Theamanos Wiki:Community Guidelines

The Shadowhunter' Wiki community is continuously growing where discussion is greatly encouraged. Elaborated below are some of the things you need to be aware of as a part of the community, the basic set of rules for a user's involvement in the community to ensure a peaceful and steady growth of the community. For other wiki interaction guidelines, see the other policies and guidelines.

General rules
Being part of the community requires responsibility and knowledge of basic etiquette when it comes to online interaction.
 * Be civil. Insulting and slandering other users are not permitted. It is the right of any user to remove, or request the removal of, any comment, blog, forum, or message wall post that is insulting or slanderous to them personally. Harassing users in this way will result in lengthy blocks.
 * Everything you say is expected to be appropriate. This means that there should be no inappropriate language; comments and replies should not be irrelevant nor inflammatory.
 * Avoid starting conflicts. "In discussions and debate, passions can run high. Please focus on the topic and not the poster. Mean what you say, say what you mean, but don't say it mean."[src ]
 * Refrain from capitalizing unnecessarily. Not only does it seem like you are shouting or trying to make a point you are obviously not making, but it makes everything else look messy.
 * Start posts with an actual topic, or more. When you start any of these, make sure there is actually a point, not a random post saying nothing or a discussion with a vague or obscure topic.
 * No spamming, vandalism, and ads.

Signing up

 * IP Users will only be allowed 10 edits. After said edits, you will be asked to sign up. The IP address would then be blocked for a certain amount of time and will be lifted upon account creation.
 * This is mostly to establish a user's online presence with a username and to prevent animosity among signed-up users and anonymous ones; as well as to encourage more users to sign up and officially join the community, especially in situations when the anonymous user has proved an efficient editor or conversationalist and would be considered a contributory factor to the wiki's growing community. Having an account also gives you extra abilities and features that unregistered users do not have access to. Your account is used on every Wikia wiki, so you only need to create it once and you will be able to log into every Wikia community.
 * Take note that vandalism is not tolerated on this wiki, and anonymous users who spam, vandalize or act unacceptably may be banned without notice, but you are free to sign up to defend yourself.

Forms
There are various ways to reach out to other users on the wiki: blogs, forum thread, message wall, and chat. However, you should know just where to initiate certain topics or discussions.


 * Blogs are used to start a possibly lengthy discussion, or to write out something you've been wanting to let out about the series, or to just let others weigh in or hear you out. (Currently disabled; please proceed to the Forum.)
 * Forums are the most popular form of interaction, and is home to most of the active discussions, on this wiki as it notifies you of responses. You can start this if your main purpose is to strike up conversation or an actual discussion of a hot topic, as well as to get immediate response and opinions from others regarding a specified topic. This can be anything, from opinions, to theories, to reactions, etc.
 * Discussions: work in progress
 * Forum vs. Blog: Before posting, do consider if your post belongs to the blog or forum section. Generally, forums are more popular and more easily noticed because it is actually linked to the pages, while blogs are mostly for personal posts and long or big ones (with nice videos or pics to go with it that just look bad on forum threads) meant to just be shared and hopefully read by others, or to just have on the wiki. More details in its separate sections below.
 * Message walls for contacting individual user/s somehow privately. If you have questions, or maybe an issue you would like to settle, message walls would be a great way to contact the user.
 * Chat would be a good place to hang out with and meet other users and get immediate responses. Please be sure to use expected online etiquette, though.
 * Private chat is probably the most private way to contact someone on the wiki without anyone else seeing. It is accessed through the Chat window if the user you want to contact is online, too.
 * Comments are basically that: random comments and thoughts you want to share about the topic of that particular page. (Comments are currently disabled on this wiki.)
 * Talk pages on this wiki are only for issues, problems, or questions about a certain part of an article that may be questionable, outdated, or wrong. It is only for discussion relating to the content, format, design, etc., and changes that can be made to the article, for suggestions of ways to improve the article, and not for speculation/complaints/opinions. It can also a place to resolve disagreements and edit wars. Always add a headline or title to your new message, and leave your signature at the end of your text by adding four tildes ( ~ ).

Forum
The Forum is where the most popular and active discussions on the wiki are held. It is possible to follow discussions on the wiki as it notifies you of responses (but you are also given the option to unfollow them). Some forum-specific rules to take note of:


 * Always specify a Topic. When you start a forum thread, make sure there is actually a topic or point to your post, and (unless you are starting an off-topic post on the OT board) always specify at least one Topic by adding it at the bottom of your post where it says "Add a Topic".
 * This is to ensure that your post will catch the attention of other users looking for related discussions and that it will stay relevant because it will be shown in the list of discussions about the specified article. Failure to do so can also result in the deletion of your thread as threads with no Topic/s attached tend to go unnoticed or be overlooked and forgotten. While we would love to keep the post (and we would try to enter the Topics ourselves most of the time unless the topic is obscure and we can't figure it out), it is very unlikely to garner enough attention without a Topic and will thus not be worth keeping.
 * Place the thread in the proper Board. This should also help get responses to your post quicker, as well as for organizational purposes, to ensure easy browsing of or access to other similar discussions (along with the Topic/s). Descriptions of the boards can be seen of the main Forum page). The post may be edited or deleted otherwise.
 * Closing: Sometimes, discussions may be closed when discussions end or it is no longer necessary (e.g. if the question has been answered; if a thread receives no more replies within 30 days) to give way to other, more active threads that would need more attention. It can also be deleted if a thread is unnecessary to begin with—e.g. if it is a duplicate and there is an ongoing, more active discussion going on about it, or if the answer is in a pretty obvious place on the wiki such as the page of the topic in question (the question will not simply be ignored; the user will be notified of the reason and given an answer by the admin who deleted it). It can also be deleted when the users replying to the thread has strayed off-topic, making it difficult for new users interested in the topic to reply or join in on the on-topic conversation.
 * If a discussion is closed because of long-term inactivity or resolution, anyone is allowed to open a new one and restart or continue the discussion. This only applies to an actual discussion post, and not to posts with a question similar to a past thread that has already been previously discussed, fully answered, and closed (unless the user is completely unconvinced and unsatisfied with the reasons and arguments, within good reason). An exception could be if the post is very old and has been buried beneath newer threads. But otherwise, please take the time to check the pages first, if the info you're looking for is not there, then check at least the first page of the connected discussions (accessed by clicking "See more discussions >" close to the bottom of the page) in case it has already been asked).
 * Avoid pyramid-quoting: that is using the "Quote" feature so much that your quoted post already has three or more replies (or one that's very long).
 * Avoid posting:
 * Argument-prone topics: Do try to refrain from starting threads that could would lead to arguing, intense debates, and eventually personal attacks.
 * Minor mistake-alert posts Please don't create threads for every bit of mistake you see on pages (e.g. Why does it say _____ on the page? That's wrong! I'm sure!); you can just go ahead and edit if you think you're right. (This is because too many threads, even deleted ones, can clutter the Forum list.) If you're uncertain, try to look around the page; there may be                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              some sort of justification, explanation, or reference. Only ask if you're very unsure. Even then, if it is a small question, you can instead leave a message on the wall of an active admin.
 * Questions with obvious/known answers: (e.g. In _____, did _____ end up with _____?) Sometimes, all you need to do to find out what you're looking for is to look at the relevant articles on the wiki. That is the point of this site, after all. It is only when you can't find the answer that you should take to the Forum to ask.
 * Common topics discussed, asked or talked about often that has a tendency of getting reposted—this takes away the attention from active ones, thus scattering or dividing the discussion. You can usually easily find out if there is a post with the same topic already present on the wiki by (for forum posts) looking at the dedicated forum discussions at the bottom of the topic articles, or (for blog posts) searching the wiki. If there is an existing and active one, simply join. Duplicate threads or posts will either be redirected to an existing one and closed, or deleted (particularly if the new one has none to few responses and is poorly structured, and if preexisting one is still active and fairly on-topic). Likewise, do not deliberately create repetitive blog posts or forum threads.
 * No long titles like this, please, it can get long and messy and kinda annoying, don't you think? What do you think? Keep the titles as concise and summarized as possible. Do not make the title the question itself, making the title unnecessarily long, wherein the question could be placed in the details. However, do not make it vague as well; make the main topic clear immediately (e.g. "Tessa's parents?", instead of Tessa—the latter seems like a hanging word that leaves the user guessing and/or uninterested).
 * vs. Blog: The Forum is primarily for active discussions. Start a forum post instead if the main goal of your post is to strike up conversation or an actual discussion of a hot topic, as well as to have people respond to it and for them to see it for as long as they're looking for discussions regarding a topic. This can be anything from opinions to theories to reactions, etc. The Forum is also the place for official discussions that is expected to last a long period of time (for example, until a book release).

Blogs
Blogs are used to start a possibly lengthy discussion, or to write out something you've been wanting to let out about the series, or to just let others weigh in or hear you out. Although quite similar to the forum, blogs are different in that it may be:
 * a blog must have at least two or more paragraphs to avoid deletion (therefore, brief topics or simple questions must go to the Forum)
 * for certain official wiki-wide discussions for series-related topics, such as book or movie reviews, just to have on the wiki and not necessarily for "discussion" but, instead, primarily for opinion sharing
 * for general discussion covering or encompassing a large or several topics, or not specific to one topic
 * a personal post (but must be related to the series or wiki somehow)
 * mostly a sharing of information and may not necessarily for discussions, such as a personal story related to your experiences with the series that hasn't yet been discussed anywhere else
 * much like forums though, blogs' comment sections may also be closed once it stops being 'news', has become outdated, if it hasn't been commented on for over 30 days, there is no discussion, or when there is no longer a need for comment(s).

Edit war
Since we allow anyone to edit, it follows that we assume that most people who work on the project are trying to help it, not hurt it. If this weren't true, a wiki project would be doomed from the beginning.

Particularly, avoid reverting other users' proper edits. When you can reasonably assume that something is a well-intentioned error, correct it without just reverting it or labeling it as "wrong". When you strongly disagree with someone's revert of your edit/s, consider using message walls to explain yourself, and give others the opportunity to do the same. This can avoid misunderstandings and prevent problems from escalating. If there is a problem, it's best to ask the user about the issue first, then take any additional steps if need be.

In the case of an edit conflict, the two opposing people are expected to solve their problem for themselves. If they cannot do that, an admin will step in.