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Battlefield Wiki:Code of Conduct

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BF:CONDUCT
The preceding Blocking and User policies are archived here and here respectively

This is our official policy regarding the wiki's principles related to user behavior and rights, including our code of conduct and disciplinary policies. Please also our pages on User Rights and conduct on Wikia Chat.

Battlefield Wiki Policies

Basics

In this policy there are sections relating to specific points, but here are some general rules:

  • Be civil. Treat others as you would have them treat you — even if they are new. We were all new once.
  • Assume good faith
  • Always be polite - do not feed trolls and do not lower yourself to the levels of others - rise above them.
  • Irony, sarcasm and jokes do not come across as well in writing as when face to face. Be careful choosing the words you write: what you mean might not be what others understand. Likewise, be careful how you interpret what you read: what you understand might not be what others mean.
  • Do not ignore legitimate posts from other users where a response may be desired. It is only polite to take the time to respond to someone who has taken the time to contact you
  • Be prepared to apologize. In animated discussions, we may say things we later wish we had not. Say so. Forgive and forget.
  • Give praise when due. Everybody likes to feel appreciated, especially in an environment that often requires compromise. Make use of the awards system or simply drop a friendly note on users' talk pages.
  • Help mediate disagreements between others.
  • Compromise. When reverting other people's edits, give a rationale for the revert, and be prepared to enter into a discussion over the edits in question. Calmly explain your thinking and work towards a compromise.
  • All editors are equal. No one is more important than anyone else. No one gets any special treatment, including admins.
  • Be bold. If you know something is wrong, correct it. If you think you could word something better, do it. If an article has a glaring deficiency, fill it. Even if your first attempt isn't golden, you can fix it later or someone else will come along and fix it for you. Don't be afraid to screw up.
  • Do not spam edit for achievements. Suspicious activity, such as a large number of edits to contribute seemingly little, will result in warnings and possibly a block.

We are all guilty of occasionally not following the best conduct, but try to move on and be as best an editor as you can.

Usernames

Usernames should never be offensive, misleading, disruptive or promotional. This includes nicknames on this wiki's official IRC channel. This also prohibits impersonating other users.

Personal Space

Generally speaking, your userpage and any sub-pages of it are your space to put whatever you want - so long as it doesn't offend people. Traditionally, your userpage is your place to introduce yourself to the community and post things about yourself - which country you live in, your experience with Battlefield games, etc. - so that other members can get to know who you are and can get a background on your editing. Personal images are allowed, but are discouraged. Just remember that no inappropriate images should be uploaded.

While not prohibited, users are warned against posting compromising or private personal information about themselves - such as names or pictures. While possible to remove from the edit history, these details should not be posted freely.

It is generally considered best practice not to edit another user's userpage or their sub-pages without their consent, unless correcting a minor error in, for example, coding.

Good Faith

Shortcut:
BF:GOODFAITH
Assume that when an editor makes an edit, they were trying to help the wiki, not to vandalise it. Since anyone can edit, we must assume that most people who work on the wiki are trying to help it, not hurt it.

When you see a user make an edit that you think may not be up to standards or is a stub, don't criticise them on it or delete what they put. Just politely correct it. Think about what the editor's intentions were before judging them. Misspelled words or bad grammar are not to be considered vandalism; many editors are accustomed to writing short terms common on internet chat pages and areas of a similar nature.

The good faith rule means that we do not assume they were trying to vandalise or create bad pages on purpose, but instead, they were attempting to contribute to the wiki and should be commended for the effort.

If someone made an unconstructive edit, consider using talk pages to explain yourself and politely help the user to more constructively edit in the future. This can avoid problems and prevent them from escalating. Be patient with newcomers. They may not know how to edit a wiki or what's supposed to be added as content.

Actions inconsistent with good faith include constant vandalism and lying. If you have spotted obvious vandalism by any user, this rule does not apply.

Civility

Shortcut:
BF:CIVIL
Incivility consists of personal attacks, rudeness, disrespectful comments, and aggressive behaviour that disrupts the site and/or leads to unproductive stress and conflict.

Editors are human, capable of mistakes, so a few minor incidents of incivility are not in themselves a major concern. However, a studied pattern of incivility is disruptive and unacceptable, and may result in blocks if it rises to the level of harassment or personal attacks.

A single act of incivility can also cross the line if it is severe enough: for instance, extreme verbal abuse or profanity directed at another contributor, or a threat against another person can all result in blocks without consideration of a pattern.

In general, be non-retaliatory in dealing with incivility. If others are uncivil, do not respond in kind. If necessary, point out gently that you think the comment might be considered uncivil. Bear in mind that the editor may not have considered it uncivil - standards vary, so assume good faith. Consider too the option of ignoring isolated examples of incivility.

The use of profanity and offensive language should be discouraged. We all hear words used by the game characters and other players via online play that can be offensive, and though it may be acceptable among some in online play and when hanging out with your friends, doing such is not acceptable here.

Harassment and attacks, on this wiki, on Wikia chat or on IRC, or even elsewhere, are strictly forbidden. If a user harasses another user, disciplinary action will be taken.

Not all insults have the same magnitude. Responses, including blocks, must take into account context, intentions and magnitude. For details on blocks, see below.

Don't be a dick

When participating in community discussions or conversing with other users, never go out of your way to intentionally irritate or attack other users. Doing such can be considered a personal attack, depending on the circumstances. Purposefully inciting conflict and thus causing a flame war is counterproductive and might result in being blocked.

In addition, when making a point in a community discussion, do not illustrate your point in such a manner that is detrimental to the wiki. Make your point, but never go overboard in doing so.

Sockpuppetry

Shortcut:
BF:SOCK
Sockpuppetry is defined as a single person using multiple Wikia accounts (sockpuppets). This is generally frowned upon, but may be acceptable in certain circumstances, such as:
  • Security: Since public computers can have password-stealing trojans or keyloggers installed, users may register an alternative account to prevent the hijacking of their main accounts.
  • Maintenance: An editor might use an alternative account to carry out maintenance tasks.
  • Bots: Bot accounts, controlled by another account, are not considered sockpuppets.
  • Compromised accounts: If you have lost the password to an existing account, or you know or suspect that someone else has compromised your account, you may well want to create a new, uncompromised account, especially if you cannot gain access to the original account. You may well wish to ask an admin to block the old, compromised account

It is always best to declare any legitimate alternative accounts you control - for whatever reason - so that they can be linked back to your main account - taking away the possibility of using the accounts for abuse without them being linked back to you.

This becomes unacceptable when sockpuppets are used to:

  • Conduct prohibited activities without them being traced back to your primary account
  • Get around a block on another account
  • Manipulate the outcome of a vote

This also includes simply logging out and editing from an anonymous IP to avoid recognition.

Possible sockpuppets can be verified by CheckUsers - who can identify the IPs used by certain accounts to check if multiple accounts edit from the same IP, or if an anonymous IP is the same user as a registered account.

In the event of proven sockpuppeting, all accounts associated with a single person should be blocked, depending on the severity of the activities for which the sockpuppeting was used.

Trolling and Flaming

Shortcut:
BF:TROLL

A troll is defined as someone who posts controversial and usually irrelevant or off-topic messages in an online community with the intention of baiting other users into an emotional response or to generally disrupt normal on-topic discussion. The Battlefield Wiki has its fair share of trolls and vandals, just like other wiki communities.

It is understandable to not like editors who purposefully disrupt the wiki. However, from unregistered users to trusted bureaucrats, no one has the right to personally attack vandals or trolls. No matter how much damage the unconstructive edits or flame wars may have caused, all that is necessary is to deal with the user and move on. Attacking such trolls or vandals is fruitless and counterproductive; doing so will usually encourage them to come back for more. Don't feed the trolls!

Shortcut:
BF:FLAME
Similarly, flaming is defined as hostile and insulting interaction between Internet users. A flame war results when one or more users engages in provocative responses to the originally posted flamebait, drawing in many users and overshadowing the original discussion if left unchecked.

As a result of its hostile nature, flaming is strictly prohibited here on Battlefield Wiki. Most often found amongst blog comments, flame wars are very disruptive. Anybody who is found to be responsible for hostile activity in such a manner will be warned and may face disciplinary action over the incident.

Blogs which may incite flaming should be discouraged and should always accompany a warning not to engage in such activities from either the author or an admin. If a blog is attracting a large amount of flaming, or seemingly serves purely to incite such activities, the ability to comment on a blog may be withdrawn by an admin.

Praise

Good users deserve recognition - That is one of the basic principles of a good wiki, and here at Battlefield Wiki, we want to promote that, and there are many ways to do that.

The most basic way to praise the contributions of another user is to simply leave a friendly note on their talk page thanking them. If they're doing well, tell them.

But for those who really go the extra mile, we have a community-voted awards system. With individual honors ranging from those for edits, uploads, attitude and long-time service, to the prestigious User of the Month accolade.

Discipline

Shortcut:
BF:BLOCK
The following section outlines our policy regarding disciplinary action.

If a user's behavior is out of order, they may be prevented from editing. This is termed a 'block'.

There are some basic principles behind blocking:

  • Registered users, i.e. those who have made an account, should be given more serious punishments than anonymous users - they should know better
  • Cool-down blocks are unadvised, but not prohibited
  • Anybody who has a conflict of interest shouldn't block anyone. If somebody needs a block, warn them and then get another, independent, admin to review whether to block or not
  • Blocks are designed to prevent further abuse and to highlight the inappropriateness of actions - not to simply punish. As such, they should allow the user an opportunity to return and edit constructively once their block expires.
  • Users never be blocked from editing their own talk page outright, they should only have this right removed if they are posting disruptive material there while blocked.
  • For minor offenses, warnings should always precede blocks.
  • When blocking, always use the block template to explain to a user why they have been blocked, how long they have been blocked for and how they may appeal

Below are defined several levels of offense seriousness. The actual action taken in each case is at the admin's discretion, but should follow the guidelines below:

Minor

  • Article vandalism
  • Blanking articles
  • Creating spam articles
  • Minor personal attack(s)
  • Trolling, flaming or spamming comments on blog posts
  • File copyright violations
  • Spam edits to gain achievements
  • Improper vote campaigning during community debates
  • Continuing or dredging up inter-wiki or personal conflicts.

If any of these offenses are committed, a warning should be given (using Template:Warning, Template:CustomWarn or Template:Warning/Comment). If a user re-offends, a 3 day block should be issued. Any time after this, the block will go up to 1 week and then up by 1 week intervals.

Copyright violation is taken very seriously, if images are uploaded with incorrect licenses, the user will receive a warning (using Template:Warning/Licensing). If on another occasion they do the same, then a 1 day block should be issued. Further copyright offenses should subsequently follow the guidelines above for other minor offenses.

Personal attacks, trolling and flaming in Wikia chat will result in a chat-ban. The length of such bans should be the same as the respective block length had such activity occurred on the wiki itself. Chat offenses are not limited to chat-bans, and may result in blocks too.

Moderate

  • Vulgar or sexual edits to articles
  • Several personal attacks, or a single, more serious personal attack
  • Blanking multiple pages within a short time period
  • Creating vulgar spam articles, or multiple spam articles
  • Prolonged or seriously disruptive flaming

In case-by-case issues, a moderate offense can warrant an automatic 2 hour to 3 day block. If a block of less than three days is given, any further block for similar offenses should be 3 days. Any time after this, or in cases where the original block was 3 days, the block will go up to 1 week and then up by 1 week intervals.

Major

  • Racist, sexist, hateful or discriminatory personal attacks or statements
  • Sexually inappropriate statements, especially about another editor
  • Multiple major personal attacks
  • Blanking or seriously vandalising multiple (10+) pages in a short time period
  • Abuse of administrator/bureaucrat privileges (rights may also be revoked, see BF:RIGHTS)

For these, a 3 day block will be immediately issued from the discovery of the infraction. Depending on seriousness, and at the admin's discretion, blocks can be raised to a whole month. If after a month-long block the user still re-offends, blocks of up to 1 year may be issued. Infinite blocks should never be used.

Appealing a block

Shortcut:
BF:APPEAL

In some cases, you may feel that a block you have received is not fair, or too severe in its length. In these cases you may launch an appeal against either the block itself or the block's length.

In the majority of normal cases, a user who is blocked can still edit their own talk page. If you wish to appeal a block, do so by posting Template:AppealBlock on your talk page, providing the reason you feel that your block/the length of your block is unfair.

An administrator - excluding the administrator who implemented the original block - should then review your reasoning, the original evidence, and may communicate with the original blocking administrator, before coming to a decision - either to uphold the block, remove the block or alter the length of the block. Be warned, blocks may be extended as well as shortened.

When a decision is reached, an admin will replace the AppealBlock template with Template:AppealBlock1, explaining the conclusion and reasons why this conclusion was reached. The result of this appeal cannot itself be appealed under anything but extraordinary conditions. If after your appeal, you remain blocked and you continue to disruptively post on your talk page, the ability to edit the page may be withdrawn or your block extended.

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