Hero Wiki:Rules

The following is a list of some rules for this wiki. If you have suggestions about changing any of these rules, please start a discussion at the rules talk page.

What should be on this wiki
This wiki contains official information about the heroes of the fiction world. In the main namespace, users should only post information from the things the characters are in and from official sources.

Fan fiction and fan art
Do not post fan fiction or fan art on main namespace pages. (The "main namespace" means the regular wiki pages. It does not include user pages, blogs, etc.) This wiki is meant to be a resource of official information about the characters, and fan-made information would confuse matters.

Speculation
Generally, speculation is not allowed on the main pages of this wiki. There are a few places where we've made exceptions, but only for cases where the conclusion is logical. For the most part though, speculation is not appropriate, so don't add it.

Opinion
This wiki should be written from a neutral point of view. That means it should include facts, not personal opinions. For example, please do not write statements about what "some people think" on articles.

Where you can post unofficial content
You are allowed to post things like fan art, opinion, and speculation on your own user profile page, or on your user blog.

Keep in mind that we are trying to keep this wiki PG-rated, so please do not include articles about adult things (though they may be teen rated.). So any content that includes excessive adult language or explicit/offensive materials may be deleted by the wiki's admins, and, in particularly bad cases, uploading such material may result in the user being blocked.

User pages
Please do not edit other people's user profile pages. You may leave messages on user talk pages, but do not alter or delete messages from other people's user talk pages.

Note that administrators may edit your user page(s) if they contain things like incorrect categories, or incorrect use of templates, as these may cause errors visible elsewhere on the wiki.

You may delete things from your own user talk page, although you should only do so to archive your talk page if it's too big, or to fix things like vandalism or broken formatting. Be aware that if you have warnings against you on your talk page, deleting them doesn't really hide them, because anyone can see the past history of the page. So don't bother.

As always, remember to sign your messages on talk pages with four tildes ( ~ ) or by pressing the signature button.

Vandalism and bad edits
When fixing vandalism or bad edits, the best thing to do is look at the page's history by clicking the "History" link on your toolbar. If only the last edit was bad, click the "Undo" link next to it. If there are several bad edits, find the last good version of the page, go to the old version by clicking the date, then edit that version of the page to revert it.

If you can't figure out how to fix it, then leave a message with an admin, telling them about the problem.

After fixing vandalism, leave a (polite) message on the user's talk page. If they are acting in bad faith (purposefully trying to vandalize or harm the wiki), then add a message to their talk page describing what they did. When dealing with a vandal, leave a message with an admin, so they can block the user if necessary.

There's no need to respond to vandals with angry messages. Doing so just encourages them to vandalize more, because they are probably trying to provoke that kind of reaction.

Dealing with rules violations
Only admins can block users. The following are warnings and responses that admins may use against users who break the rules, policies, or code of conduct. They are listed from least serious to most serious:


 * 1) A polite first warning explaining what the user did wrong and asking them not to do it again.
 * 2) One or more additional warnings.
 * 3) Blocks of a duration of 1 to 7 days for minor violations, if the user has continued to break rules after receiving one or more warnings.
 * 4) Blocks of 1 to 4 weeks for more persistent violations and/or serious violations.
 * 5) Blocks of 1 or more months for numerous, persistent violations and/or very serious violations.
 * 6) Permanent blocking is usually reserved only for the following:
 * Users that engage in persistent, serious vandalism, especially if the account is used only for vandalism
 * Users who have come back from multiple temporary blocks in the past, but still continue to break the rules.
 * it is against the rules to create a new account to get around an existing ban. Such accounts should be blocked permanently, but only if it is known with certainty that the account is used by the same person who used a currently-blocked account.

Generally, if a user continues to break rules, they will incur progressively more serious punishments from this list. For minor violations, users might receive many warnings without necessarily being blocked. However, for very serious offenses, administrators can skip directly from a first warning to a long block. Admins can choose the response -- including block duration -- based upon their judgment of the severity of the violation.

Administrators should provide a clear explanation when performing any block. If a block is neither permanent nor for vandalism, the admin should leave a polite message on the user's talk page explaining why they were blocked and asking the user to return if they can follow the rules in the future.