User:Matthewfarenheit/Sandbox/Guidelines

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This page provides guidelines as to the conduct of Sysops, and the use of Sysop abilities. All Sysops are expected to follow the guidelines listed below, and not following these is considered misconduct.

These guidelines are the effective will of the community at this point in time. Modification of these Guidelines is expected as a part of the growth of this community. Those wishing to modify any part of this document should bring the matter into Policy Discussion. Consensus of the community is required in order to change these guidelines.

Owner Privilege

As owner of this wiki, Kevan is not required to follow any wiki Guidelines, and he has full carte blanche of any activity within the wiki. Further, Kevan retains the ability to promote and demote Sysops as he sees fit; assign or remove Sysop rights from anyone; overrule any Sysop promotion, no matter how much or how little support the prospective user may have; overrule any Sysop decision or ruling; and generally exercise complete and total authority over any wiki activity.

General Conduct

Sysops in general are provided with abilities beyond that of normal users on the expectation that they will be used to fulfill duties on the wiki that normal users are not capable of fulfilling. Sysops are not any "more worthy" than any other user, and sysops are not to use their status to create the impression that they are. Sysops are merely especially trusted wiki users, and are beholden to the community just as any other user is. For most actions on the wiki, a Sysop's word has no greater weight than any other user. As a wiki, for these actions, each user's voice has equal weight, regardless of his or her abilities. For any Sysop-specific actions, if a Sysop is found to have been in error, the processes of Sysop misconduct may be used to resolve the issue.

Sysops have to follow the next guidelines:

  • Despite having access to CheckUser, Sysops are still bound by the terms of the privacy policy.

Here we will make a difference between the two classes of Sysops: Those that posses Moderator status and those that do not:

As a rule of conduct, Sysops holding Moderator status have to follow the next guidelines:

  1. Moderators must keep their edits free of profanity. We define profanity in this policy as a word, expression, image, or other usage which is socially constructed as insulting, rude or vulgar, and was intended to look as that in its current context.
  2. Moderators must keep their language free of sexual remarks intended to be of explicit or insulting nature.
  3. Moderators must avoid to employ personal insults of any kind when stating their personal POV.
  4. Moderators must mantain a polite attitude at all times.
  5. Moderators must be willing to recuse themselves when the situation doesn't allow them to have an objective attitude.

In resume, a Moderator status holder must exercise civility and be of moderate behaviour. Sysops not holding Moderator status may not follow the guidelines above should they choose not to, but in turn their range of activities is narrowed compared of that of the Moderator.

Authority

As explained above, a Sysop word has no extra weight than that of normal users in most parts of the wiki, but in order to grant them the power of exercise their jurisprudence on Moderation pages, Sysops in general and Moderators in particular are granted with extra authorithy on these places.

Concerning Sysops in general:

  • As their abilities covering a wider range that do not posses Sysop status, Sysops are considered "more authoritative" than normal users in the sense that only Sysops can make decisions regarding Sysop-specific responsibilities, and only Sysops can definitively enforce some of the wiki policies.

Concerning only Moderators:

  • Moderators may overrule any ruling made by a Sysop and prevent further actions to be taken by non-Moderators on a dramatic issue, given that there's enough justificative to do so or that a non-Moderator has overstepped his powers by ruling on a case this guidelines forbide him to do so. Sysops not holding Moderator status can't overrule Moderator's decissions.
  • Moderators are also given the authority to make decisions regarding actions for which there is no governing policy in place. For example, should a particular action for which there is no policy be disputed, Moderators may exercise their best judgment to allow or deny it.
  • Past Moderator actions that are not explicitly governed by a policy may be used as precedent, but if a Moderator believes that the precedent should be ignored for some significant reason, he or she may do so.

Deletion and Undeletion of Pages

Deletion of pages is restricted to Sysops due to its permanent nature — deletions can't be reverted by normal users, and deleted images can't be reverted by anyone. The following guidelines outline when Sysops may delete pages.

Sysops may only delete a page in one of three instances:

  1. A page has been listed on UDWiki:Moderation/Speedy Deletions, and that page is eligible for Speedy Deletion according to the current guidelines for Speedy Deletions. Before serving the request, Sysops are expected to review the page to ensure its suitability for Speedy Deletion.
  2. A page has been listed on UDWiki:Moderation/Deletions, and that page has been deemed eligible for Deletion by the wiki community, in compliance with the rules of the Deletions page.
  3. A page has been created by a Sysop in the User namespace as a subpage of the Sysop's user page, no user other than the Sysop has made substantial contributions to the page, and the page is not required for any significant reason. In this case, the Sysop should make note of his or her deletion on UDWiki:Moderation/Speedy Deletions either before or after he or she has deleted the page.
  4. When acting in accordance with approved policies.

Except in the third instance listed above, a Sysop may not delete a page that he or she has requested be deleted. It is part of a Sysop's responsibility to check the Speedy Deletions and Deletions pages often and serve any pending requests, subject to the guidelines above, and review the moderator Page Deletions page often to ensure that Sysop user pages have been deleted properly.

The ability to undelete pages is restricted to Sysops, as normal users are limited to recreate pages. As such, in the case that a deleted page is in need to be restored, regular users can request the restoration through the Undeletions page. Sysops may only undelete pages that have been requested to be restored through this page, or that they themselves have deleted by mistake. The repeated recreation of deleted pages not going through the Undeletions page is to be treated as Vandalism.

In some circumstances, scheduled deletions may be required to avoid clogging the Deletions or Speedy Deletions pages. In this case, it is not expected that each deletion be requested through the Moderation pages. Instead, the schedule should be approved by the community at the Schedules section of UDWiki:Moderation/Deletions. Approved schedules are listed in the following subsection.

Scheduled Deletions

  • Unused Image Removal - Images on the Unused Image list that are a month old are to be deleted. Approved 11 Dec 2005
  • Image revision removal - Image revisions that are older than 7 days are to be removed. Approved 16 May 2006
  • Monumental Screw Ups - Pages in this form: with//////lots//////of//////slashes, and this one: http://wiki.urbandead.com/index.php/Example_monumental_screwup are unable to be moved or edited via normal means. Their content is to be manually moved to a sensible pagename without extraneous //s in its title and the original page is to be deleted on sight. Approved 23 August 2006

Protection of Pages

Protection of pages is restricted to Sysops due to the inherent nature of the action — protections would not be useful if regular users could protect and unprotect pages at will. The following guidelines are the rules that govern Sysop's actions in regards to page protection.

Sysops may only protect pages that users have requested be protected on UDWiki:Moderation/Protections, or (for a short period, and without the need for a protection request) high-visibility pages that are undergoing repeated vandalism or edit wars. Before a page is protected, it is expected that the Sysop will ensure that there is good reason for its protection — these include protracted edit wars, and constant vandalism by multiple users on a high-visibility page. Further, except in the instance of heavy vandalism mentioned above, Sysops may not protect a page that they themselves have requested be protected. It is part of a Sysop's responsibility to check these pages often and serve any pending requests, subject to the guidelines above.

In the event of protection, a Sysop is expected to protect the page in whatever state the page was in at the time the request is reviewed, regardless of its original state.

In some circumstances, protections on a scheduled basis may be required as part of a system on the wiki. In this case, it is not expected that each protection be requested through the Moderation pages. Instead, the schedule should be approved by the Community at the Schedules section of UDWiki:Moderation/Protections. Approved schedules are listed in the following Subsection.

Scheduled Protections

  • Suggestion Day Page Protection - Each Suggestion day vote page will be protected after its given voting period, and after the intro template has been replaced. Approved 11 Dec 2005.
  • Policy Discussion Protection - Polices on policy discussion for which voting has ended, and their talk pages, will be protected. Approved 23 Aug 2006.
  • Historical Groups Protection - Groups that are listed in Category:Historical Groups, and their talk pages. Approved 8 Sept 2006.
  • Suggestions Archives Protection - The suggestions archives of undecided, peer rejected (after voting for the days have closed) and the previous days archives. Approved 8 Sept 2006.
  • Banned Users Protection - Users who have been banned should have their user pages, user talk pages, and any subpages of their user pages or user talk pages protected for the duration of their bans. For example, a user banned for 24 hours would have his or her pages protected for 24 hours, and a user banned permanently would have his or her pages protected permanently. Approved 11 Sept 2006.

Edition of Protected Pages

As a subset of their Sysop powers, Sysops also have the ability to edit protected pages. Given that Sysops are the only users who can edit protected pages, it is expected that Sysops take care to edit protected pages only in good faith, and not without good reason. Sysops are explicitly given the right to edit a page that has been protected due to constant vandalism, and changes are necessary to revert the vandalism. Requests for a Sysop to edit a protected page should be placed under the Requested Edits heading on the protections page. Should the page have been protected in order to halt an edit war, only a Moderator will be able to edit it as long as it remains locked to normal user's input.

Unprotections

Any user may request on the protections page that a page be unprotected. If there is no longer a need for the page to be protected, a Sysop will then fulfill that request, with the only exception of pages protected due to ongoing edit wars: requests of unprotection of such pages may only be processed by a Moderator.

Moving of Pages

As a result of frequent page move vandalism, the 'move' permission on this wiki has been restricted to specific user groups (currently Sysops; this may change in the future). If a normal user wants to move a page, they will need to request that do so on the Move Requests page. All reasonable requests will be carried out by those who have the 'move' permission. Any user still able to move pages will not need to request another user move pages for them.

Warning and Banning of Users

Introduction

Warning and banning of users is restricted to Sysops due to security reasons — a conflict between two users could easily escalate to a constant ban war if such power were available to all users. It is expected that a Sysop will always try to look at a reported edit from the viewpoint that it is a good faith attempt to improve the wiki. Also, it is expected that a Sysop be prepared to reverse a warning/ban should the community desire it. It is part of a Sysop's responsibility to warn or ban any vandals they find on the wiki, subject to the guidelines below.

A Sysop may also choose to ban the IP of a user for the same duration that the user's account was banned, provided that the Sysop believes that the user is circumventing their account ban, or is planning to do so.

When a Sysop warns or bans an user, the action should be noted on the UDWiki:Moderation/Vandal Data page.

What is Considered Vandalism

Sysops may only warn or ban users who consistently vandalize the wiki. Vandalism is by definition an edit not made in a good-faith attempt to improve this wiki, and includes any actions which are defined to be vandalism by approved polices. Many examples of this can be found on UDWiki:Vandalism. Additionally, some pages may have specific rules as to their usage, and consistent and flagrant disregard for those rules may also be considered vandalism.

When a User May Be Warned or Banned

By Sysops in general

Sysops may ban a user when:

  1. The user is an alternate account of a vandal that is still under his/her ban period. Non-Moderator Sysops may ban a suspected alt account that has not commited vandalism by itself provided that CheckUser gives away information that supports the theory that it is in fact an alt account or the alt account publicly states his ownership by a banned user.
  2. The user is an adbot (a type of computer program used for automated edits such as the creation of pages/links with no legitimate purpose).
  3. The user has made at least 3 (three) edits, at least one of which is deemed clear cut vandalism as stated below, and none of which are deemed to be constructive or to the benefit of the majority of the wiki.

In those cases, an infinite ban with no warnings shall be administered. There's still one more situation where non-Moderator Sysops may warn/ban an user: If the user in question has commited clear cut vandalism, defined by this guidelines as actions that do not require significant interpretation to be considered vandalism, and is not included on the instances mentioned above. Clear cut vandalism is restricted to:

  • Blanking a page or an important section of a page not owned by oneself or a group one belongs to.
  • Editing a page not owned by oneself or a group one belongs to in bad faith, significantly changing it's content.
  • Moving a page not owned by oneself or a group one belongs to in bad faith.
  • Clear cut impersonation: making a comment signed with another user's username, or your own user's username when said username was deliberately made in order to resemble the one of another Wiki user. This does not include adding an unsigned comment before other user's signed one, as it is a frequent mistake made by new users and needs interpretation.
  • Editing a page in bad faith by adding malicious code into it in order to make proper visualization of it impossible or nearly impossible to achieve. This includes changing your preferences in order to make your signature page-breaking.

In this case the Sysop is entitled to warn/ban the user, subject to the Cycle of Warnings and Bannings. It's strongly advised to look at the edits in question in the light of good faith edits, and should the edits in question appear not to be bad faith, leave the issue to a Moderator. Non-Moderator Sysops can't rule over vandal cases subject to interpretation.

Sysops are specifically entitled to make their rulings effective even before a report is made on UDWiki:Moderation/Vandal Banning, as long as the report is placed on that page shortly thereafter by the Sysop or someone else. Furthermore, Sysops are specifically given the ability to both report and warn/ban a user themselves.

In the unlikely case that a Sysop bans a user without merit or without following the guidelines above, and a Misconduct case is filed against him or her, said Sysop may be banned for the same duration of time that the user was unfairly banned, should the ruling Moderator(s) on the misconduct case deem it necessary.

By Moderators in particular

In addition to their Sysop attributes, Moderators have a wider range of action in the Vandal Banning page, and they may aditionally warn/ban a user when:

  1. The user is an alternate account of a vandal that is still under his/her ban period. Moderators are not restricted to the limitations set for non-Moderators Sysops concerning these type of accounts, and may choose to ban the account under suspicion provided that there's enough evidence to pressume that the account is in fact an alt. In this case, an infinite ban with no warnings shall be administered.
  2. The user has made at least 3 (three) edits, at least one of which is deemed vandalism, not subject to the clear cut vandalism deffinition stated for non-Moderator Sysops, and none of which are deemed to be constructive or to the benefit of the majority of the wiki. As above, an infinite ban with no warnings shall be administered.
  3. A report has been filed through UDWiki:Moderation/Vandal Banning, and the user doesn't match any of the previous instances shown above. This kind of case is subject to the Cycle of Warnings and Bannings. It should be noted that, as the unbiased party he is, a Moderator is entitled to make a ruling should he believe the edit in question was made in bad faith even in cases that normally would be directed onto Arbitration. The Moderator should only direct users to Arbitration when there's an ongoing conflict with both parties on the vandal case but he believes no bad faith edits had been commited.
  4. When acting in accordance with approved policies. This kind of case may be treated as the case above, with as many escalations of the Cycle of Warnings and Bannings that the Moderator believe correct to apply.

Additionally, some users may be under limitations imposed by an Arbitrator according to the UDWiki:Moderation/Arbitration page. In that case, a violation of those limitations will be treated as vandalism subject to the same treatment as the third instance of Moderator's exclusive treatment vandal cases shown above while ignoring warnings, as per the UDWiki:Moderation/Arbitration page's rules.

Cycle of Warnings and Bannings

Where it is stated, Sysops are expected to warn/ban a user according to the following process:

The first action to be taken is to warn the user. A user must be warned at least twice (in response to at least two different reports) before a Sysop may administer the first ban. Warnings are to be placed on the talk page of the user's account and recorded on the vandal data page. To promote users to reform and become good contributors to this Wiki, a single warning can be struck out for every 250 good-faith edits the warned user makes, provided that two months have passed since the user's last infraction. No ban shall be delivered if the user has less than two standing warnings on his or her record on the vandal data page, even if he or she has been banned before.

If the user is still found vandalizing this Wiki and his or her two warnings still stand, the Sysop then may ban the user. The bans shall be escalating in nature, the first being for 24 hours, the second being for 48 hours, the third being for one week, the fourth being for one month, the fifth being for one year, and the sixth and last ban being infinite.

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