User:Triogenix/Sandbox 3

This thread is a comprehensive and definitive collection of the procedures and regulations of the wiki team, and the wiki itself. It outlines the expectations and responsibilities of wiki maintainers and the Head Wiki Maint. It includes “how-to” guides on wiki development, and wiki moderation. It also includes a code of conduct, staffing procedures, and an explanation of the powers and responsibilities of the wiki team and it's head. 

Disclaimer: All previous rules not contained within this thread are null and void, and anything in this thread which contradict previous policy supersede those previous policies. Any additions or edits to this thread will be announced to the whole wiki team.

THE LICENSE - YOUR RIGHTS AS A WRITER

All work written after 13 August 2019 for the server is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. The license only applies to text as it is written. Ideas, names, and concepts are not subject to copyright. 

Full license of CC BY-SA 4.0 can be found here: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode

Simplified summary can be found here: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

All work which is written for use by the server is licensed under this.

THE WIKI TEAM HIERARCHY AND STAFFING

The head of the Wiki Development Team is the Loremaster, sometimes referred to as the LoreTeam Administration. The current Loremaster is CAELPHON.

Under the management of the Loremaster are the Wiki Maintainers, sometimes referred to as Wiki Maints. This position makes up the majority of the Wiki Development Team, and all Wiki Maintainers are equal underneath the Loremaster. There is no deputy position that is above other Wiki Maintainers, only the position of Loremaster.

Rules and Regulations

THE WIKI

The wiki is an invaluable resource for educating the playerbase, old or new, about the mechanics of our server. This ranges from the recipes for medical chemistry, to guides on how to set up the Supermatter and Tesla. Keeping these pages updated is important to ensure all players regardless of connectivity to the community have access to the necessary information to adequately perform their roles in game, without having to rely on asking questions in the discords. Still, it is a place that is shared between three seperate teams, that being the wiki team, the lore team, and the CCIA team, who all have their own pages on the wiki. The lore team obviously focuses on lore pages, the CCIA team focuses on regulations and standard procedures, and the wiki team focuses on everything else. While there is some cross over, due to separate staff structures this crossover is kept to a minimum.

WIKI RULES

THE FOLLOWING RULES APPLY TO EVERY PAGE AND ADDITION MADE TO THE WIKI BY ANY DEPARTMENT OR PERSON. IT IS THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE WIKI MAINTAINCE TEAM TO ENSURE THESE RULES ARE FOLLOWED.

An example of a poorly formatted and aesthetically displeasing page.

• All content on the wiki must be in English, and use proper grammar in order to be readable. It is acceptable to use either American or British spellings. Any content not in English is subject to deletion by the Wiki Maintaince team.

• Mentioning reproductive organs, namely genitals, is forbidden.

• Pages must be easily readable and aesthetically pleasing. Templates and Images should not intrude on text, or look badly placed. Section headings and subheadings should be ordered properly and not be done randomly.

• Information must be put on the proper page. The Wiki Team is responsible for ensuring information, outside of lore, is placed on the proper page. They may move information to non-lore pages without prior authorization from the relevant department or maintainer.

• All pages must be categorized upon creation, save for pages such as this one and the Lore Team Rules and Regulations, which may remain uncategorized. Uncategorized pages created after Jan. 15th 2023 are, subject to deletion until they are properly categorized when recreated. Categorizing pages created prior to Jan. 15th 2023 is the responsibility of the Wiki Team.

• All edits and deletions should have reasoning provided with them in the relevant box, to provide information to future wiki users. This does not apply to minor edits.

• Pages must not exceed a limit of 200,000 bytes in size to keep them from becoming excessively long. Pages with many pictures can be exempted from this rule by the Loremaster, and pages exempted will be added as a footnote to this rule.

• Pages must not be orphaned, meaning not linked anywhere on the wiki besides when searched for, save for Rules and Regulations pages such as this one.

• Pages that have gone for a period of longer than 6 MONTHS with the WIP or Outdated status are subject to deletion by the wiki team. Exemptions from this rule can be granted by the Lore Team Administration. Currently exempted pages are:
  • ATLAS, GAIA.

• Pages that have gone for a period of longer than 1 YEAR without significant update are subject to deletion by the wiki team. All Lore Pages and Regulations pages are exempt from this rule.

WIKI MAINTAINICE RULES

THE FOLLOWING RULES APPLY TO WIKI MAINTAINERS AND THE HEAD WIKI MAINTAINER ONLY.

• Only create content and pages within your jurisdiction. Maintainers should only create content within their area of responsibility. This area of responsibility is limited to guides, mechanics, and OOC information. Additions do not need to be approved by the Loremaster, but the Loremaster reserves the right to rollback any additions at any time with proper reasoning. EXCEPTION: Any additions that would change or create policy for moderation actions, or other OOC staff actions must first be approved by the Loremaster AND both Head-Admins before being added. Failure to acquire this approval will result in an immediate rollback of additions and possible disciplinary action.

• Wiki Maintainers have the authority to make aesthetic or minor edits to pages outside of their jurisdiction without prior approval from the relevant department responsible for the page. These edits cannot add or remove content from the page. Consistency must also be maintained between pages; any aesthetic changes cannot break the consistency between a page and its fellows. Examples of minor and aesthetic edits are; Fixing spelling mistakes, ensuring pages are properly categorized, adding banners to pages that require it, edits to make a page comply with wiki-style rules, and moving pictures or templates around to make a better reading experience.
  • As part of this authority, the aesthetic of all templates falls under the responsibility of the Wiki Team.
  • While this authority does not require input from relevant departments, maintainers should reach out to the relevant department whenever possible to coordinate with them to ensure smooth transitions and staff interactions.

• Maintain consistency between the game and information on the wiki. Pages should be updated to reflect changes in mechanics, OOC information, and additions made by contributors, developers, or other coders. This should be done within a reasonable timeframe, preferably as quickly as possible. 

• Coordinate with fellow maintainers. If another maintainer is working on updating a page, do not do it yourself and then publish a different page than theirs. The Loremaster has the responsibility of organizing writers and maintaining some form of document accessible to the entire team that shows which maintainers are currently working on what page.

• Keep the Wiki clean. Avoid the WIP and Outdated status on pages. Any pages that are writing in progress or outdated for substantial periods without active development should be deleted, or the relevant department alerted of the impending deletion unless the page is updated. This deletion policy also applies to unused images, templates, and pages. Set deadlines for yourself to complete in-progress or outdated pages in a timely fashion and communicate these to others to avoid deletion. All deletions of wiki pages must first be approved by the Loremaster. Currently, the time before deletion should be considered on a WIP or outdated page is: 6 MONTHS.

• Avoid superfluous pages. If a page you are creating is sufficiently small enough, please cannibalize it into any relevant pages to enhance the ease of navigating the wiki. Only create a new page if the information it contains is substantial enough in size to not be acceptable on another relevant page. As a general best practice, avoid writing content that is not relevant to the game.

• The Loremaster reserves the right to curate wiki content. If pages are sufficiently unnecessary, underused, or do not contribute to the wiki they may be subject to moderation such as edits, additions, changes, and deletions. None of these actions will occur without prior notice and discussion of alternatives with the relevant department or maintainer. 

WIKI TEAM EXPECTATIONS AND STAFFING

WIKI MAINTAINERS

Wiki maintainers make up the majority of the wiki team, working underneath the head wiki maintainer. Maintainers do not have a specific area of work and may volunteer or be assigned to any area. Maintainers are appointed by the Loremaster through the developer application process. Maintainers are expected to be active in both terms of wiki work and server play. They are expected to maintain consistency between their pages, and workflow. They are expected to follow the rules laid out in the “How-to” guides above. Maintainers are also expected to coordinate with their fellows in projects and to uphold the code of conduct in their interactions with each other, their fellow staff, and the community. They are expected to quickly merge requests in the moderation queue, and communicate with their fellows about edits, merges, and any other wiki work they do. Should disciplinary measures be needed against a wiki maintainer, the Loremaster will dish out the punishment.

CODE OF CONDUCT

• All members of wiki team are expected to maintain property civility and respect to their team members, fellow staff, and the community. Insults, harassment, or hate speech to any members of the community may be subject to disciplinary action. Hate speech particularly will most likely result in termination. As members of staff, the wiki team is expected to be an example of good behavior to the community, and ideally, even to other staff. Observing decorum, whether in public or debating fellow team members in staff channels or private messages, is a requirement for continued participation in wiki team. 

• All members of wiki team are expected to be active. Activity requirements are to be met in a composite of interaction with the community and fellow staff on discord, the forums, or the server. Large lapses of on-server play may be forgiven if there is a sufficient amount of lore writing and community interaction. Inactivity is determined at the discretion of head wiki maintainer, however unless a team member has ghosted from server play for months of time and has not maintained any significant community or team interaction, a member will generally be considered active enough. The head wiki maintainer is additionally forbidden from considering activity greater or equal to their own as inactivity.

• All leaves must be preceded with prior notice to wiki team. If a team member is going on leave they must notify the wiki team, as well as ping or private message head wiki maintainer(or head developer, if the person going on leave is the head wiki maint) with notice. Explanations for going on leave are not required, however a general estimate on when a leave is ending must be provided if available. If a wiki maintainer goes on leave their duties are handled by the head wiki maintainer unless otherwise delegated. If the head wiki maintainer goes on leave, the wiki maintainers through a voting system will make decisions as a group.

• All resignations must take place by informing the head wiki maintainer. The head wiki maintainer must be informed of any opening vacancies in order to manage workflow and projects assigned to the resigning maintainer. A general best practice is for the head wiki maintainer to conduct exit interviews with resigning team members in order to gain insight into the issues affecting the wiki team. PLEASE STOP RESIGNING WITHOUT SAYING ANYTHING TO ANYONE.

• All procedures and regulations outlined in this thread must be followed. Failing to follow wiki team procedures and regulations may incur disciplinary action, even if as a result of ignorance. 

• If the loremaster and wiki maintainer are in a dispute over code of conduct or procedure, the deputy loremaster will mediate the dispute and take any relevant disciplinary action. In the event of a dispute over code of conduct or procedure between a wiki maintainer and a member of another staff team, the loremaster and relevant head will mediate the dispute and take any relevant disciplinary action. Staff complaints still maintain their full functionality, and this procedure does not infringe upon the rights of team members to file a complaint.

DISCIPLINARY ACTIONS AND PROCEDURE

WARNINGS

A warning is a written notice from the Loremaster to a wiki maintainer requesting a behavioral or procedural correction. All warnings are confidential and may only be discussed with relevant parties, such as the heads of staff teams, injured parties, or relevant maintainers. All warnings are logged by the Loremaster along with the date the warning took place and a brief description of why the warning was given. Older warnings will be weighed less when deciding future disciplinary actions. A “Final Warning” may be issued for violations that are significant enough to warrant termination, but where the Loremaster would prefer to work with the wiki maintainer to return to good standing. A final warning is not required for termination, and there is no minimum or maximum amount of warnings a wiki maintainer can receive prior to termination. The usage of warnings is at the head wiki maintainer's discretion. Warnings are assigned by the Loremaster.

TERMINATIONS

Terminations are the last resort of disciplinary action and are the removal of a wiki team member from the wiki team against their will. Unless a wiki team member has received a permanent ban from the server or has committed a particularly egregious code of conduct offense, warnings will be issued before resorting to termination. Terminations will be announced to the staff team but will be announced as resignations to the wider public community. This is to prevent “dogpiling” or public ridicule from the wider community while keeping fellow staff informed of misconduct. In most cases, a wiki team member will be asked if they wish to resign before a termination is issued, especially in the case of inactive team members. Termination is not a permanent ban from involvement in the wiki team nor from reapplying to the wiki team in the future. However, past terminations and warnings will be taken into consideration when former wiki team members apply for positions.

MISCELLANEOUS

In the event of any situation which is currently not covered by these rules, use your best judgment to ascertain the spirit of the law. Never be afraid to ask the head wiki maintainer for guidance in any situation where you are unsure about the applicability of the rules and regulations, or code of conduct.