GargWiki:Policy

This page is a proposal for GargWiki policy. Members are invited to discuss the proposal on the talk page, and make changes once consensus has been reached.

This page contains behavioral policies that GargWiki users are expected to adhere to, both when interacting with other users on this wiki and when representing GargWiki in the wider online community.

Assume good faith

See also Wikipedia:Assume good faith.

GargWiki allows anybody to register and make edits to articles. We assume that most contributors are attempting to help the project, not hurt it. Unless there exists sufficient evidence to the contrary (such as repeated vandalism despite warnings), a user's edits must be assumed to be well-intentioned.

However, everybody is capable of making mistakes, especially those new to GargWiki or to wiki editing in general. If an editor makes a mistake, even if it seems malicious, it does not mean that the editor is trying to damage the project. Similarly, if an editor disagrees with you, it does not mean that the editor is trying to damage the project either.

Be patient. You may correct and criticize edits, but do not attribute the edits to malice unless sufficient evidence exists to that effect. Use talk pages to explain your point of view, and allow others to do likewise. Treat everyone as if you believe everyone is trying to make a contribution, and is in fact contributing, even if the contribution isn't clear.

Civility and etiquette

See also Wikipedia:Civility and Wikipedia:Etiquette.

All GargWiki users are required to act with civility. Do not ignore the positions and conclusions of others. Try to discourage others from being uncivil, and be careful to avoid offending people unintentionally.

Incivility (roughly defined as "personally targeted behavior that causes an atmosphere of greater conflict and stress") may arise when two or more editors disagree over how beneficial a change is to the project. When editors weigh the pros and cons of whether a change is an improvement, it may be difficult to criticize text without being subjective about the situation. Keep in mind that raw text is ambiguous and often seems ruder than the same words coming from a person standing in front of you. Irony isn't always obvious - text comes without facial expressions, vocal inflection or body language. Be careful of the words you choose – what you intended might not be what others perceive, and what you read might not be what the author intended.

Examples leading to an uncivil atmosphere can range from petty rudeness, for example judgemental tones in edit summaries ("fixed sloppy spelling", etc.) up to far more serious cases, including taunting, personal attacks, and vandalising users' talk pages. Although it's understandably difficult in a heated argument, if other editors are not as civil as you'd like them to be, make sure to be more civil than they, not less. This helps to avoid escalation.

Some principles of etiquette include:

• Assume good faith.
• Treat others as you would have them treat you – even if they are new.
• Please sign and date your comments on talk pages. You can do this simply by typing 4 tildes (~), like this: ~~~~.
• Argue facts, not personalities.
• Don't ignore questions. If another disagrees with your edit, provide good reasons why you think it's appropriate.
• Concede a point when you have no response to it, or admit when you disagree based on intuition or taste.
• Be prepared to apologize. In animated discussions, we often say things we later wish we hadn't. Say so.
• Forgive and forget.
• Recognize your own biases and keep them in check.
• Give praise when due. Everybody likes to feel appreciated, especially in an environment that often requires compromise. Drop a friendly note on users' talk pages.
• Avoid reverts and deletions whenever possible. Explain reversions in the edit summary box.
• Help mediate disagreements between others.
• Remind yourself that these are people you're dealing with. They are individuals with feelings and probably have other people in the world who love them. Try to treat others with dignity.

GargWiki users are also asked to be civil when representing GargWiki in the wider world. All Gargoyles fans are encouraged to spread the word about the franchise and the site, but doing so in an uncivil way is more likely to sour other people on the franchise as a whole.

Resolving disputes

See also Wikipedia:Resolving disputes.

Try to avoid arguments. When someone makes an inaccurate or controversial edit, improve the edit, and do not simply revert it. Provide a good edit summary when making significant changes that other users might object to.

If arguments do occur, the first step is to talk privately to those involved. Either discuss the matter on the other party's talk page, or use the talk page associated with the article in question. Never carry on a dispute on the article page itself. Remain civil, do not mount personal attacks, and try to reach a compromise. Throughout the resolution process, failing to engage in open communication shows that you are trying to escalate the dispute instead of resolving it. In contrast, sustained discussion and serious negotiation between the parties, even if not immediately successful, shows that you are interested in finding an equitable solution.

If private discussion will not solve the matter, consider taking a break in order to focus on other things. The matter may resolve itself. If not, you can come back to it later with a clearer head. Alternatively, ask an objective third party to help settle things.

Vandalism

See also Wikipedia:Vandalism.

Vandalism is any change of content made in a deliberate attempt to compromise the integrity of the project. Any good-faith effort to improve the encyclopedia, even if misguided or ill-considered, is not vandalism. Apparent bad-faith edits that do not make their bad-faith nature inarguably explicit are not considered vandalism at Wikipedia. For example, adding a personal opinion once is not vandalism — it's just not helpful, and should be removed or restated. Not all vandalism is obvious, nor are all massive or controversial changes vandalism; careful attention needs to be given to whether changes made are beneficial, detrimental but well intended, or outright vandalism.

If you see vandalism, revert it and leave a warning message on the user's talk page. For the reversion edit, put in the edit summary that you have reverted vandalism, but do not perpetuate the vandalism by putting the text you have reverted. Check the page history after reverting to make sure you have removed all the vandalism and that you have not unintentionally reverted any legitimate edits. Also remember to check the vandal's other contributions -- you will often find more malicious edits to revert.

Types of vandalism include (but are not limited to):

• Blanking pages or page sections
• Excessive lengthening with repetitive or meaningless content
• Adding profanity, graffiti, random characters, or other nonsense to pages; creating nonsensical and obviously non-encyclopedic pages, etc. Please note that the addition of random characters to pages is a common way that new users test edit and may not be intentionally malicious.
• Adding insults, profanity, threats, etc. to user pages or user talk pages. This is considered a personal attack, and is strictly frowned on. Always comment on content and not on the contributors.
• Spamming by continuing to add external links to non-notable or irrelevant sites (e.g. to advertise one's website) to pages after having been warned not to do so. (Note that, on sites other than GargWiki, this includes adding links to GargWiki where they are not appropriate. While all Gargoyles fans are encouraged to spread the word about the fandom, this is not the best way of doing that.)
• Editing other users' comments to substantially change their meaning, except when removing a personal attack. Signifying that a comment is unsigned is an exception. Please also note that correcting other users' typos is discouraged.
• Creating accounts with usernames that contain deliberately offensive or disruptive terms is considered vandalism, whether the account is used or not. (Creating usernames with the intention of posing as another individual is also discouraged.)

However, the following actions are not considered vandalism:

• Using incorrect wiki markup
• Making bold edits
• Unintentional misinformation
• Unintentional nonsense (for example, by users who have English as a second language, or after edit conflicts)
• Stubbornness (for example when users cannot come to agreement with others who are willing to talk to them about an editing issue, and repeatedly make changes opposed by everyone else. This is regrettable, but this is not "vandalism" and should not be dealt with as such.)