Hydrogenaudio Knowledgebase:Wiki Policy

To be included the wiki policy, much aligned to wikipedia's policies but not the same. Also aligned with the terms of service.

Wiki policy proposal

Discuss it here or in the talk page.

Policy categories (draft)

1. Behavioral: standards for behavior.
2. Content: which topics are welcome.
3. Enforcement: what action authorised users can take to enforce other policies.
4. Deletion: deleting articles that are considered undesirable.
5. Legal and copyright: firm rules about what material may be used here, and remedies for misuse.

Policies (draft)

Behavioral (reviewed)

Assume good faith

Assume that most people who work on the HA Knowledgebase Project are trying to help it, not hurt it.

Bots

Programs that update pages automatically in a useful and harmless way may be welcome, if their owners seek approval first and go to great lengths to stop them from running amok or being a drain on resources.

Civility

Being rude, insensitive or petty makes people upset and stops Hydrogenaudio from working well. Try to discourage others from being uncivil, and be careful to avoid offending people unintentionally. Mediation is available if needed.

Editing policy

Improve pages wherever you can, and don't worry about leaving them imperfect. Avoid deleting information wherever possible.

No legal threats

Use dispute resolution rather than legal threats, for everyone's sake. We respond quickly to complaints of defamation or copyright infringement. If you do take legal action, please refrain from editing until it is resolved.

No personal attacks

Do not make personal attacks. Comment on content, not on the contributor. Personal attacks damage the community and deter users. Nobody likes abuse.

Ownership of articles

You agreed to allow others to modify your work. So let them.

Sock puppetry

Do not use multiple accounts to create the illusion of greater support for an issue, to mislead others, or to circumvent a block; nor ask your friends to create accounts to support you or anyone.

Three-revert rule

Do not revert any single page in whole or in part more than three times in 24 hours. (Or else an administrator may block your account).

Username

Choose a neutral username that you'll be happy with. You can usually change your name if you need to by asking, but you can't delete it.

User pages

The content a user's user page is theirs to decide. Feel welcome to add related content or fix issues, but do not be offended if the user objects or reverts your changes. Their decision should be respected unless it clearly breaks policy.

Vandalism

Vandalism is any addition, deletion, or change to content made in a deliberate attempt to compromise the integrity of the encyclopedia. It is, and needs to be, removed from the encyclopedia.

Content (reviewed)

Naming conventions

Generally, article naming should give priority to what the majority of English speakers worldwide would most easily recognize, with a reasonable minimum of ambiguity, while at the same time making linking to those articles easy and second nature.

Article content

This is a technical wiki. Articles should be written from a technical perspective, however they should be understandable by average people. Do not abuse technical talk and terms.

Verifiability

We cannot check the accuracy of claims, but we can check whether the claims have been published by a reputable publication. Articles should therefore cite sources whenever possible. Any unsourced material may be challenged and removed.

Neutral point of view

Articles, including reader-facing templates, categories and portals, should be written from a Neutral Point of View.

No original research

Articles may not contain any unpublished theories, data, statements, concepts, arguments, or ideas; or any new interpretation, analysis, or synthesis of published data, statements, concepts, arguments, or ideas that would amount to a "novel narrative or historical interpretation."

Language

All articles must be written in the English language.

Enforcement (to be reviewed)

Arbitration Committee

   The Arbitration Committee exists to impose binding solutions to Wikipedia disputes. It is a last resort to be turned to when all else has failed.

Arbitration policy

   Rules for how Arbitrators decide cases.

Banning policy

   Extremely disruptive users may be banned from Wikipedia. Please respect these bans, don't bait banned users and don't help them out. Bans can be appealed to Jimbo Wales or the Arbitration Committee, depending on the nature of the ban.

Blocking policy

   Disruptive users can be blocked from editing for short or long amounts of time.

Consensus can change

   All decisions, including poll results, can be reversed later as Wikipedia develops.

No open proxies

   All public proxy servers which could be used by anyone to hide their true IP address are not allowed to edit Wikipedia, and will be permanently blocked from editing upon discovery. (There are no restrictions on reading Wikipedia from public proxy servers).

Protection policy

   Pages can be protected against vandals or during fierce content disputes. Protected pages can, but in general shouldn't, be edited by administrators.

Resolving disputes

   The first step to resolving any dispute is to talk to those who disagree with you. If that fails, there are more structured forms of discussion available.

Semi-protection policy

   Pages undergoing frequent vandalism can be semi-protected to block edits by very new or unregistered users. 

Deletion (to be reviewed)

Category deletion policy

   Deleting categories follows roughly the same process as articles, except that it's on a different page. Categories that don't conform to naming conventions can be "speedily renamed".

Criteria for speedy 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 should go through the deletion process instead.

Deletion policy

   Deleting articles requires an administrator and generally follow a consensus-forming process. Most potentially controversial articles require a three-step process and a waiting period of a week.

Proposed deletion

   As a shortcut around AfD for uncontroversial deletions, an article can be proposed for deletion, though once only. If no one contests the proposal within five days, the article may be deleted by an administrator.

Office actions

   The Wikimedia Foundation office reserves the right to speedily delete an article temporarily in cases of exceptional controversy.

Undeletion policy

   Deleted articles can be undeleted by any administrator. If this is controversial (or if a non-admin wishes something undeleted) this is discussed at Deletion review. Images deleted after June 2006 can also be undeleted.

Legal and copyright

Articles

If you see a source or website that mimicks an article without referencing us, our page may copy theirs. In case, replace the page with (DO NOT add to the header, replace it for legal issues):

{{copyvio|Justification (e.g. url, book source...)}}

To admins: if you see a copyvio article, e.g. in Category:Articles marked as copyright violations, check it, verify it, and if it is a violation, DELETE IT without notice.

Images

Do not upload images from search engines or websites here. They are likely copyrighted. Fair use images are allowed to a degree.

If you own an image, you must upload it with a free license, e.g. GFDL or Creative Commons. You cannot use your own work as fair use.

If you copy an image from elsewhere, state where and which license it is, or your fair use rationale.