Ω Frequently Asked Questions: Biography Forum & Prefix LEGEND

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Can Anyone Add a New Thread to the Biography Forum?

Yes & No. Adding a new Thread to the Biography Forum isn't a casual thing, it takes a lot of preparation, research, and there is a layout that we require all New Threads follow. Any person who is willing to create a Profile / Biography, and submit it to the forum in the proper format, assuming that it contains good factual information that is accurate, can do so.​
We have had several attempts at making submissions, but few are willing to follow our strict guidelines. We usually move failed attempts to a different appropriate forum.​
Off topic posts are moved immediately. Although discussions are frequently made in the replies after the initial Biography thread is created, General Discussion Threads do NOT belong in the Biography forum.​

Where can I find the Official Biography Forum New Thread Layout / Format?

It can be found in the second post in this thread.​

Why do some threads in this forum start with this symbol "Ω"? What is that symbol?

That is the "omega" symbol. As in Alpha and Omega, or First and Last.... and that may give you a clue to why we use it! When we list our entries in this forum in alphabetical order, we don't want to mix in our administrative threads. So, we need some kind of tag at the beginning of the post to sort our threads either to the beginning, or the end of the thread list, to keep things looking neat and orderly!​
Omega, a symbol used to represent the "end" actually sorts after the letter Z in alphabetical order! So if we insert it at the beginning of a thread title, it sorts it at the end!​

Why do some threads have a Dash " - " before the Thread Title?

This is actually for a simiar reason that we use the Omega symbol, this is for threads we want posted at the top of our thread list, before the letter A. We do this either because the threads are new and need sorting, or they are to be featured for a special event. We find this character less distracting than other choices, so it's our preferred "pre-sorting character".​
What are the meanings of the "Prefixes" in the Biography Forum?

The prefixes help us to sort the threads by different classifications, including gender, rank, occupation, and wartime affiliation.​
Here is a LEGEND:


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Male Affiliated with the United States​
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Male Afilliated with the Confederate States​
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Female Affiliated with the United States​
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Female Affiliated with the Confederate States​
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U.S. Army Colonel​
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U.S. Army Brevet Brigidier General​
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U.S. Army Major Brigadier General​
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U.S. Army Brigadier General​
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U.S. Army Major General​
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U.S. Army Lieutenant General​
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Medal of Honor Recipient (Army/Navy/Civilians)​
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Confederate Army Colonel​
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Confederate Brigadier General​
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Confederate Major General​
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Confederate Lieutenant General​
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Confederate General​
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President of the United States​
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President of the Confederate States​
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Non-Affiliated Male​
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Non-Affiliated Female​
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Medical Staff & Nurses​
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United States Navy​
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Confederate States Navy​
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Ordnance & Artillery​

What do the Symbols in the Prefixes Mean?

In many cases, we've attempted, where we can, to replicate they insignia or symbology of the Rank or Occupation that's being Represented, most notably the Union Colonel with the Eagle, and the Union Generals with 1, 2, and 3 stars each, just as their shoulder insignia would have. In other cases, symbology, like the green "H" on a square yellow field is reminicient of a field hospital flag, this representing a place where you might find Doctors, Nurses, and other Medical Staff and Volunteers hard at work...​
The most modern symbology is probably the Medal of Honor prefix, this light blue field with five stars comes directly from the current military medal ribbon worn by recipients of the current Medal of Honor, the design is derived from the current blue neck ribbon of the Medal.​

How is Military Rank determined for each Profile?

Typically, the plan is to give each profile one rank, and if needed, one additional prefix. The rank will be determined either by the current rank at the end of the Civil War, roughly May of 1865, or the highest rank attained officially before the end of the war. We haven't set a hard date on that yet.​
Contrary to this system, presidents are always marked as such, regardless of elected time period.​

Who creates the profiles, and where do they come from?

Each biography profile is carefully composed members of CivilWarTalk.com.​
The information in each biography is carefully curated from a large variety of sources, many come from text books, some from the internet. Many times old newspaper clippings, including obituaries can be helpful, as well as some genealogical, and other biographical references. We sometimes need to resort to checking FindAGrave or Wikipedia to find some fact and figures, or just doing Google Searches....​
Other Helpful Links:

Some of our profiles include Biographies from the following books:

Appleton's Cyclopaedia of American Biography, Edited by James Grant Wilson, John Fiske, 1888.​

 
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Style Template for Biography Threads:​

This is the Style template for CivilWarTalk's Biography Forum. Use this every time you create a new thread in this forum.

Although we realize that not all biographies can fit into this format, we think that all biographies can work with a format like this one. If some adjustments are required to make things work properly, that is acceptable.

New Thread Title Format:

  • NEW UN-REVIEWED THREADS SHOULD START WITH A "-"
  • The Title for all new threads should be in this format:
    • -Last Name, First Name, Middle Initial, Sr./Jr./Dr. - Job Title, State
  • No Nicknames in Title, Unless Required for Disambiguation
  • Leave Off Job Title Unless Federal Elected Official, or Absolutely Required
  • In the Title, the State should always be the 2 Letter Abbreviation, All Capital Letters, No Periods
  • Make sure you select the correct prefix for EVERY new thread
  • When in doubt, see what we've done in the past!

Page Layout Format:


Full First "Nickname" Middle Last (Font Size 22 Bold)
Opt. 2nd Line for Government Title

:us34stars: or :CSA1stNat: "X"
(INSERT BEST PHOTO OF SUBJECT at the character "X", SET TO RIGHT JUSTIFIED, WIDTH 420)


Born: Month Day, Year

Birthplace: City, State

Father: First Middle Last - BirthYear - DeathYear
(Buried: Cemetery, City, State)​

Mother: First Middle Maden - BirthYear - DeathYear
(Buried: Cemetery, City, State)​

Other Relevant Family Members:

Wife:
First Middle Maden - BirthYear - DeathYear
(Buried: Cemetery, City, State)​

Married: Month Day, Year in Place, City, State

Children:

First Middle Last​
(Buried: Cemetery, City, State)​

Signature:

Political Party:

Nicknames:

Religion:

Education:


YEAR: Description​

Antebellum History:

YEAR: Description​

Civil War History:

YEAR: Description​

Postbellum History:

YEAR: Description​

Reported Last Words:

Died:

Time of Death:

Age at Death:

Place of Death:

Cause of Death:

Burial Place:

Quotes:


"Quote."
- Description, Date.​

Interesting Facts:

Full Biography (1902 Cyclopedia, Sketch, or Full Writeup):



The expectation with this format is that at least some of these fields can be filled in, any fields that are unknown or empty are removed before publishing. If at a later date new information needs to be added, an Editor Member will adjust the thread, or a new thread will be created to replace the old thread.

Posting Photos in Biographies

Photographs, while not required in Biographies, are certainly a high propriety where possible.

IMPORTANT: The FIRST Photo saved as an attachment in any Thread becomes the Thumbnail Photo for the thread. We prefer this to be a photo of the person, alive, and wearing the uniform, or serving the function they are best known for. If you save a gravesite photo first, that will be the thumbnail until you delete all photos in the thread and start over.

Please use Public Domain sources for all pre-1920's era photos. For more modern photos of things like grave sites, please use only government public domain photos, your own photos taken with your own camera, or photos we have explicit permission to use.

Photo Layout

Typically, all photos are justified to the RIGHT for the profile. The photos in the profile should be of JUST the subject, down the right side, wherever possible, ending with a grave photo at the bottom of the profile. After the profile, additional photos including group and family photos can be included.

Photos should never go the full width of a Desktop screen, or to be allowed to stretch out wherever they want. Keep all photos within the Height & Width of 600px, we recommend 450px for most photos.

Never Stretch a Photo Larger than it's actual size! If an image is 300px wide, please do not make it any wider, it lowers the resolution, and that just looks terrible.

If a Biography is provided, or additional photos are posted under the profile, almost any photo format / layout is acceptable if it looks good.

Any images of important documents that you may want to include, or newspaper clippings should be treated the same way.

Large Quantities of Information

In the event that multiple posts are required to contain all the information that you may want to include in a Biography, then that is acceptable. A good example of this is the Abraham Lincoln thread. If new posts need to be inserted to make more room for information after comments have already been made on a thread, please contact @CivilWarTalk

Cross Linking Content

In some cases, it's a great idea to cross link content. For instance, if both a Husband and Wife are included in the Biographies Forum, please link there names in the Wife/Husband section on their respective Bios. If several bios are all related in some way that's significant, it may be a good idea to create a page with a list of everyone who is in the group and linking all the relevant Bios on that post. Please contact @CivilWarTalk before creating new list Threads in the Biographies Forum.

Don't Forget Common Punctuation and Spelling!

Don't forget to use commas and periods appropriately! Be neat, and Capitalize letters properly too, this may not be a graded school exam, but members will judge your work by the care you've taken making a post, if you write carelessly, they will treat your work the same way.
 
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