Warriors OC's Wiki:Rules

Introduction

Welcome to Warriors OC's Wiki! Whether you are joining the wiki for the first time, or looking to brush up on your knowledge as a current editor, this page explains our rules, and blocking policies. Please make sure to abide by these rules, and any questions you have can also be directed to a member of staff!

Basic rules

Keep it civil: Do not make personal attacks on other people. If you need to criticize another user's argument, do so without attacking them as a person. Do not use bigoted language, including slurs which degrade another person or group of people based on gender, race, sexual orientation, nationality, religion, etc. This is important to remember if you're interacting with other users via talk pages or article comments.

Insulting, criticising and/or making fun of another user's characters, artistic creations, stories and similar is not allowed.

Vandalism: Vandalism of any sorts is strictly forbidden on this wiki. Your edits will be reverted and you will be blocked. You can, however, correct spelling errors and broken categories or templates without the author's permission, so long as the article does not have the {{NoEdit}} template.
Plagiarism is not permitted: Plagiarism is the practice of copying another's creative work and presenting it as one's own, especially without permission. This wiki considers the following as examples of plagiarism which will lead to your content needing to be revised, or removed entirely.

Copying or heavily referencing others' stories, characters or Clan information.
Using other user's characters, character designs, Clans, et cetera, without their permission.
Similarly, adding your own characters into someone else's story, especially if you claim it as your own.

Do not harass other users: If somebody asks you to stop posting certain content on their talk page, respect their wishes. It is their talk page.
Edit farming/Badge farming: Please avoid making rapid, small and unnecessary edits to articles as to either spam the recent changes or get to a specific edit count. Badge farming is very similar: making spammy or unnecessary blog posts and/or comments, categories, talk page messages, et cetera as to earn a specific badge.
Joke articles: We allow users to create up to 2 maximum joke articles, or 3 with admin permission, which can be granted by contacting a staff member. These articles must be related to Warriors, and follow content rules of the wiki.

All users are required abide by FANDOM's Terms of Use and the additional guidelines found there. This also includes the Children's Online Privacy Protection Rule stating that users must be 13 years of age (or 16 years of age for California and the European Economic Area) to be online.

Policies

Content - Provides guidelines regarding what is allowed and not allowed on this wiki.
Discord - This wiki has a public Discord server, where contributing editors and visitors to the wiki can join. Users must abide by Discord's Terms of Service and the wiki's Discord rules listed on the policy page. Users are also encouraged to reach out to staff via #reports or #questions. Please note that a ban from the wiki includes a ban from the Discord server, and users may be banned for Discord-related incidents.
Imagery - Users are permitted to use provided blanks on Warriors OC's Wiki, and provide linked credit for image maker results. Warriors wiki blanks are not permitted on this wiki, nor is AI imagery.

Blocking

The following explains the blocking procedures performed by administrators and block lengths. Blocks may only be issued for violations of the stated rules of the wiki or FANDOM's Terms of Use. Keep in mind the block lengths are merely suggestions, and not concrete ban lengths as admins reserve the right to ban a user for a specific length given the context of the ban. This is not a concrete list as administrators can block a user with a consensus.

Grounds for blocking

Vandalism - Vandalism is defined as any bad-faith edit with the intent to disrupt Wiki articles or purposely damage their credibility, or adding fake edits on purpose. Usually, the editor must be warned prior to blocking, however, if the editor decides not to comply, this is grounds for a ban. Those who are found guilty of vandalism despite being warned not to may be blocked for three (3) days or more. If they continue to do so, the ban will be extended.
Spam - Posting irrelevant spam links in articles, making bad faith edits that make no sense whatsoever, or creating useless articles are grounds for a short-term ban. Editors must be warned prior with a reminder of the rules (particularly the NOT policy). Those who are found guilty of spam despite being warned not to may be blocked for three (3) days or more. If they continue to do so, the ban will be extended.
Inappropriate account names - If there is a slur used in someone's name, or in general an inappropriate username in terms of rudeness / personal attacks, this is grounds for an immediate, no-warning infinite block.
Disruption - Users who purposely join the wiki just to cause chaos will be blocked permanently, although a warning should be placed on their talk page prior. Those who are found guilty of disruption despite being warning not to may be blocked for one (1) week or more. If they continue to do so, the ban will be extended.
Personal attacks - If any user is caught purposely attacking a user, insulting them, or being rude continuously after being asked to stop, they will be warned on their talk page. If they refuse to stop, a ban will be issued to them. It will be up to the admin who is distributing the block to decide the length, though these typically range from one (1) week to one (1) month or more.
Sock puppetry - If there are users who have been found to have more than one account, for any purpose that is not explicitly approved by an administrator, they will be infinitely blocked and have an IP block placed upon their accounts. Using more than one account to influence a vote, spam, or evade an existing block will result in action taken.
Any rude messages left on talk pages, whether it be about the wiki, about a certain person, etc. It will be up to the admin who is distributing the block to decide the length, though these typically range from one (1) week to three (3) weeks or more.
COPPA violation - As stated previously, all users are required abide by Children's Online Privacy Protection Rule stating that users must be 13 years of age (or 16 years of age for California and the European Economic Area) to be online. While no staff member shall ever ask for personal information, if any user willingly and without prompting discloses they are underage, they will be banned until they are of age. This is either 13 or 16 years of age depending on their geographical location, but the default will be 13 years old.
Safety of the community - Administrators can block a user using a staff consensus if they are a danger to the community, as this community is typically skewed towards a younger audience. Examples include predatory behavior and outside wiki behavior such as the Discord.

Asking to be have a ban lifted

Users who believe they have been wrongfully blocked may contact the blocking administrator in good faith on Community Central. Good faith means giving the admins time to respond with at least 24 hours. Escalating to FANDOM staff when you've not given the admins a fair amount of time to respond will not be seen as a good faith effort.

Please only send in a support ticket via ZenDesk about a block if you have made a good faith effort to discuss your block with the admins (or can't) and the block is longer than two (2) weeks. You will be required to submit a link to said discussion. If a user continues to ask for their ban to be lifted, they will not have it unless they can demonstrate they have learned from their mistakes. However, if they have committed several grounds for a ban, and have been let off the hook too many times, alongside making plans to evade their ban, they will most definitely not be even considered to be have it be lifted.

How to become a member of staff

Currently Warriors OC's Wiki is [STATUS] for onsite staff applications.

Interested in becoming a member of staff? Warriors OC's Wiki looks for active contributors who have been on the wiki for six months or more. We also look for users that have consistent edit history that indicates activity for at least the previous month prior. A large part of what we look for are users that abide by our wiki's rules for content and their behaviour, showing they're a friendly face around that is willing to help out newer users with questions that might come up.

Currently, the way to apply is to reach out to an active member of staff. They will put forward the question to the current staff team where the offer is considered. If the user who wishes to be staff is selected, they are made into a trial moderator to start learning more of the basics of staffing Warriors OC's Wiki. After a period of time, and if the current team finds the user suitable, then they are promoted to a full moderator.

One thing we ask of users considering applying is to read over and be willing to follow the Administrator Code of Conduct provided by Community Central.

Being a good administrator

Provided via Community Central.

Be open and responsive. Communication is key. Many users, especially new ones, will look to you for guidance and advice. Being a friendly and approachable face, as well as addressing users in a timely manner, is important to creating an open and welcoming environment on the wiki.
Do not act as the “owner” of the site. Wikis belong to the community, and ideally admins should not be considered “in charge,” even if they’re the founder of the wiki. They are experienced users who are trusted to use a few extra tools for the betterment and protection of the community as a whole, not for personal gain.
Do not protect large numbers of content pages. The majority of pages on a wiki should remain unprotected to encourage all users in the community to edit. Page protection should only be implemented if it serves the betterment of the community for reasons such as preventing persistent vandalism or “edit warring.” Protection should not be used to lock a page on a version you prefer, to reserve the page to be edited later as an admin project, or to mark any page as “complete” - there is always more to be improved.
Do not revert edits made in good faith without explanation. Rewording should always be considered before resorting to reversion. If the edit is incorrect or cannot be reworded or revised, then a clear explanation should be provided to the user that made the edit as to why it was reverted.
Do not shut out the opinions of other users. Everyone in the community should feel encouraged and empowered to speak up and engage in reasonable discussions about topics that pertain to the wiki, even if their opinions differ from that of an administrator.
Do not play favorites. All editors should be given the opportunity to learn and grow in the community.
Understand your limits. Being an admin on a wiki can be rewarding, but it can also be tiring. If you need to take a break or leave the wiki, it is okay. Talk to your fellow admins and let them know.