Talk:Mark 6
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Here, it seems very clear to me. For dates it says:
The formats for references to years are
474
474 BC (note no periods) or 474 BCE
18th century or eighteenth century (Note: century is not capitalized, and "1700s" is not
a century, but a decade)
18th century or eighteenth century
10th century BC or 10th century BCE (or "tenth")
10th century BC or 10th century BCE
1830s (Not 1830's)
December 1983 (note that December is not linked)
December 1983
320s BC or 320s BCE
Thus I'll agree in general for an AD date just write the number. Note that one must always use BC or BCE.
Then for eras it clearly says
Both the BCE/CE era names and the BC/AD era names are acceptable, but be consistent within an article.
Normally you should use plain numbers for years in the Anno Domini/Common Era, but when events span the start of the Anno Domini/Common Era, use AD or CE for the date at the end of the range (note that AD precedes the date and CE follows it). For example, 1 BC–AD 1 or 1 BCE–1 CE.
In articles about prehistory, if you use BP (before present) or MYA (million years ago), expand these abbreviations when you first use them, as most readers will be unfamiliar with them.
When either of two styles are acceptable it is inappropriate for a Wikipedia editor to change from one style to another unless there is some substantial reason for the change. For example, with respect to English spelling as opposed to American spelling it would be acceptable to change from American spelling to English spelling if the article concerned an English subject. Revert warring over optional styles is unacceptable; if the article is colour rather than color, it would be wrong to switch simply to change styles as both are acceptable. See also Wikipedia:Requests for arbitration/Jguk.
So with events spanning both eras, such as the lives of Jesus, Herod and perhaps John the Baptist, you have to use one or the other and as AD was originally used "Revert warring over optional styles is unacceptable". Roy Brumback 09:48, 27 July 2006 (UTC)
