Mass Effect Wiki:Community Guidelines
From Mass Effect Wiki
- For editing guidelines, see Mass Effect Wiki: Style Guide .
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[edit] General FAQ
- What is Mass Effect Wiki?
Mass Effect Wiki (or MEWiki for short) is an encyclopaedia focusing on the Mass Effect games and novels. We cover characters, planets, weapon and armour stats, assignments, storylines, technology and pretty much anything else that comes up.
However, MEWiki is primarily an information resource, not a forum. For lengthy discussion of plot points, technology or characters, or to post speculation, please visit the official BioWare forums.
- I spotted a mistake! Can someone please change it?
Anyone is welcome to edit an article--if you see mistakes, please correct them! : ) The more editors we have, the stronger the wiki becomes.
- Who are the wiki's admins?
MEWiki currently has three active admins: SpartHawg948, Tullis, and DRY. If you need help, have a question, want to report a problem or leave a suggestion, please leave a message on our talk pages.
- I want to edit a page, but I'm not sure how.
Check out the Mass Effect Wiki: Style Guide. The Style Guide also contains references for technical information, like how to create links, insert pictures, and categorise your article. If you get stuck, ask an admin for help by posting on their Talk page.
- I made an edit, but it got reverted! :(
Check the article's page history for a summary of why your edit was changed. Edits may be reverted if they contain unsubstantiated speculation, poor spelling or grammar, or make changes such as converting alien races to upper case.
- Another user is harassing me. What do I do?
Report it to an admin. The action taken will depend on the circumstances involved, but the offender will usually get a warning and possibly a ban. See the Code of Conduct below.
- Why are the alien races all written in lower case?
In the Mass Effect universe, alien races are common nouns (geth instead of Geth, asari instead of Asari, etc) presumably to bring them in line with the real life grammar for "human". See the Style Guide for more.
- Why can't I edit the Codex pages?
These reproduce the Codex from Mass Effect and are kept pristine (i.e. identical text to the game with only minor spelling / grammar fixes where necessary). If you have an edit for a Codex page, please don't edit the Codex article itself, but a related page. For example, if you have an edit for the asari Codex entry, put it on the asari page instead.
- Can I add a video?
In almost all cases the answer will be "thank you, but no." Currently, MEWiki only accepts videos in very rare cases, normally only officially released videos, and definitely not leaked footage.
There are two reasons for this: one, it is a thorny copyright issue, and two, it falls under not depicting Commander Shepard on the wiki to keep it universal (see Style Guide: Canon). If you want to link to a video to prove an edit is not speculation, add a link at the bottom of the article, but large swathes of gameplay footage -- like entire romance paths or a planet playthrough -- will be removed.
[edit] Code of Conduct
[edit] Language
Offensive language, either toward other editors or in articles, is not tolerated. There is some leeway in Talk pages and in discussion between users, but inserting offensive language in articles is considered vandalism. When deciding how to respond to an editor’s comments, consider how you would speak to a stranger face-to-face in public, as that is effectively what you are doing. If you find offensive language in an article, please correct or report it. Repeat offenders will be warned, then banned (see below).
[edit] Talk Pages
Each article's Talk page exists to:
- comment on that article
- ask questions about the article
- draw attention to a particular edit or explain why a particular edit was made
- communicate with another user (to answer their questions, query an edit etc)
- suggest improvements to the article structure (i.e. posting a new table format)
- notify users of major changes to the article
Talk pages are generally not edited by administrators unless the discussion gets wildly out of hand. Editing other users' comments is not acceptable (see below).
Talk pages are not:
- a substitute forum
- a space to post theories without fear of deletion
- used to harass other users
[edit] User Talk pages
A user's page and Talk page belong to that user, and they have control over what goes on it. Direct communication with a user should be done by leaving a message on their Talk page.
[edit] Commenting on other users
Commenting on another user’s edits should be done on that article's Talk page or on the user’s talk page. If you disagree with a user’s edits, particularly if they are major edits, discuss them with the user and use basic courtesy. “Editing wars” without any discussion between both parties should be discouraged. Even if you disagree with someone, there is no need to be impolite. Discuss it first; they may have misunderstood your point of view.
Do not edit another user’s comments or their Talk page. A user’s Talk page is effectively their personal noticeboard and should not be edited. Editing another user’s comments to ridicule them, shut them up or make them agree with you is considered vandalism and may be a banning offence (see below) as it is technically impersonating another user.
[edit] Policy discussions
If you are an experienced Wikia user, please check before implementing policies from other wikis. For example, some wikis use user-written guides signed by that user, e.g. “Vanguard Guide by Tullis”, but MEWiki does not. As with any other new community, lurk and take some time to familiarise yourself with the community before making or proposing substantial changes.
[edit] Banning
Banning a user happens under two circumstances. A roaming user who commits a major act of vandalism but is not a contributor will have their IP address blocked for a short period of time to discourage a vandalism spree. However a regular contributor will be banned if circumstances demand it. Examples of behaviour leading to a ban include:
- Repeated vandalism of pages
- Crude or offensive language
- “Editing wars”
- Insulting other users
- Editing another user’s comments
- Impersonating another user to vandalise pages or ridicule them
First offences do not normally lead to a ban, but an offender will be warned. Repeat offenders who refuse to listen to warnings will be banned. This may be anywhere from two weeks to six months depending on the offence. If the offences continue after the ban expires, the user will be permanently banned.
In some circumstances, a particularly severe first offence (e.g. racist language, deleting large swathes of the wiki, severe vandalism that takes a long time to correct or that damages the wiki) will lead to a permanent ban without a warning.
[edit] In Short...
...the code of conduct boils down to “courtesy toward other users, the community and the wiki itself”.
[edit] Editing Etiquette
[edit] Speculation
MEWiki has a “low tolerance policy” on speculation in articles. This is due to an incident when an editor created a new race and star systems, and began incorporating them into articles as fact. As the PC version had recently been released, this confused several contributors as to whether a new race had been added in the PC version. Finding and rooting out these edits created problems, and so this policy was introduced.
Speculation is permitted in articles under the following circumstances:
- It is clearly marked as being speculation, either under a “speculation” heading or with the sentence “some speculate that—” at the beginning of the paragraph.
- There is evidence for this speculation. For example:
- Incorrect: “Quarians once had fur, but after wearing environmental suits for hundreds of years this trait has died out.”
- Correct: “Some speculate that if they join the Council, humans will have a major military role because they have a substantial fleet, well-trained army and adaptable military doctrine (see Systems Alliance).”
- If the speculation refers to an unreleased game or novel, put a link at the end of the sentence to an interview or article supporting that speculation. For example:
- Incorrect: "This decision is pivotal to the story."
- Correct: "This decision is pivotal to the story [link to supporting article].", or
- Correct: "This decision is pivotal to the story [link to supporting article|source]"
If you see an unsourced piece of information that may be speculative, but do not want to delete it, the {{fact}} tag can be used to alert other users that this is unconfirmed and request supporting links.
- Example: "This decision is pivotal to the story. [citation needed] "
If speculation is not substantiated or qualified, it will be removed.
[edit] Vandalism
Vandalism is any unwanted or inappropriate editing to existing articles. Examples of vandalism include:
- Replacing entire articles with nonsense or offensive language
- Inserting nonsense or offensive language, spam or deliberately misleading information
- Inserting comments into the body of articles that belong on a Talk page
- Deleting sections of articles, or deleting entire legitimate articles
- Creating nonsense articles
Most vandalism is committed by users outside the community or roaming Wikia users. It should be corrected as soon as it is committed or reported to an admin.
[edit] Protected Pages
Some pages are protected if they have suffered repeated editing wars or vandalism. These pages can only be edited by a registered user. If the vandalism continues, the page’s protection may be increased, meaning only administrators or sysops can edit the page. Over time a page’s protection may be removed to “test the waters" and ensure the vandalism is not repeated.
