Sonic News Network:Policy

This page contains the policies and guidelines by which users of Sonic News Network are expected to abide.

Sonic News Network generally follows the Community Guidelines. These are very broad guidelines, and include:
 * Be bold! Jump right in! Don't be scared to start editing, just hit the button and go!
 * Practice open-mindedness and assume good faith.
 * Be nice.
 * If you need help, just ask! (Our admins will be happy to help you.)
 * Don't feed the trolls. (No, really, don't.)
 * Don't bite the newcomers.
 * No personal attacks. No accusations, insults or threats. When you disagree, always comment on the edits, not the user.
 * Don't use profanity. Censoring vulgar words is not acceptable on the wiki either.
 * Have fun!

In addition to these, Sonic News Network has established some specific guidelines, which are set out below.

Style
The general rule regarding page style and layout is: go with whatever works and looks good. However, some styles, set out at Sonic News Network:Style, have been used effectively on the wiki and are a good place to start.

Using copied material
Because of the specific licenses held by Wikipedia and Wikia, it is acceptable to use information from Wikipedia or other Wikia wikis on Sonic News Network. However, any material that is taken from these websites must be accompanied by a link to the source page.

In particular, if any pages are completely copied from either Wikipedia or Mobius Encyclopaedia (the Archie Sonic Wiki), these pages must be tagged at the top with Template:enWP or Template:enME respectively. Such tags may only be removed once the page in question has been edited sufficiently that the majority of its text was created by Sonic News Network users. Even once after the tags have been removed, links to the original pages should be retained indefinitely.

It is not acceptable to plagiarize content from other websites or wikis.

Fan-made information

 * Fan-made information is tolerated, but must be confined to pages in userspace. Other pages will be deleted. When making an article for your fanfiction, fancharacter, or any other fanon article, you should place it within your own user page, or in a subpage of your user page. You can create a subpage by creating a page as normal at User:Username/CharacterName. For example, if User:Supermorff created a character named "Gordon the Gopher", it would be included at User:Supermorff/Gordon the Gopher.


 * Please only create fan pages in your own userspace (to signify your ownership of the page) or in a forum (to signify that it is open for editing by the community). Do not create fan pages in somebody else's userspace. Any fan pages found in the userspace of a non-existent user will be immediately deleted.


 * Fan character pages must not have any canon categories, which includes Category:Characters or any of its subcategories (such as Category:Hedgehogs). You may instead categorize your fanon articles in Category:Userspace, or its subcategories.


 * You may post fanart that you have created, but it must not appear in any canon or mainspace article. In particular, do not add fanart of your favourite character on that character's page. It will be swiftly removed. You may include fanart in userspace or in the forums, but also be aware that fanart not in use on any pages is likely to be deleted.


 * Fan pictures must be categorized in Category:User images and no other categories.


 * You may not link to your fan articles from mainspace pages, including redirects. If you wish to link to your fan article from another user page you should pipe-link as follows: Gordon the Gopher, which appears as: Gordon the Gopher.

Non-Sonic pages
This is primarily a Sonic wiki, but we permit a small number of non-Sonic characters to have pages. Such characters must have appeared in at least two games, two comic books, or two episodes of a television show in which Sonic was a main character. Cameo appearances do not qualify as appearances. This includes crossover games, comics, and television shows, but excludes those in which Sonic merely made cameo appearances.

Non-Sonic blogs
Blogs on this wiki must pertain to at least one of the following:
 * The Sonic the Hedgehog series and fandom.
 * The Sonic News Network or its users.
 * The video gaming industry.

Blogs which do not pertain to any of these will be deleted. Users wishing to discuss off-topic subjects are encouraged to use our chat feature.

Chat rules
The chat is a feature of the Sonic News Network in which users can socialize with one another in real time.

The chat's purpose is to give members of the Sonic News Network community a place to discuss freely, and users may discuss topics not relating to Sonic the Hedgehog or the wiki. It serves as a social hub and allows users get to know each other better.

The chat has its own set of guidelines that deviate from Sonic News Network's standard policy. For more information please see Sonic News Network:Chat policy.

Rumors and references
Sonic News Network is for official information from the Sonic series. Rumors are discouraged, and may be reverted. This may include unconfirmed details about upcoming games and products, which should not be added unless there is reliable evidence to support the claim.

If somebody has removed information you have added because they believe it is a rumor or otherwise incorrect, try to add a reference to back it up - copy and paste the url of the website where you read the information, for example. This allows other users to check the facts the same way you did. If the information is still removed, it may be because the source of the information is not reliable, in which case you should try to find another source.

You can add the reference in any way you like and other users will format it properly, but the best way is to use ref tags. To add a ref tag to an article, simply type. If you need help with this, see Help:Citing sources or ask an administrator.

Art

 * It is believed that official Sonic series artwork, as well as screenshots taken from official Sonic series material (such as games, TV shows, comic books, etc.) may be used on this wiki under the fair use doctrine of United States copyright law. As such, this permits the use of said artwork and screenshots on mainspace pages for encyclopedic purposes. The image description page should identify in all cases the source of the image, the subject of the image, and should be appropriately categorized in one of the sub-categories of Category:Images.


 * No duplicate images are permitted. If an image is uploaded that is a copy of another image already uploaded onto SNN, it may be deleted without warning.
 * However, if the uploaded image is used as a mean of an improved image of a previous one but in a different file format, it may be allowed but only after the low-quality image is removed from pages it is used on.


 * All images must be in use. Any image that is not posted onto at least one wiki page may be deleted without warning.
 * PNG-type images are not permitted to be uploaded if they exceed 4500x4500 pixels. Ignoring this leads to the image not being uploaded and creating a blank file.
 * Non-official or non-Sonic images do not fall under the fair use doctrine on Sonic News Network, as their subject is outside the scope of the wiki. Therefore any non-official or non-Sonic images must be accompanied by permission from the original artist before being uploaded, else they may be deleted. If you are the artist yourself, you must state this clearly on the image page.
 * Non-Sonic or meme-related images must not be uploaded for the sole purpose of being posted on blog comments or board threads. Instead, feel free to imagelink to versions of the image that have been uploaded on other sites, e.g. image databases or other wikis. Images uploaded for this purpose will be deleted.


 * Users are not allowed to edit any artwork done by another person. Once again, official artwork is allowed.


 * Users cannot use others' fan-characters without permission.


 * If a user does not know if he/she can edit or use someone else's artwork then permission needs to be asked. If you are not able to ask then you can seek an active admin.


 * Users cannot falsely claim the ownership of a drawing.


 * Artwork with vulgar or offensive content is not allowed.

Filenames
The Sonic News Network allows any user to upload images to the wiki. However, when uploading images, users must comply with certain image naming rules. Users may not upload any image with any of the following filenames:


 * Filenames starting with numbers
 * Filenames starting with "image" or "IMG"
 * Filenames starting with "pic"
 * Filenames starting with "thumbnail"
 * Filenames containing "tumblr"
 * Filenames starting with punctuation
 * Filenames starting with "DSC"
 * Single-character filenames

Signatures
Signatures are a method of signing one's name on various talk and discussion pages. You add a signature by typing out four tildes (~). Signatures can be customized using various wiki markup, and then pasted into the signature box in Special:Preferences.

Signatures are not to be used on the mainspace articles of the wiki. When creating a larger signature, sometimes there is an excessive amount of wiki markup used. When a signature reaches over three lines of wiki markup (not including the timestamp), the signature must be made into a template. These should be included in your own userspace as a subpage of your user page, i.e. User:Bullet Francisco would create his template at User:Bullet Francisco/Signature.

If you have a templated signature, you can add it to the custom signature box in Special:Preferences by using nosubst. That is, Bullet Francisco would type:

For more information on signatures, please see Help:Signatures.

Reverting edits
As a rule of thumb, you should ideally only revert once. Edit-warring occurs when several users revert or undo edits by each other multiple times. Edit-warring is not productive, and can lead to unnecessary conflict. It is imperative that you abstain from reverting the other user's edits if you have already reverted the edit once. If the other parties involved continue to revert your edits, you should be proactive and take the conflict to a talk page. Resolve the disagreement there. If users cannot agree in this way, they can bring in other users, particularly administrators, to arbitrate and/or add their own opinions.

Because edit-warring is disruptive to the wiki, administrators may temporarily block the users and/or lock the pages involved.

This rule only applies to edits done in good faith. This rule does not apply when reverting cases of vandalism, spam, or edits done to your own userpage. Always assume good faith when reverting edits made by other users.