EvaWiki:Rules and Regulations

This page serves as the central hub for the internal policies and rules of conduct for editors on EvaWiki.

Rules used in writing articles dealing with matters specific to Evangelion, can be found at EvaWiki:Standards and Conventions.

General

EvaWiki is not Wikipedia.org. EvaWiki uses MediaWiki software, but none of the rules or regulations which Wikipedia functions under hold sway here.

EvaWiki operates under the Pirate's Code, as set down by the 18th century pirates Henry Morgan and Bartholomew Roberts:

1. The Right of Parley -- Editors on EvaWiki are always encouraged to, in a respectful manner, question the logic or veracity of anything on EvaWiki. If you're unconvinced a particular point or decision is correct, please bring it up for discussion on an article's Discussion page or in the forums. No subject will ever be taboo.
2. Mutiny -- against the Grand Mistress of EvaWiki, Reichu, and her subordinate Administrators, is unthinkable: the deepest circle of hell is reserved for betrayers and mutineers.
3. He who falls behind is left behind -- If you stop editing completely on EvaWiki for an extended period of time (think a full year), and you have not contacted the site explaining that you are on a leave of absence, your inactive account will be eventually removed (if a piano fell on your head and you were in a coma for three years, if you were in prison, etc. e-mail the site explaining why you were gone and you will immediately be given a new account. However, Administrator privileges will be lost if you are gone from the site for so long a time without explanation. "Explanation" could literally amount to writing on top of your account "I might be gone for a little while" then showing up again a year later, without penalty).

This isn't Wikipedia

EvaWiki does not believe in the restrictive rules of Wikipedia. In order to prevent "wikiholics" who do ardently believe in the rules of Wikipedia from overwhelming the site, several rules of behavior will be observed:

1. Every editor on EvaWiki has to have and regularly use an account on an Evangelion messageboard -- "Wikiholics" tend not to use messageboards. However, the EvaWiki is meant to be a reference tool used to aid fan communities specifically like messageboard groups. EvaWiki should not become isolated from the messageboards. Thus, everyone on EvaWiki has to have a messageboard account, and they have to "regularly" use it (the Admins will judge if you obviously just registered an account for the sake of saying you have one, then never really use it). You have to at least register an account on the EvaCommentary Forum, which is home of the "EvaWiki Discussion" sub-forum. If your "home board" is somewhere else (i.e. you posted daily on AnimeNation Forum before it went defunct) that's not really a problem, so long as you regularly post somewhere and you have an account on the EvaCommentary Forum to directly discuss EvaCommentary/EvaWiki matters.
2. Major discussions about content on EvaWiki should take place in the "Wiki Discussion" subforum of the EvaCommentary Forums. Only use "Talk" pages sparingly. -- As a corollary to the above, major, that is, long-running discussions about contentious or unresolved matters on EvaWiki should take place in the EvaCommentary Forum's Wiki subforum. The "Talk" pages on the wiki are a vital tool; they're like stick-it notes attached to each article for quick and easy reference, i.e. "I cannot find a reference for this statement in the "notes" section, can someone find it?" or to point out "this image isn't displaying properly". However, long-running discussions should really be done on the messageboards. A key part of this is that there is no "Administrators' Noticeboard" on EvaWiki itself: instead of bringing up something on an "Administrators' Noticeboard", as some other wikis do, or if you wish to "register a complaint" about a dead Norwegian Blue, you have to do it in the wiki subforum. The EvaWiki is only a part of the larger "EvaCommentary" site and these rules requiring the use of the messageboards for several functions will help weld them together, instead of EvaWiki becoming isolated. That doesn't mean you should be discouraged from using "Talk" pages, just remember that they're for bringing up things specifically relevant to that article, and you shouldn't just start a whole conversation on them. The discussion might grow to be fairly long, and if there is still a great deal of confusion and more discussion to be had, just start a new thread in the messageboard to settle it. Meanwhile, you really shouldn't start up entire conversations on another Editor's talk page purely for socialization or something, use the messageboards for that (you should write on their Talk page, if you're asking them something specific, etc.) This won't be enforced too vigorously, but please be mindful of it.
3. Anyone who uses a wiki-tool to count the exact number of edits they have made on EvaWiki will be instantly and unconditionally banned without any possible hope for appeal -- MediaWiki software has certain program tools which allow a wiki editor to count find out what their exact "Edit Count" is. On Wikipedia.org, many people actually have developed badges on their userpages listing "I made 10,000 edits!", pointing to this as something that makes them an above-average contributor. However, the reality of "Edit Counts" is ridiculous: an entire episode article can be written by one editor in one "Edit" (the number of times you click "Save Page"), while another editor could run around making 1,000 single-letter spelling corrections, and then claim to have done "equal work" to the other editor. By all means, you are supposed to contribute as much as possible to EvaWiki. but the "Edit Count" feature is a peculiarity of MediaWiki's setup, and not an accurate gauge of physically how much material someone is contributing to the site. It is a tool which "wikiholics" tend to abuse. Thus, anyone who uses an Edit Count tool to find their exact edit count, then states it on EvaWiki or in the forums, even in a seemingly non-confrontational manner, will be unconditionally be subjected to an immediate and permanent ban from EvaWiki. You will note that while EvaWiki runs on MediaWiki software (and thus you could conceivably use the "Edit Count" feature, there is no button to click on in EvaWiki that will quickly or easily take you to one: to find your Edit Count on EvaWiki, after having read this warning, you'd actually have to go out of your way to Wikipedia.org to find a program for finding your Edit Count. Thus it is impossible to "accidentally" find out your Edit Count, thus you cannot claim you were banned for "accidentally" stumbling onto it.