api open beta"](https://osu.ppy.sh/community/forums/posts/2662247)
[^api-v2-2020]: [Tweet by @ppy (2020-03-20)](https://twitter.com/ppy/status/1263083636363948032)
[^web-api]: ["Web API" on Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_API)

Notes

Footnotes may be used for storing explanations or tangential remarks which cannot be inlined without worsening the article's readability, or are less significant than the article itself. Such footnotes may use free-form text.

Example:

A tournament must not be organised and run by an inexperienced team of unaccomplished and irreputable staff.[^staff]

## Notes

[^staff]: An *inexperienced* staff member is loosely defined as someone who has been playing osu! for less than an hour in total.

Blockquotes

The blockquote is limited to quoting someone or something. It must not be used to format text otherwise.

> plz enjoy game

—rrtyui

Thematic breaks

The thematic break (also known as the horizontal rule or line) should be used sparingly. A few uses of the thematic break may include (but is not limited to):

  • separating images from text
  • separating multiple images that follow one another
  • shifting the topic within a section

These must have an empty line before and after the markup. Thematic breaks must use only three hyphens, as depicted below:

---