Tolkien Gateway:Policy

From Tolkien Gateway

Here are given some brief guidelines to Tolkien Gateway's policy. Common sense is taken for granted. A user ignoring the policy will be faced with a temporary or an indefinite block.

General guidelines[edit source]

  • Contribute what you know or are willing to learn about.
  • Be bold in updating pages.
  • Make omissions explicit.
  • Provide an edit summary.
  • Respect the admins' decisions.
  • Avoid making micro-edits. Take your time to improve several things at once, or leave systematic work to bots or admins.

Behavior guidelines[edit source]

  • Sign your posts on talk pages.
  • Avoid profanity.
  • No personal attacks (and move personal debates to private chat or email).
  • No legal threats.
  • Be accountable.
  • No offensive usernames.
  • Don't bite the newcomers.
  • Don't create articles about yourself.
  • Use your user pages appropriately.
  • Don't get into edit fights. If someone undid your edit, solve the matter in the Chat or the article's talkpage before making any other change.

Content guidelines[edit source]

  • Explain jargon.
  • State the obvious.
  • Cite sources: point the reader to authoritative references (and list them properly).
  • Verifiability: ensure information cited is verifiable if needed (this does not mean it is "official", rather it refers to others' ability to confirm it exists and is as stated).
  • Avoid statements that will date quickly.
  • Stay on topic.
  • Make articles useful for readers (and consider the audience in writing).
  • Check your facts.
  • Avoid weasel terms (disputed).
  • Avoid self-references.
  • Avoid POV phrases.
  • Avoid lengthy, separate summaries of movies and books.

Style guidelines[edit source]

  • Manual of style.
  • Don't include copies of primary sources.
  • Follow highlighting conventions.
  • Consider the context when making links.
  • Use subheadings sparingly.
  • Use short sentences and lists.
  • Avoid one-sentence paragraphs.
  • Do not use subpages.