ESB:Policy

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There are very few policies which apply across all Wikia. These can be found on the Central Wikia at Wikia:Category:Policy.

The policies specific to Encyclopedia SpongeBobia are found below. These rules must be obeyed.

Index

The following is an index to the policies of Encyclopedia SpongeBobia. These are broken into different categories:

• I. Policies - the rules of the wiki and how different aspects function.
• II. Guidelines - the Manual of Style for the wiki in regards to content formatting, templates, etc.
• III. Glossary - a guide to the meaning of certain terms.

Key

The following is a key to the format of ESB policy.

• Article - each policy is broken down into articles, which categorize a particular policy category and are designated by Roman numerals (I, II, III, etc.)
• Section - each article is broken down into sections for organizational purposes. These are designated by capital letters (A, B, C, etc.)
• Clause - a section may be divided into a clauses for further organizatonal purposes. These are disignated by numbers (1, 2, 3, etc.)
• Subclauses - clauses may be divided further (a, b, c, etc. and i, ii, iii, etc.)

The Rules

I. Definitions

• A. Introduction

• 1. The definitions in this section apply to the entire policy page.

• B. Definitions

• 1. Active Administrator - any administrator of the wiki that has made contributions within one (1) month preceding the present date.
• 2. Administrator - any user of the wiki with sysop privileges.
• 3. Article - a piece of writing included with others in a newspaper, magazine, or other publication. (revised May 11, 2015)
• 4. Ban - a permanent removal of a user's ability to contribute to the wiki.
• 5. Block - a temporary suspension of a user's ability to contribute to the wiki.
• 6. Bureaucrat - any administrator of the wiki with bureaucratic privileges.
• 7. Compilation - a thing, especially a book, record, or broadcast program, that is put together by assembling previously separate items. (revised May 11, 2015)
• 8. Consensus – when 70% or more of the participants of a discussion are in favor of the proposal after seven (7) days or more of discussion. (revised April 28, 2015)
• 9. Content dispute - any disagreement in regards to content on the wiki.
• 10. Edit war - a dispute in which two or more editors revert changes to an article back and forth between opposing revisions.
• 11. Fanon - any SpongeBob SquarePants in-universe or merchandise-related content not officially released by Viacom via a press conference or the Nickelodeon TV channel, and information that can be derived from that.
• 12. Inactive Administrator - any administrator of the wiki that has not made contributions within one (1) month preceding the present date, but within three (3) months preceding the present date.
• 13. List - a number of connected items or names written or printed consecutively, typically one below the other. (revised May 11, 2015)
• 14. Page header - individual headers within the article are designated by equals signs (i.e. ===Header===)
• 15. Page title - the title of the article that appears at the top of the page and the URL
• 16. Partial revert - reversing only part of a prior edit, while retaining other parts of it.
• 17. Revert - reversing a prior edit, which typically results in the article being restored to a version that existed sometime previously.
• 18. Sandbox - a page for testing.
• 19. SpongeBob SquarePants fansite - any website that contains SpongeBob SquarePants-related information.
• 20. Suspension - the temporary removal of an administrator's privileges.
• 21. User - any member of the wiki's community including contributors, administrators, and bureaucrats.
• 22. Vandalism - any change in content that is intended to be negative.

II. General policies

• A. User conduct (revised December 1, 2014)

• 1. Do not attack other users personally.

• a. Do not make threats toward the wiki or any user.
• b. Do not call any user any name directly or in reference to said user that are deemed derogatory. This includes, but is not limited to: idiot, jerk, stupid, retard, etc.
• c. Accusing or assuming a user have a certain condition, especially in a discriminatory way.

• 2. Do not discriminate other users based on their religion, political affiliation, sexual preference, or anything else. It is strongly recommended that users do not mention their religion, political affiliation, sexual preference or anything else that could cause tension. A minor biography is all that is necessary, however the administration will never stop you from adding more to your user page, unless any problem arises from comments made.
• 3. Do not use profanity. You can say "damn" as it was used in the first movie, possibly "hell" if in the context. This also means no use of the words such as "f***", even when used as an expletive.

• a. Any use of profanity in general will result in consequences.
• b. Any use of profanity directly toward other users will result in a more severe consequence.

• 4. Do not add or link to content that is inappropriate for younger readers/contributors (someone that is under 8 years old.)
• 5. Do not correct other people's use of grammar on discussion pages, message walls, or the forums unless it is in regards to grammar use in an article.
• 6. Any issue that anyone may have with a user may be reported to the report user page.

• B. Vandalism (revised April 23, 2014)

• 1. Do not vandalize anything on the wiki.

• a. Spam
• b. Nonsense edits
• c. Removal of good quality content
• d. Blanking of pages

• 2. Any user who continues to revert or change articles to a previously lower quality version will be blocked per the blocking policy.

• C. Forums (revised April 23, 2014)

• 1. When using the forums make sure that the topic presented has something relevant to the topic of the Wiki and SpongeBob SquarePants. Any off topic discussion may result in the closing or removal of the thread, along with any necessary warnings or blockings.

• D. User Pages/Walls (revised April 23, 2014)

• 1. You do not own your userspace, it is given to you to help people know you better. The administration reserves the right to remove any content they feel is inappropriate.
• 2. Do not forbid anyone from leaving you a message on your message wall.

• E. Administrators (revised April 23, 2014)

• 1. Do not directly ask for the sysop, bureaucrat, rollbacker, or any other similar tool directly. Use the request form here and make sure you qualify.
• 2. Do not pose as an administrator if you are not. Administrators are the only ones allowed to inform a user that they have been blocked or banned.

• F. Multiple Accounts (revised April 23, 2014)

• 1. Each user is only allowed one account, unless you have a good reason that can be approved by the administration. In that event, all users must identify themselves as the owner of the accounts on the user pages.
• 2. Only administrators may have a bot account. This account must be flagged after a discussion.

• G. Communication (revised April 23, 2014)

• 1. If an administrator requests a response from a user regarding an issue, that user must acknowledge and respond to them. If the user makes more than twenty edits after the time of the administrator's message, this will be considered ignoring and consequences will follow.
• 2. Extended conversations regarding topics unrelated to this wiki or SpongeBob SquarePants in general are not allowed on this wiki. Such conversations will be removed.
• 3. Do not discuss another wiki's issues on this wiki, it is not the right place for them.

• H. Personal stuff (revised April 23, 2014)

• 1. For your own safety, you are not obliged to reveal your personal information.

• I. Content from other sites (revised April 14, 2015)

• 1. Content from Wikipedia is allowed to be copied to Encyclopedia SpongeBobia. See Licensing at Community Central.
• 2. Copying of any content from another website without the permission of its authors is prohibited.
• 3. Any attempts by any user or administrator to return (including reverting) content that contain copied material from another website is prohibited.
• 4. Any violation of this section will be dealt with in accordance with the blocking policy.
• 5. If required, all copied content must be tagged.

• J. Necroposting (revised May 13, 2015)

• 1. Do not reply to forums threads, messages on other user's walls, or blog posts that haven't been replied to in three months or more without an administrator's permission.

III. Content

• A. General (revised May 21, 2015)

• 1. This is an encyclopedia and providing complete, accurate, and quality information is of utmost importance.
• 2. Do not speculate anything unless it is an implication. If this is the case, then add {{Citation Needed}}
• 3. All guidelines must be follow in regards to article formatting, content, and layout. (See here)
• 4. Do not use the words "We, I, you, etc." This creates confusion between users and the articles. Refer to everything in the third person.

• B. Article relevance (revised May 21, 2015)

• 1. Do not create articles that have nothing to do with SpongeBob SquarePants.
• 2. Do not create articles that are not relevant to SpongeBob SquarePants. This is not Wikipedia.

• a. A person, place, or thing is relevant to SpongeBob SquarePants if it has appeared in episodes, shorts, films, games, merchandise, and the like.
• b. People, places, or things that are relevant but not sufficiently relevant enough for their own articles may be included in a list or some other related article.
• c. Linking to non-existent articles about people, places, or things that aren't relevant will be treated the same way.

• 3. Definitive content includes all content that is defined as having relevance to merit their own articles. This includes, but is not limited to:

• a. All episodes and their respective transcripts, galleries, and credit lists.
• b. All films and their respective transcripts, galleries, and credit lists.
• c. All shorts and their respective transcripts, galleries, and credit lists (if the information is available).
• d. All games, including console video games, PC games, and online games.
• e. All books that are considered merchandise.
• f. All members of the cast and crew that have worked on the show and/or have provided their voice to portray character(s).
• g. All seven main characters and their respective galleries and appearance lists

• i. Those designated as main characters are SpongeBob, Squidward, Patrick, Mr. Krabs, Sandy, Gary, and Plankton

• h. All major and minor characters that contain a sufficient amount of information.
• i. All home video releases, including VHS, DVD, blu-Ray.
• j. Common objects with a sufficient amount of information (i.e. Krabby Patty)

• 4. Definitive content which is not relevant to have their own articles includes but is not limited to:

• a. Some very minor characters/characters with little information, such as only a single line or two.
• b. Certain objects, especially those with little information, such as only a single line or two.
• c. Insignificant products that do not have a sufficient amount of information.
• d. Any implied content that does not have a sufficient amount of information. That can be included here: List of implied content.

• C. Crossover content (revised May 21, 2015)

• 1. SpongeBob SquarePants often crossovers with other entities, especially other Nicktoons shows. For this, it is necessary to include policies to the regard.
• 2. All crossover characters that are not native to the SpongeBob SquarePants universe do not merit their own articles. Instead, they belong on a list.

• D. Fanon

• 1. Fanon is not allowed at Encyclopedia SpongeBobia, unless it is discussed in chat, forum, or blog. Do not create articles on fan-made content.
• 2. All fan-made content is to be placed at the Fanonia SpongeBobia, which was specifically created for such content.

• E. False/unsourced information

• 1. Do not insert false information. Continuing to do so after being told to stop is considered vandalism.
• 2. Do not intentionally insert false dates and/or ages on any article without a source.
• 3. Any user who violates clause 2, above, after an administrator requests a source be provided will result in a block.

IV. Administration

• A. Adminship Requirements (revised October 13, 2014)

• 1. There are no requirements prior to making a request to be an administrator.

• B. Bureaucrat Requirements (revised August 10, 2014)

In order for a contributor to qualify for bureaucrat, they must meet the following.

• 1. User must be a current member of the administration who has been an administrator for at least two (2) years.
• 2. User must have at least 2,000 edits, of which at least 1,000 are main namespace edits.
• 3. User must demonstrate that all their edits are positive, and further the goal of improving the wiki.
• 4. User must demonstrate use of proper spelling and grammar.
• 5. User must demonstrate good reasons for any questionable edits.
• 6. User must have full support of all other active bureaucrats.
• 7. User must have support from a majority of active administrators.
• 8. Any administrator requesting promotion to bureaucrat that does not meet the criteria outlined in clause 1, above, may be waived if the request is supported by all other active bureaucrats and the requestor has been an active administrator for at least one (1) year.

• C. Application Process (revised August 10, 2014)

• A user seeking to be an administrator or bureaucrat must follow these procedures:

• 1. They must follow the requirements, or their application will be deleted by an administrator.
• 2. They must create a request page using the form, and provide a reason that follows the above criteria.
• 3. Applicants shall not use any images to advertise "support" for them, so as to discourage unqualified users who seek the support of others who do not consider their qualifications.
• 4. Applicants shall not force other users to support them. Applicants are allowed to notify other users of such discussion, without imposing an agenda (such as using images to advertise for support, as in clause 3, above).

• D. Decision Process (revised August 10, 2014)

• 1. Length of request

• a. Administrator and bureaucrat requests are to last no shorter than seven (7) days from the time the applicant makes the request.
• b. If an applicant has the support of at least 90% of participating administrators, they may be promoted after three (3) days.

• 2. The applicant is promoted under the following circumstances:

• a. They have at least 70% support. (revised April 28, 2015)
• c. If more than half (50%) of active administrators do not support the user's application, the request is unsuccessful and may be closed.

• 3. Only bureaucrats can close the discussion, as they have the ability to promote those that are successful in their application.
• 4. If a user makes an administrator request but fails to be promoted, they must wait at least seven (7) days before making another request, unless their request is endorsed by all active administrators. (revised September 28, 2014)

• E. Administrator Duties (revised August 10, 2014)

• 1. When a user is promoted to the administration, they have more privileges than the average user. They are expected to use these powers with good judgment and follow all the rules.
• 2. In the event that an administrator is not following the rules and/or are abusing their powers, a bureaucrat must inform them of their wrongdoing, in case of any misinterpretations.
• 3. If after #2 above, the administrator does not stand down or admit to wrongdoing and thus the bureaucrat fails to resolve the issue, they may demote the administrator for a suspension of one (1) week.
• 4. After the suspension (clause 3, above), the said bureaucrat must then create a discussion for the community to discuss the situation, and decide whether or not the user should be demoted permanently, temporarily, or reinstated.
• 5. Any administrator who is demoted after their adminship is terminated, obtains "former administrator" status.

• F. Retirement, resignation, and inactivity (revised September 14, 2014)

• 1. General

• a. All administrators keep their administrative powers as long as they want, with the exceptions outlined in this section.
• b. A bureaucrat may temporarily demote an administrator if they break a rule (see section E).

• 2. Retirement and resignation

• a. Any user who wishes to no longer have their administrative powers and thus retires or resigns can demote themselves. They may notify a bureaucrat to have their powers removed as well.
• b. If they are a bureaucrat and have not removed their powers but have announced their retirement, resignation, or quitting, a discussion must be created.
• c. If a user retires or resigns, they cannot receive their rights back immediately. They must make the appropriate request for whatever position.
• d. All administrators and chat moderators who say they are going to retire have their rights removed immediately (or pending reasoning/discussion). They must reapply for the rights if they want to resume their position once/if they return.

• 3. Inactivity

• a. If an administrator is inactive for at least one (1) month, they are given "inactive" status and their administrative powers are removed, with the exception outlined in clause 3e, below.
• b. If an inactive administrator returns after their period of inactivity, their administrative powers may be returned. However, this is limited, per clause 3c, below.
• c. If an inactive administrator returns after a period of inactivity and wishes to return to the administration, they must consult the demoting bureaucrat. If the demoting bureaucrat does not agree to their repromotion, they must reapply for administrator status.
• d. If an administrator is inactive for at least three (3) months, they obtain "former administrator" status. If they wish to return to the administration, they must request to be an administrator once again.
• e. If an active administrator goes on an extended vacation or leave of absence with intentions of returning, they obtain "wikibreak" status and clauses 3a, 3b, 3c, and 3d, do no apply to them unless the extended vacation or leave of absence is one (1) year.

V. Non-administrative roles

• A. General

• 1. In addition to administrators and bureaucrats, there are other non-administrative postitions at Encyclopedia SpongeBobia.

• B. Assistant (revised February 13, 2015)

• 1. An assistant serves as an in-between users and administrators for purposes such as editing protected pages, among other things. An assistant cannot block or delete.
• 2. No application process exists and a user is appointed assistant at the discretion of the bureaucrats per clause 3, below.
• 3. A majority of bureaucrats (50% or more) must support the promotion of a user to this position.

• C. Rollback

• 1. A rollback can quickly rollback the edits of the last user who edited a particular page.
• 2. No application process exists and a user is appointed rollback at the discretion of the administration.

• D. Moderator

• 1. No application process exists and a user is appointed moderator at the discretion of the administration.

• E. Chat moderator

• 1. A user requesting to be a chat moderator must fill out an application and a discussion will follow.

VI. Blocking policy

• A. General (revised May 4, 2014)

• 1. Administrators are privileged with the power to block other users and are expected to have good judgment when it comes to using this power.
• 2. Administrators must follow the established blocking policy. Any exceptions require a community discussion.
• 3. Any administrator who fails to follow the blocking procedures after one (1) warning from a bureaucrat will be suspended for seven (7) days.
• 4. After the administrator's 7-day suspension, their administrative powers shall be returned. If the administrator continues to violate the blocking procedures after one (1) warning from a bureaucrat, they will be given a 14-day suspension, pending discussion on the administrator's user rights.

• B. Procedures (revised May 4, 2014)

• 1. Administrators that find a user violating any of the policies must revert any changes and must politely notify the user of their wrongdoing by giving one (1) warning on their message wall.
• 2. If a user breaks two (2) different rules, that counts as one (1) warning for each rule. A user must break the same rule two (2) times before being blocked.
• 3. If a warned user continues to edit within twenty-four (24) hours without acknowledging the warning, the administrator should try to contact that user again.
• 4. If the warned user continues to edit for twenty-four (24) hours after the administrator have tried to contact them again, the user will be blocked for a maximum of fourteen (14) days.
• 5. Any user who continues to violate the rule for which they were blocked within seven (7) days after their initial block ends will receive further penalties, depending on the severity of the offense. The blocks will follow this format:

• a. 3rd offense: 1-month block
• b. 4th offense: 3-month block
• c. 5th offense: 6-month block
• d. 6th offense: 1-year block
• e. 7th offense: infinite block

• 6. The preceding clauses (1 through 5, above) are the blocking policy and must be followed, except for the clauses outlined in section C, "Exceptions," below.

• C. Exceptions (revised May 4, 2014)

• 1. Any user who makes any contributions that are very serious to the point in which they harm the wiki or threaten a user, they may be infinitely blocked immediately, pending a block review (see section C, clause 4, below).
• 2. The administrator who infinitely blocks a user due to section C, clause 3, above, must create a block review to determine that the block is legitimate. Three administrators must endorse the block before it is legal. These two clauses are in place for emergencies in which a user may do seriously harm on the wiki.
• 3. Any user who spams and/or vandalizes as their first edit will automatically be blocked for a maximum of fourteen (14) days. If they continue to spam and/or vandalize after their block, they shall be given an infinite block.
• 4. This clause outlines items that are not block-worthy, and such are deemed "unfair."

• a. Anyone who misspells a word or misuses grammar shall not be blocked.
• b. Anyone who begins a page without proper formatting shall not be blocked.
• c. Anyone who makes an accidental edit shall not be blocked.

• D. Appealing a block (revised May 4, 2014)

• 1. Any user who is blocked or banned may appeal to have the block or ban removed if they deem it unfair.
• 2. The appeal will be in the form of a discussion that will follow the discussion policies and last seven (7) days.
• 3. In this case, it is required to allow the user to edit their talk page/message wall no matter what the issue is.
• 4. If the blocked user handles the block without verbally/personally attacking the blocking administrator or violating any other user conduct rules, they will be allowed to make an appeal on their talk page/message wall.
• 5. If the blocked user violates any user conduct rules, the will be blocked from using their talk page/message wall and the opportunity to appeal a block.
• 6. If the appeal fails, the block will not be reverted.
• 7. If a banned user fails an appeal, they must wait six (6) months before creating another appeal.

VII. Advertising and affliation

• A. Advertising (revised June 20, 2014)

• 1. Advertising other wikis at Wikia is okay, as long as the following policies are followed:

• a. Do not send messages to specific individuals through their message wall to visit a certain wiki.
• b. The forums are the only place one can advertise another wiki at Wikia.
• c. Do not create more than one forum topic in advertising a website, unless any previous forum topics have been deleted.

• 2. Advertising other websites that are not on Wikia requires administrative approval.

• a. If you want to advertise a non-Wikia website, you must first send a request to an administrator and such request will be discussed at the next meeting.

• 3. Any violation of these policies will result in a deletion of anything relating to that website and a warning.

• B. Affiliation (revised June 20, 2014)

• 1. An affiliation page will be set up to list our affiliates. If you want to affiliate with us, send a message to an administrator and such will be discussed at the next meeting.
• 2. If you affiliate with any site in the SpongeBobia network, you must link to us from your website, otherwise you will be removed from our affiliates page.

VIII. Signatures

This is what 30 pixels looks like.

• A. General (revised September 17, 2014)

• 1. All signatures must contain a person's username or something that lets people know who the user is.
• 2. All signatures linking to their message wall and/or contributions must indicate what the page is.
• 3. All signatures must not exceed the height of a line of text, unless they are an image that follows #4, below.
• 4. All signatures must not disturb the layout or text of the page in any way.
• 5. Administrators reserve the right to adjust signatures according to the guidelines.

• B. Images (revised September 17, 2014)

• 1. Users are permitted to have images in their signatures, or as their signature, so long as the height does not exceed 30 pixels. This includes animated signatures, but some may stop animating below a certain pixel size. Images over 30 pixels cause the spacing between two lines of text to be disproportionate, and animated signatures can result in longer load times for discussion pages. As a general guideline, however, please do not use images or font sizes that will interfere with the lines of text.

• C. Used space (revised September 17, 2014)

• 1. As said in the section above, signatures may not be more than 30 pixels high. This includes big font sizes, but also the length of a signature. A signature may not be so long that when viewed in the Wikia skin with the toolbar aside it, it is wider than one line. Also, signatures may not take up more than one line (any enters in the signature's code should be removed, as when it is used in an indented list (replies to others) it will break up the signature when there are enters in the code). The <noinclude> tag may be put around enters to make the code look cleaner, or <!-- and --> may be put around codes to prevent them from having such effects.

• D. Usernames (revised September 17, 2014)

• 1. Names used in signatures must be consistent with the Wikia username. In order to prevent confusion, users should not use alternate names when signing edits. Names should at least be recognizable (e.g. User:RandomUser305 signing off as "RU305"), but not differ too greatly as to mistake the signature for a different user.

• E. Fraud (revised September 17, 2014)

• 1. Any links on a signature that do not operate in the way they appear are forbidden as they can cause confusion among users. This includes links that log users out.
• 2. A user's signature that has the text colored in any way that will cause confusion among users is not allowed.

IX. Meetings

• A. General (revised September 7, 2014)

• 1. Every two weeks, the SpongeBobia network community is to hold meetings to discuss many different aspects of the wiki, including projects, tasks, design, ideas, issues, and others.
• 2. Meetings will be held at 4 p.m. eastern time in the SpongeBobia chat room.
• 3. All community members are invited to attend the meetings.
• 4. Anyone who is disruptive to the flow of the meeting may be asked to leave or kicked. If they are persistant in disrupting the meeting, they will be banned for 2 hours (or until the meeting ends).
• 5. If a meeting is cancelled, the meeting will be held the following week, and continue in the "every two weeks" meeting schedule.

• B. Procedures (revised July 21, 2014)

• 1. Each week, an agenda of topics will be gathered for the meeting, which will serve as the order in which the topics are discussed, with more important topics first.
• 2. Each item will be discussed before moving on to the next one.
• 3. Ideas for each item will be collected and a summary will be presented at the end.

X. Chat

• A. General (revised July 21, 2014)

• 1. All ESB policies apply in the chat room.
• 2. No spamming. This includes blank messages and typing gibberish.
• 3. No trolling. Such violation results in an immediate ban.
• 4. No profanity (except for the words "damn" and "hell," which are allowed if they are used in context and not against another user)
• 5. Be respectful toward all users, their views, and their opinions. Do not discriminate or harrass anyone.
• 6. Do not pose as a chat moderator or administrator if you are not.
• 7. Do not post anything inappropriate or links to inappropriate sites. This includes links content not suitable for children under the age of 13. The chatroom is to remain clean.
• 8. Do not ask users for personal information. (age, phone numbers, addresses, ASL (age/sex/location), etc.)
• 9. If you are going to exchange social networking information, do it in a private message (such as Skype, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc.).
• 10. Do not argue or get into a heated debate. Friendly, civil debates are allowed.

• B. Underage users (revised July 21, 2014)

• 1. It is against Wikia policy for a person under the age of 13 to use Wikia. It is against ESB policy for persons under the age of 13 to reveal their age.
• 2. Any users who is underaged or claims to be underaged will not be blocked or banned.
• 3. All underaged users will be dealt with by Wikia Staff, not by ESB staff.

• C. Moderators (revised July 21, 2014)

• 1. All administrators and bureaucrats are chat moderators. A selected few chatters are granted chat moderator status because they are active in chat and trusted to keep the peace.
• 2. Do not kick or ban users for no reason.
• 3. Any abuse of chat moderator powers will result in immediate demotion. Any continued abuse may result in a block.
• 4. Chat moderators have no jurisdiction over what happens in a private message. If someone bothers you, ignore them. There is no definite way to prove what is in a private message.
• 5. There is a hierarchy in the chatroom. Chat Moderators are outranked by Administrators, and Admistrators are outranked by Bureaucrats. Therefore, if a user is breaking a rule in chat, the users highest in command will deal with them. If they are unresponsive, the responsibility goes down the chain of hierarchy.

• D. Reporting (revised July 21, 2014)

• 1. If you see anything in the chatroom that is a violation of any policies, please report it.
• 2. You can report it to the following places:

• a. Chat report - list your report here.
• b. Private message an administrator or bureaucrat. You can find a list here: ESB:Administration.

XI. Content dispute

• A. General (revised January 27, 2015)

• 1. This article will outline the proper procedures in the event of an edit war and/or relating to content dispute.

• B. Dispute

• 1. General

• a. Not everyone will agree on how things should be done on the wiki. However, in order to have consistency and organization within the wiki, it is important to establish policies and formatting guidelines for everyone to follow in which the community agrees upon.
• b. As this is a collaborative environment, it is important to resolve disputes by using communication to address the problem instead of ignoring the problem.

• C. Procedures

• 1. Edit war

• a. When an edit war occurs, all parties must stop editing the article and take the problem to an informal discussion on one of the editor's message walls or in a forum post and explain their reasons for their edits.
• b. Once they have explained their reasons, they must follow the procedures below to resolve the dispute.

• 2. Procedures

• a. If an established policy and/or guideline can resolve the dispute, that policy and/or guideline must be followed.
• b. If there is disagreement in regards to the policy and/or guideline, discussion is allowed, but the reverts must be halted so that the disputed content on the article is left alone until the dispute is resolved.
• c. If the dispute is not resolved in clause 2b, above, an uninvolved administrator must step in to mediate the discussion.
• d. If the dispute involves one (1) or more administrators, a bureaucrat uninvolved in the edit war must intervene.
• e. If all bureaucrats are involved in the edit war, an official discussion is required.
• f. In the event that no such policy and/or guideline exists to establish a resolution policy-wise, the dispute may require further discussion that will ultimately be decided in an official discussion to establish a policy and/or guideline.

• 3. Conclusion

• a. Once the dispute is resolved, the decision is final. Any edit made by the losing party in the dispute that blatantly ignores the decision is subject to a maximum three (3) day block.
• b. If any user is in disagreement over the decision, they are free to make a petition to change the guidelines/policies/rules/etc.

• D. 3 Revert Clause

• 1. General

• a. An editor must not perform more than three reverts on a single page—whether involving the same or different material—within a 24-hour period. An edit or a series of consecutive edits that undoes other editors' actions—whether in whole or in part—counts as a revert. Any appearance of gaming the system by reverting a fourth time just outside the 24-hour slot is likely to be treated as an edit-warring violation.

• 2. Exceptions

• a. Reverting your own actions ("self-reverting").
• b. Reverting edits to pages in your own user space, so long as you are respecting the user page guidelines.
• c. Reverting actions performed by banned users, and sockpuppets of banned and blocked users.
• d. Reverting obvious vandalism—edits that any well-intentioned user would agree constitute vandalism, such as page blanking and adding offensive language.
• e. Removal of clear copyright violations and any illegal content.

• 3. After 3 reverts

• a. During an edit war, when a page is reverted after three (3) times by the same user, the editing must stop and be reported to an administrator.
• b. If an administrator is involved in the edit war, the following procedures must be followed:

• i. The article must be protected by any administrator and no further reverts made in regards to the disputed content.
• ii. An uninvolved bureaucrat must intervene to mediate the dispute.
• iii. All succeeding procedures are outlined in the "dispute" section C2 of this article.

• c. If the edit war continues after a user has made 3 reverts, the following must be followed:

• i. Dispute between non-administrators

• 1. At this point, the page should have been protected by an administrator and the edit war should have stopped.

• ii. Dispute between non-administrators and administrators in which the administrators are in agreement.

• 1. At this point, the page should have been protected by an administrator and the edit war should have stopped.

• iii. Dispute between non-administrators and administrators in which the administrators are in disagreement.

• 1. It is expected that the dispute between administrators be resolved by discussion and that the edit war does not continue.
• 2. Any such violation of this requires an informal discussion to the matter or an official discussion if the matter is serious.

• iv. Dispute between only administrators in which the administrators are in disagreement.

• 1. It is expected that the dispute between administrators be resolved by discussion and that the edit war does not continue.
• 2. Any such violation of this requires an informal discussion to the matter or an official discussion if the matter is serious.