Hypothetical Hurricanes Wiki:Guidelines

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All users are expected to adhere to the policies of the Hypothetical Hurricanes Wiki while editing on the Hypothetical Hurricanes Wiki. If you disagree with any policy, feel free to discuss changes in the forum. We also expect you to adhere to Fandom's Terms of Use.

Please, note; we comply with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), and if any users who are 12 years old and below reveal their age, they will be blocked. We don't ask for personal information.

User block policy

Blocked users

A blocked user is a user who is blocked for the wiki for a specific amount of time (e.g. 3 months) and will not be able to edit on the wiki during this time. The user may have access to their message wall, but that access will be removed if the user abuses that ability. Typically this happens to users who break rules like editing articles without permission and persist after being warned. Depending on the block reason, the user may or may not request the block to be reconsidered.

Banished users

A banished user is a user who may never return to as well as contribute to the Hypothetical Hurricanes Wiki for an infinite/indefinite amount of time. This is usually only done when the user has been a long-time abuser of multiple accounts (sockpuppets). The user will not be unbanished until at least 1.5 - 2 years have passed and the user requests it to be reconsidered.

Infinite/indefinite blocks

Infinite and indefinite blocks are ones where the block's length of term has been set to 'infinite' or 'indefinite' by the admin placing the block. Indefinite blocks are used to prevent a specific account from editing until further notice or until a fixed ban date is set, while infinite blocks are used to prevent a specific account from editing permanently.

Appeals

Any blocked user has the right to appeal their current block. If the user's appeal is successful, their block will be shortened or ended completely. If the appeal is unsuccessful, their block stays as it is, but the user will only have the right to appeal again six months after the failed appeal.

Appealing chat bans

If there is contention about a particular chat ban, banned users may reply directly to the ban notice they receive upon being removed from chat. If the issue cannot be fully addressed there, the banned user may post on the administrators' noticeboard explaining the situation and why they feel the ban was unjust.

Range blocks

Sometimes users with dynamic IP addresses may attack the wiki. In such cases, it is best to range block their IP address so even when changing their IP they still can't edit. For more information, see mw:Help:Range blocks.

Unblocking

Special:Blocklist contains a list of all currently blocked users and IPs. Admins will see a link to unblock next to each user. After clicking this, admins should type in the reason that they are unblocking the user and then click the Unblock this address button.

Additional admin guidelines

Revert and block simple spam and vandalism. If it clearly doesn’t belong here, make it go away. Remember to erase auto-deletion summaries. If it looks like a user needs to be banned globally, report the situation to a member of the VSTF.
Be fair. Consider situations carefully before acting on them. If a user makes an honest mistake, give them the opportunity to learn and improve.
Encourage participation. Be friendly and welcoming to members, help them get to know the Hypothetical Hurricanes Wiki, and support their interactions.
Keep things structured, but not too structured. Do your best to support and maintain the goals and organization of the wiki, but be flexible about growth and change.
Hold public votes on certain issues. We encourage you to create votes in chat when the administration is undecided on an issue that includes themes, wiki backgrounds, logos, server channels, and server images. The vote will be done on chat/on the wiki, depending on the affected areas. As long as it fits the guidelines outlined above (themes, backgrounds, etc), it is mandatory to do so. Users don't have to vote on these votes, but should be encouraged to do so in order to make the Hypothetical Hurricanes Wiki a better place.

Hypothetical Hurricanes Wiki rules

Main policies

No cursing. Offensive words (and offensive images) will not be allowed.
Bullying, personal attacks, harassment, and other forms of misconduct are prohibited.
No spamming on pages! If you are unclear as to what spamming is, please ask an administrator. All types of chat spam are permitted with the exception of vulgar or inappropriate spam (in Discord, spamming is allowed only in the #spam-in-general channel). Spamming will cease at its own discretion, or when two or more staff members agree that it should conclude.
All users are entitled to their opinions, provided they are stated in a polite manner.
If you dislike a page, do not view it. Removing the page's content or attacking the page creator will not be tolerated here.
Don't make an irrelevant page that is not related to this website's topic. Your page will be deleted and a reminder may be given if it happens.
If you want to request a page's deletion, insert the {{Delete}} template on the top of the page, then contact an admin about it.
Do not write false or inappropriate information on a page.
Profanity, vulgarity, and otherwise inappropriate language will not be tolerated.
Edits such as, taking periods off pages and putting back on, adding extra punctuation, taking off info and putting back on, or adding the same info in different ways, are considered unacceptable edits.
Removing content based on your dislike of any topic will be considered vandalism and action will be taken against the concerned user unless the page author gave you permission to edit.
Trolling. Don't feed the trolls and make sure to report them to an administrator (or bureaucrat).
User pages are only to be edited by the user. You can only edit their user page if you are correcting their spelling, punctuation, and grammar.
Please keep personal information to yourself. This includes your age, email, school, address, and phone number. Additionally, do not request personal information from any user under the age of 18. This is also against FANDOM's Terms of Use.
Inserting sexually explicit content (text, images, etc.) is prohibited!
Not reading the rules isn't an excuse.
Do not break templates or remove them from pages without the author's permission.
Have fun on the wiki! The Hypothetical Hurricanes Wiki community is happy to have you here. We look forward to seeing you around!
Do not remove "reminder", "warning", "final warning", or "blocked" messages from your wall.
Do not harass the admins in any way, shape, or form.
Users who consistently request rights, be it on chat or on an Administrator's message wall, will not receive said rights. Users who fail to listen will be blacklisted from user rights at the discretion of the Administrators.
Minimodding is the action of acting in a position of power to do a normal task an administrator member should do, e.g. enforcing the rules. Users that aren't chat moderators or higher should not minimod. If you see someone breaking the rules, please inform a chat moderator or administrator about this.
Users are discouraged from creating multiple accounts, otherwise known as sockpuppets. Users are permitted to have alternate accounts, provided the admins are informed prior to the account's creation and are used to the wiki's benefit. However, sockpuppeting for any other reason warrants a block depending on the severity of the offense.
Staff members may be nominated for promotion/demotion only at the discretion of the administration team. In addition, please refrain from making "jokes" about rights, promotions, and demotions if they are not in your control.
Users are not allowed to edit pages not created by themselves without permission, with the exception of free-editing seasons, spelling, grammar or page organization edits.
Jokes are not an excuse to break the policies.
Please do not advocate the death of another user. Comments such as "I wish User X was dead", "User Y is in the path of the storm and will die", and "The storm killed 10 people (including user Z)" will not be tolerated. Such comment(s) will be removed, and the user will receive a reminder or warning, depending on the case.
Use clear and descriptive file names, without being excessively long, while avoiding generic, non-specific file names. "Chan-hom 2015-07-08 0425Z.jpg", for example, is better than "Image01.jpg" or "DSC0001.JPG".
Refrain from making enemy lists on userpages, as these can start an unneeded conflict between users. Neutral/positive (friend) lists are accepted.
Plagiarism is not allowed on this wiki. When using some content from Wikipedia, you should insert the {{Wikipedia}} template on top of the page, but it won't be allowed if most of the page has content from it. Paraphrasing is also not allowed in those cases.
Editfarming (editing with the goal of increasing your usercane size, for example) and badgehunting (editing with the goal to get badges) are not allowed.

Forum rules

Forum guidelines - Follow the Hypothetical Hurricanes Wiki policies while in the forums. This applies both to the Forums and Discussions.

Comment rules

No inappropriate language/profanity is acceptable.
No irrelevant comments.
Do not give out personal information.
Do not offend users.
Do not put down users for stating their opinion.
Comments cannot contain inappropriate content.
No form of cyber-bullying will be accepted.
Do not talk about personal life on a page.
Do not post a survey that is not relevant to a page.

Blog post rules

No inappropriate language/profanity.
Do not give out personal information.
Do not offend rules.
Blog posts cannot contain inappropriate content.
Treat the blogger in question and the users commenting on the blog post with respect.

Chat rules

Chat guidelines - Follow Hypothetical Hurricanes Wiki policies while talking in the chat. This applies both to the wiki chat and the Discord server.

General policies

Chat users agree not to:

Harass any other members of the wiki or say something that could put them down
Spam or post links with explicit content
Troll users
Cause unnecessary drama or arguments
Ask for personal information (address, password, etc.) of anyone who is uncomfortable giving it out

Other chat policies

Chat moderators may enforce other policies on chat as they see fit. These include but are not limited to:

Common sense. If there is something which you know may upset or anger someone, do not do it. If you have any questions, it is always better to ask an admin or moderator before proceeding.
Avoid spamming the chat with emoticons which may cause other users' chats (or devices) to lag.
Speaking in sentences that people can understand using proper English.
Discipline in the chat is as follows. All wiki staff should adhere to the following discipline policy when dealing with misbehaving users in the chat: reminder, warning, last warning, kick, ban.

Voting rules

Your response must have good grammar and be mature.
You must have been an editor on this wiki for one month and have fifty (50) article (mainspace) edits.
You may only vote one time, and you may only vote with the following voting templates: {{Support}}, {{Neutral Leaning Support}}, {{Neutral}}, {{Neutral Leaning Oppose}}, {{Oppose}}. Other vote symbols, like {{Support Skeptical}} and {{Strongly Oppose}} are also allowed.
Please supply a legitimate reason after you cast your vote. Reasons that are not legitimate will have your vote be removed.
Votes may not be anonymous. You must have something indicating that your vote was cast by you (i.e., a signature). You can sign your posts with ~~~~.
Votes by users banned from chat or otherwise punished will be denied.
The administration may deny any vote for any reason. If your vote gets denied, you will be informed of it. Common reasons for votes being denied include being banned on the HHW Discord server, not meeting the edit threshold or being in the wiki for a short time. If you are not informed of it, politely ask an administration member about it. Please do not re-vote or send backlash to any administration members.