VassarWiki:Policies: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 04:52, 30 April 2026

📝

This page is a proposal under consideration.

It does not yet reflect consensus and is open for discussion.

Policies are foundational principles of the site that contributors should always follow. Like everything on VassarWiki, they are established by community consensus.

Build consensus

Disputes over content should be discussed on the respective talk page and resolved through consensus. While voting can be utilized, it should not act as a replacement for discussion. If a dispute doesn't go your way, please respect the community's decision and move on.

Where there is a dispute and a consensus hasn't yet formed or cannot form, the page should remain at the status quo ante bellum (the status quo before the conflict). If this is for some reason especially untenable (like in the case of a legal issue), please report the page and it will be dealt with by an administrator. Reverting back and forth is known as edit warring, and it is not tolerated (even if you're right).

Leave a trail

Please sign all messages on talk pages. The Visual Editor should do this for you automatically on talk pages. When in the Source Editor, you can add your signature with four tildes (~).

To help page histories be navigable, please write a short edit summary for each of your contributions.

To tether the project to reality and help readers find external resources, content should be sourced with in-line citations^[1] whenever possible. You can use reliable external publications, public statements from groups, or firsthand accounts from community members as sources. Citations can be brief, and they don't have to be in any citation style. If possible, hyperlink the sources to the relevant VassarWiki page or external website.

To produce references with the Visual Editor, click the "Cite" button. On the Source Editor, click the book with a ribbon or write the reference content between <ref> and </ref>.

Don't steal

All content on VassarWiki must be original or in the public domain. If you want to include a resource that is copyrighted, please link to it in an "External links" section. By contributing to VassarWiki, you release your contribution under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License.

Don't censor others

VassarWiki is not censored. As a result of this principle, negativity towards any subject is allowed. On encyclopedia pages, negative content should be sourced and written from a neutral point of view.

Information about living people is held to a higher standard than content about other subjects. Please consider other people's privacy when including information about them.

Conduct

Please be respectful and civil. Harassment, defamation, and privacy violations are not tolerated. Deliberately nonconstructive edits will be removed, and editors responsible may be permanently or temporarily suspended from editing VassarWiki.

Unless there is clear evidence to the contrary, assume that fellow contributors are here in good faith to improve the project!

References

↑ Like this one!

[1] Like this one!

[1]

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-== List of policies ==
+{{Consensus|status=draft|users=[[User:Ewelchmorgan]]}}
-=== Be bold! ===
-Contributions do not require prior approval. So be bold! If someone finds an issue with your edit, it may be reverted and discussed on a talk page. Though not required, it's encouraged that you understand VassarWiki policy and any relevant guidelines before editing.
-=== Sourcing ===
+'''Policies''' are foundational principles of the site that contributors should always follow. Like everything on VassarWiki, they are established by community consensus.
-All content on encyclopedia pages must be sourced. Sources fall into three categories, listed in decreasing order of authority:
-# Reliable publications like external newspapers/journals, The Miscellany News, and official Vassar websites
+== Build consensus ==
-# Public statements by VSA-recognized student organizations
+Disputes over content should be discussed on the respective talk page and resolved through consensus. While voting can be utilized, it should not act as a replacement for discussion. If a dispute doesn't go your way, please respect the community's decision and move on.
-# Current or past Vassar individuals (including you!)
-=== Don't steal ===
+Where there is a dispute and a consensus hasn't yet formed or cannot form, the page should remain at the ''status quo ante bellum'' (the status quo before the conflict). If this is for some reason especially untenable (like in the case of a legal issue), please [[VassarWiki:Reports|report]] the page and it will be dealt with by an [[VassarWiki:About#Governance|administrator]]. Reverting back and forth is known as edit warring, and it is not tolerated (even if you're right).
-All content on VassarWiki must be original or in the public domain. If you want to include a resource that is copyrighted, please include it in an "External links" section. All contributions made on VassarWiki are under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License.
-=== VassarWiki is not censored ===
+== Leave a trail ==
-Content should generally not be removed but revised. VassarWiki is ''not censored''. Negative information about any subject is allowed, though it must be accompanied by sources of types 1 or 2. Content concerning living Vassar people are held to a higher standard than content about other subjects.
+Please sign all messages on talk pages. The Visual Editor should do this for you automatically on talk pages. When in the Source Editor, you can add your signature with four tildes (~).
-=== Disputes and behavior ===
+To help page histories be navigable, please write a short edit summary for each of your contributions.
-Disputes over content should be discussed on the respective talk page and ''resolved through consensus''. While voting can be utilized, it should not act as a replacement for discussion.
-Where there is a dispute and a consensus hasn't yet formed or cannot form, the page should remain at the ''status quo ante bellum''. If this is for some reason especially untenable, please report the page and it will be dealt with by an administrator. Edit warring (reverting back and forth) is not tolerated (even if you're right).
+To tether the project to reality and help readers find external resources, content should be sourced with in-line citations<ref>Like this one!</ref> whenever possible. You can use reliable external publications, public statements from groups, or firsthand accounts from community members as sources. Citations can be brief, and they don't have to be in any citation style. If possible, hyperlink the sources to the relevant VassarWiki page or external website.
-Please be respectful and civil. Harassment, defamation, and violations of privacy are not tolerated and will be promptly removed. Unconstructive edits will be reverted, and responsible editors may be permanently or temporarily suspended from editing.
+To produce references with the Visual Editor, click the "Cite" button. On the Source Editor, click the book with a ribbon or write the reference content between <nowiki><ref></nowiki> and <nowiki></ref></nowiki>.
+== Don't steal ==
+{{See also|VassarWiki:Disclaimer}}
+All content on VassarWiki must be original or in the public domain. If you want to include a resource that is copyrighted, please link to it in an "External links" section. By contributing to VassarWiki, you release your contribution under the [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License].
+== Don't censor others ==
+VassarWiki is not censored. As a result of this principle, negativity towards any subject is allowed. On encyclopedia pages, negative content should be sourced and written from a neutral point of view.
+Information about living people is held to a higher standard than content about other subjects. Please consider other people's privacy when including information about them.
+== Conduct ==
+Please be respectful and civil. Harassment, defamation, and privacy violations are not tolerated. Deliberately nonconstructive edits will be removed, and editors responsible may be permanently or temporarily suspended from editing VassarWiki.
+Unless there is clear evidence to the contrary, assume that fellow contributors are here in good faith to improve the project!
+== See also ==
+* [[VassarWiki:Guidelines]], best practices developed by consensus
+* [[VassarWiki:Privacy policy]]
+== References ==