Our policies

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Graphite policies

• Assuming good faith
• Common mistakes
• Community Central guidelines (applies here)
• Community Central chat guidelines
• Spelling and grammar
• Your first article

All users are expected to adhere to the policies of the Fan Creations Wiki. All of the policies are maintained by User:Dragonleaf5678, so feel free to contact him with any questions in mind. Thank you very much. :-) These policies are rather quintessential, and are very similar to policies on wikis elsewhere; however, these have a few modifications on top of the usual standards, inasmuch as we're a fanon wiki, after all.

Editors are expected to attempt to follow these guidelines, though many are best treated with common sense.

Note that the Community Central guidelines naturally apply here. Check the widget to the left for details.

Our admins are human! We'll understand your circumstances in case of violation—however, of course, if what you've done is plain wrong, we'll be reasonable. Don't get the impression that we're laid-back, however, that's not the way wikis work.

Collaboration is key. A misconception of fanon is the manner in which it is made — this wiki encourages collaboration; however, please keep in mind that you cannot freely edit someone's article and revamp it, for example. Correcting a minor spelling mistake may be unwanted by that said user, too, so please ask for their permission. Projects can be started by anyone - this is another encouraged aspect of collaboration.

Respect your fellow editors. If someone creates a page littered with spelling mistakes, formatting issues, etc. please take it upon yourself to help them out (but by conforming to the above policy, of course). Always keep in mind that not everyone is experienced as you are, something that may occasionally recede to the back of one's mind. Writing here can be done blithely - which is completely fine! - or seriously, so if someone writes in a carefree manner, which contrasts your form of writing, please bear in mind that some people may write differently to you.

Pencil-mascot — Graphie, our own mascot
Designed by User:Dragonleaf5678

Editing can be minor or major. When you're editing, do you ever wonder what that 'Minor edit' thing is? Have you ever been daring enough to click it? Well, in essence, all it really does is mark how small your edit was. For example, say I was to make a small section of text bold - that would quite obviously be a minor edit. However, if I was to completely rewrite or revise an article, that would be major. (There is no 'major edit' option, by the way.) If your edit is large (or major) then don't feel alarmed, that kind of edit is very much appreciated if it adheres to our policies.^{[note 1]}

Anyone is welcome. Whether a vehement writer or not, you may just be here for the discussion, or the maintenance side of things — which is completely fine! Anyone can join. Important note -> ^{[note 2]}

Try to enjoy your time here! Everyone is in the same boat at some point on this wiki, even I, the writer who is producing this policy page. Try to say hello; we encourage our users to not be taciturn and reserve, but to be open and happy to be here.^{[note 3]}

English is our language! As of current, this wiki is only available in English, which means that you are liable to be penalized if you excessively talk in another language, etc. We have nothing against users of other backgrounds, it's just that it can become repetitive and random, spreading turmoil all around the place.

General policy

Creepypastas: as some people are uncomfortable regarding the subject of creepypastas, it requires that you input '(Creepypasta)' into an article's title as an indicator of this. This is just a reminder, you will again not get penalized in failure of complying with this policy.
Use common sense. It's good for you: Would you blank a page for no reason? Would you spam on chat? Would you create fake accounts on the intention of harassment? Since we believe that our users should be mature enough to know what our admins will not appreciate, we are not going to make a comprehensive list that details every single example of this. Remember to always think twice.
Always stay alert: Have you found someone harassing another user? Is someone blanking articles under an admin's nose? Always stay vigilant, and retain prudence: it could be you next.^{[note 4]}
Don't relentlessly pursue our users: it can make people feel uncomfortable, and sometimes it's just downright annoying. Constantly asking admins for promotions, asking chat moderators to be unbanned, etc. it's not acceptable, period.

Questions? Concerns? Please contact one of our trusty admins or, as previously stated, contact User:Dragonleaf5678.

Looking for a beginner's guide? Well, thanks for asking, perky comrade! We actually have one of those. Check out Project:Beginner's Guide. :-)

Editing policy

Throughout your time here with us, you may have come across Template:Stub or a class 5 article and thought "hey, I think I could make this page better" or "this page has potential", et cetera and then realised "well, there's no editing specification, so I see no reason not to ..."—well, thing is, you're actually justified. However, as this policy has been created after certain stub pages have be weary that, if the owner returns, note that you must give the page back to them, inasmuch as it's now your responsibility (but note that the content you've made can only be kept on the page if you're okay with it—if they're forcing you to, don't wallow in, it's your content, not theirs). Due thereto, it's fine to create pages of duplicate titles, but remember that you'll have to include "(2)" or "(3)", depending on what number this page is of such a title—so, there could be an original (My page, just as a hypothetical example), then another (My page (2)), then another (My page (3)). Please conform to this format, as it's tedious for admins to clear this up for you; of course, though, admins are people, no matter how robotic they may seem (though, literally, Bot admins are robots), and they'll understand your circumstances for not doing so. Speaking of Bot admins, don't ask them to do your dirty work!
- If you want to signify that your page should remain unedited by all except you, please input the template of Template:Do not edit, which will link to this section of the Policies.

Ownership policy

For any piece of content aside from images, type {{Licensing|whatever your licensing is (parameter fills are specified on the page)}}^{[note 5]}
If you're looking to copyright your work for free, we recommend Copyrighted.com. In doing this, you can manifest that your article's copyrighted on the article itself, simply by typing {{copyrighted}}.
Contributions on canon wikis typically incline to be licensed under CC-BY-SA license (which stands for Creative Commons-Attribution^[1]-Share All license), which means that your work can be copied but must be attributed to the author, but since this wiki is entirely subjective and, obviously, sits at the opposite end of the spectrum to everything else, you're able to declare your own licensing and usage wishes. The three different licenses are:^[2]

BY – (attribution)

NC – (Non-Commercial)

ND – (No Derivatives)

SA – (Share-Alike)

Images

Without licensing your image properly, admins will not prioritize and likely not consult your case, because without the licensing stating whether your work can only be used on your work, people viewing your page will not abstain from using it. Without any disclosed licensing, anyone is free to assume that your image is in the public domain (free to use anywhere). There is many different licensing templates, all of which are shown in the aforementioned Help:Licensing page.
- If you're editing an image of yours to add the licensing, type {{self}}.

"Netiquette"

On any website, you're expected to have good etiquette, here called "netiquette". It's an expectance to us, too, that you can say your pleases and thank you's. This isn't pre-school, we don't need to remind you. Also, keep it PG 13 and everyone's happy.
- Anything racist or bigoted is downright awful and, naturally, disallowed with a passion.

External links

http://www.coppa.org - COPPA's official website
w:c:www:Terms_of_use - Wikia's global Terms of Use (usually abbreviated ToU)
w:c:www:Licensing - Wikia's licensing page
wikipedia:Creative Commons license - Wikipedia's CC-BY-SA page, included for further help

Notes and citations

References

↑ Yep, we had no idea, either. https://blog.samat.org/2011/04/15/What-does-the-BY-in-Creative-Commons-license-names-mean/
↑ wikipedia:Public copyright license#Types of copyright license

Notes

↑ So, if you were curious as to what this note was doing lying here, wuzahh! It creates a popup. Anyway, please tick the 'Minor edit' option if it is a rather small, insignificant edit, it makes everything more orderly. You will not get penalized if you do not, but it is very much appreciated. :-)
↑ However, the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (abbreviated COPPA) is in effect on this wiki. Likewise, if you reveal your age you will get penalized without warning and globally blocked.
↑ But don't be too open; we don't need to know your precise home address or phone number, thank you very much!
↑ Okay, on a serious note, please don't feel afraid to report someone on the act of a crime. It is greatly appreciated when you do this, seriously.
Also, for something very serious and rare: catching an administrator abusing their powers. While a rare occurrence, if an administrator is using their rights irresponsibly, they can have their rights revoked permanently and banned/ blocked (depending on the circumstance) for a period of time.
↑ Template:Licensing