Policies
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Policies
While we seek your input, this site is not a place for random thoughts, rantings, or unprofessional conduct. Those who edit in good faith, are civil, seek consensus, and work towards the goal of creating a great repository of useful information should find a welcoming environment. To aid in this effort, the following policies and guidelines may help to further our goal of creating a useful reference site. The difference between a policy and a guideline is that a policy is regarded as mandatory, while a guideline is a suggestion. These policies and guidelines were adapted from the policies and procedures of Wikipedia.com
Every current policy falls into one of the following five categories:
- Behavioral: standards for behavior on the Wiki site to make it a pleasant experience for everyone.
- Content and style: which topics are welcome on the site and give quality and naming standards.
- Deletion: the body of policies dealing with the issue of article deletion.
- Enforcement: what action authorized users can take to enforce other policies.
- Legal and copyright: law-based rules about what material may be used here, and remedies for misuse.
Behavioral
Assume good faith
Unless there is strong evidence to the contrary, assume that people who work on the project are trying to help it, not hurt it.
Civility
Being rude, insensitive or petty makes people upset and stops any Wiki site from working well. Try to discourage others from being uncivil, and be careful to avoid offending people unintentionally.
Don't disrupt the Wiki site to illustrate a point
By all means state your point. But don't spam the site, disingenuously nominate articles for deletion, push rules to their limits or otherwise create work for other people just to "prove your point".
Editing policy
Improve pages wherever you can, and don't worry about leaving them imperfect. It is advisable to explain major changes.
Edit warring
If someone challenges your edits, use the discussion space to discuss the issue and seek a compromise, Don't just fight over competing views and versions.
Etiquette
Contributors have different views, perspectives, and backgrounds, sometimes varying widely. Treating others with respect is key to collaborating effectively in building an encyclopedia.
No personal attacks
Do not make personal attacks anywhere in this Wiki site. Comment on content, not on the contributor. Personal attacks damage the community and deter users.
Ownership of contribution
Through your involvement in this site you agreed to allow others to modify your work. So let them.
Profanity
Words and images that might be considered offensive, profane, or obscene by other readers should be used if and only if their omission would cause the article to be less informative, relevant, or accurate, and no equally suitable alternatives are available.
Username
You will need a user account with permissions before you can edit anything in this wiki. Choose a neutral username that you'll be happy with.
Vandalism
Vandalism is any addition, deletion, or change to content made in a deliberate attempt to compromise the integrity of the Wiki site. It is, and needs to be, removed from the site.
Content and style
Neutral point of view
Recommendations and implications should be written from a Neutral Point of View. An additional Viewpoint will naturally not be neutral.
No original research
Contributions may contain original ideas and points of view, but can not contain any unpublished theories, data, or research arguments. A synthesis of published data, results, and/or ideas is acceptable, but such contributions should cite sources whenever possible. Any unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
Verifiability
We cannot check the accuracy of claims, but we can check whether the claims have been published by a reputable publication.
What the Wiki site is not
Every day Wiki content might be edited, and every day people will search and read Wiki content. The Wiki site is first and foremost an online data repository. Please avoid the temptation to use the site for other purposes.
Deletion
Criteria for deletion
Articles, images, categories etc. may be "speedily deleted" if they clearly fall within certain categories, which generally boil down to pages lacking content, or disruptive pages. Anything potentially controversial will go through a discussion process before making a decision about deletion.
Deletion policy
Deleting articles requires an administrator and generally follows a consensus-forming process.
Oversight
Page revisions can be deleted for legal reasons.
Proposed deletion
Any proposed deletions should suggested in the discussion area for the specific issue in which the content resides.
Enforcing policies
Banning policy
Extremely disruptive users may be banned from the Wiki site. Please respect these bans, don't bait banned users and don't help them out.
Blocking policy
Disruptive users can be blocked from editing for short or long amounts of time.
Consensus
Most editing decisions are made by a continually evolving rough consensus among editors.
Resolving disputes
The first step to resolving any dispute is to //talk// to those who disagree with you. The //conversation// can take place through the discussion section related to the issue in question. If that fails, there are more structured forms of discussion available.
Legal and copyright
Copyrights
Material which infringes other copyrights must not be added. The legalities of copyright and "fair use" are quite complex.
Image use policy
Generally avoid uploading nonfree images; fully describe images' sources and copyright details on their description pages, and try to make images as useful and reusable as possible.
Non-free content criteria
The cases in which you can declare an image "fair use" are quite narrow. You must specify the exact use of the image, and only use the image in that one context.
Reusing Wiki site content
The Wiki material may be freely used under the GFDL, which means you must credit authors, relicense the material under GFDL and allow free access to it.
Edit Guidelines
Be bold in updating pages
Wikis develop faster when people fix problems, correct grammar, add facts, make sure the language is precise, and so on. We expect everyone to be bold. It's okay.
3D Illustrations
3D Illustrations which use a method or technique to simulate depth such as Anaglyph images and Stereograms should not be used as general inline illustrations in content.
Don't include copies of primary sources
Don't copy lengthy source text into the Wiki site. Consider placing them in the resources section if you need to.
Patent nonsense
Patent nonsense (Text or random characters that have no assignable meaning at all and completely and irredeemably confused texts) should be dealt with appropriately.
Cite sources
Point the reader to authoritative references (and list them properly), so that facts can be verified.
