Battlefield Wiki:Code of 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. See also our page on User Rights.

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.

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.

Good Faith
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 a 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
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.

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.

Profanity/Insults
Sure, all of us play the Battlefield games. We all hear words used by the game characters and other players via online play that can be offensive, like "fuck", "damn", "nigger", "bitch", "gay", "shit", and the whole nine yards.

Though it may be acceptable among some in online play and when hanging out with your friends, doing such is not acceptable here. If a user insults another, that constitutes as a personal attack, and has chance of resulting in a block.

Using such language in an article, including in a quote, is also frowned upon. Profane quotes should not be used.

Not all insults have the same magnitude. Responses, including blocks, must take into account context, intentions and magnitude. For details on blocks, see Battlefield Wiki:Blocking Policy

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
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.

Don't feed the trolls
A troll is, according to Wikipedia's definition, ''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.

Discipline
The following section outlines our blocking policy.

If a user's behaviour 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 - 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 weather 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 remain inclusive, giving the opportunity for users to return and edit constructively

Below are defined several levels of offense seriousness, each with advice about blocking in each case:

Minor

 * Changing words or sentences in articles inappropriately
 * Blanking articles
 * Creating spam articles
 * Minor personal attack(s)
 * Spamming comments on blogposts
 * Copyright violations (dealt with here)

If any of these offenses are committed, a warning should be given (using   - or    for commenting related offenses). 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 in the future, the user will receive a warning. If on another occasion they do the same, then a 1 day block should be issued. Further

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

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

 * Racism, sexism and other hateful or discriminatory statements
 * Sexual statements about another editor
 * Multiple major personal attacks
 * Blanking multiple 10 pages in a short time period
 * Serious or repeated vandalism
 * Abuse of administrator/bureaucrat privileges (typically disruptive or unexplained action)

For these, a 3 day block will be immediately issued from the discovery of the infraction. Depending on seriousness, blocks can be raised to a whole month. If repeated, blocks of up to 1 year may be issued. Infinite blocks should never be used except in truly exceptional, case-by-case, forum agreed, circumstances.