VassarWiki:Policies
Policies are foundational principles of VassarWiki that contributors should always follow. Like everything on the wiki, they are established by community consensus.
Build and respect consensus
Disputes over content should be resolved through consensus-building on the relevant talk page. While voting can be utilized, it should not act as a replacement for discussion.
If you disagree with the outcome of a dispute, please respect the community's decision and move on. At the same time, consensus can change; discussions can be reopened if the facts have changed or if sufficient time has passed to shift community opinion.
While a dispute is ongoing, the page in question should remain at the status quo ante bellum.[1] If waiting for a discussion to play out is especially untenable (e.g. the content presents a legal issue), please report the page and it will be dealt with by an administrator. Reverting back and forth, known as edit warring, is not tolerated (even if you're right).
Leave a trail
It should be clear where content came from.
Source content with inline references[2] whenever possible.[help 1]</nowiki>.</ref> Acceptable sources include reliable external publications, public statements from groups, or first-hand accounts from community members (including yourself). Citations don't have to be in any citation style, but you should hyperlink to relevant VassarWiki pages or external websites when possible.
Sign all your messages on talk pages.[help 2]
For each contribution you make, write a short edit summary when prompted; this helps readers navigate page histories.
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, provide a hyperlink to it. By contributing to VassarWiki, you agree to release your contribution under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License.
If another resource (e.g. Wikipedia, Vassar Encyclopedia) provides a comprehensive overview of a subject, link to it rather than mirroring its content.
Don't censor
VassarWiki is not censored. As a result of this principle, negativity towards any subject is allowed. Like all content, negative content should be sourced and written from a neutral point of view on encyclopedia pages. Information about living people is held to a higher standard than content about other subjects.
Respect privacy
Respect other people's privacy when including information about them.
The identities of individuals should not be included unless at least one of three criteria are met:
- the identifying information is unambiguously public and of nontrivial encyclopedic value (e.g. a speaker at Commencement)
- the individual provides explicit permission for that context (e.g. they contribute the identifying information themself)
- such documentation would have little social consequence (e.g. the individual and their cohort are no longer alive)
Requests for the removal of identifying information must be fulfilled when these criteria do not apply.
Be a good person
Be respectful and civil on VassarWiki. Assume that other editors are here in good faith to improve the project, unless there is clear evidence to the contrary. Harassment, defamation, and privacy violations are not tolerated. Deliberately nonconstructive edits will be quickly removed, and responsible users may be suspended from editing VassarWiki.
See also
- VassarWiki:Guidelines, best practices developed by consensus
- VassarWiki:Privacy policy
Notes
Help
- ↑ 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<nowiki> - ↑ The Visual Editor does this for you automatically on talk pages. When in the Source Editor, you can add your signature with four tildes (
~).