Pokémon GO Wiki:Policies

On Project:About us, there are several policies to maintain order over the content and community of this project.

All users are expected to agree and follow these policies to ensure consistency in content and to protect existing contributions.

For any concerns regarding any of these policies, please consult an admin.

Not following accordingly to these policies and deliberate or constant avoiding or breaking them will result a temporal or permanent ban.

=FANDOM Policies= Our wiki project is part of FANDOM which has a couple of policies that apply o which apply across all FANDOM wiki projects including ours. The most important FANDOM Policies are:
 * Terms of Use
 * Privacy Policy
 * Licensing

More of these can be found on the Central Wikia at this category.

=General policies= Following policies apply everywhere on our wiki project.

Vandalism, vulgar language and linking to irrelevant websites are strictly prohibited
 * Be appropriate!

If your edits are being reverted persistently and you don't agree, please talk directly to the offendant, or consult an admin. Keep in mind that this wikia is opened for the public, and no editors will be punished for editing in good faith.
 * Avoid edit wars!

Editors should assume every contribution is made with good intentions, and fellow contributors are allies, not enemies. If editors disagree with an edit, they should approach the contributor via the comments or personal messages in a polite and civilized manner, and consult an administrator if assistance is required. Intimidating behavior is not tolerated at any time.
 * Assume Good Faith!

Editors must understand that everything contributed will become available to the public and credits will not be distributed. Therefore, no article edits shall be signed. Credits are only given in the history page of every page, where the list of contributors can be found.
 * This wikia is a public encyclopedia.

Communicating, discussing with members in other languages is fine. However, content in articles, forums and blogs must be in English.
 * This wiki caters to global build.

Pages are protected due to excessive vandalism, complete content of the page or complex coding. If you come across these pages, you will likely need to be registered user, wait for 4 days and make 10 edits to un-protected pages. If you still cannot make an edit, it is likely Administrators locked the page and you will need to contact them to edit.
 * Many pages are protected.

General guide to editing in, including introduction to Media and Article policies.
 * Apply to our styling guide.

Keep in mind our wiki project is strictly about Pokémon GO game and directly related products. Widespread referencing to other games and media of Pokémon franchise takes place on wiki projects such as Pokémon wiki or Bulbapedia.
 * Avoid off-topic content.

=Content Policies=

Article Policy
If there are new things being introduced in the game, then new pages have to be created.

Before creating a new page, editors must make sure that there are no existing page on the same subject already to prevent page duplication.

There are cases that more than one article on the same subject that are published simultaneously, causing page duplication. Currently this issue cannot be prevented. If editors encounter this issue, please be polite and consider merging the contents into one article.

Editors should maintain the content as detailed, accurate, formal and unbiased as possible, and there are things that should not be made into a page:
 * Blog Material: Personal opinions, page solely for tips and tricks etc. are for blogs.
 * Third Party Content: Articles must not advertise any third party websites or products but can have links to them if relative to the article. Example: a link to a CP calculator in the CP page. Otherwise will be considered spam, deleted or moderated under strict regulations.
 * Any page with irrelevant or vulgar content: They will be removed.

However, editors are free to create pages under their username: Special:Mypage/examplepage, for testing syntax, drafting edits etc.

Creating a New Page
To create a new page, navigate to the "Contribute" button at the top right corner of any page, and click "Add a Page".

The title must directly reflect the content of the page using a simple and formal format. For example, the Max Potion has the page Max Potion, notice the page title has the initials capitalize and the words correctly spaced. The same format applies to all articles in the Wiki.

Some articles require a namespace, such as categories, user pages and templates. To insert a namespace, simply type  for categories,   for user pages, and   for templates. Namespace should only be used when really necessary.

Subpages can be used when the content is directly associated with the root page, such as a tab of the root page or a sub division of a template. Subpages can be added by simply typing the following format:.

After selecting a title, select Blank Page as the layout used in pages of this Wikia does not match the default layout. Then edit in Source Mode to edit with full flexibility.

For information on how to style a page on a certain topic, please refer to the Page Styling section in the Styling Guide.

Categories
After publishing the new page, categories should be added for better overall organization in the Wiki. To add a category, there are several methods:
 * 1) by simply typing  in Source Mode
 * 2) by navigating to the Category box on the right in Visual Mode, and typing the appropriate category name.
 * 3) by adding a category to the "Category Bar" at the bottom of the published page.

To delete a category, editors can delete the appropriate source code, or navigate to the Category box on the right in Visual Mode and delete the category name by clicking the Trash icon.

Articles should be added to existing categories. Editors must make sure the category name is typed correctly before saving. Unless really necessary, new categories can be created by simply typing a new category name. But in most cases, this Wiki already consist all needed categories, therefore new category creation should be avoided.

Maintenance Templates
Some new pages are bounded to be incomplete, or even inappropriate. These templates serve as public service announcements and should be used on pages that requires readers or Administrators attention. For example: Inappropriate, duplicate and irrelevant content shall be Marked for Deletion; Incomplete content shall be marked as Article Stub or UpdateMe; Articles with bad formatting or grammar shall be marked for CleanUp, etc. All these templates are listed in the main article.

Renaming Articles
Articles have to be renamed to compensate changes in the game or incorrect namespace placement. Since this operation will cause serious consequence if not done correctly, this feature must not be used before consulting an Administrator.

Unless, however, if a new user personal page is placed in an incorrect namespace. Editors can move the page by renaming it with the correct namespace. To move the page to the correct namespace simply go to the Rename page by clicking the drop down menu next to the "Edit" button, then change the page's namespace with the drop down menu next to the title input box. Make sure to uncheck "Leave a redirect"  before completing the process.

Refining
Editors are encouraged to consult the Styling Guide for methods in using Source Mode, styling an article or anything that are not covered in this article.

Media Policy
Images and videos are always welcomed in this Wiki. This article consists of guidelines regarding everything about contributing media.


 * Watermarks. Watermarks are not for displaying image authors nor to advertise domains, images preferred without watermarking if possible.
 * Impersonal Captions. Please refrain from adding captions toward images/animations, image descriptions can be added after the image link if necessary.
 * Source Mode. Editing in Visual mode will create unnecessary formatting and ideally should be avoided.

Image guidelines
 Due to the wide variety of content required for this Wiki, such as blogs, pages, profiles, etc, editors are free to upload any kinds of pictures to the Wiki, and the rules regarding what to upload will not be strictly enforced. '''However, uploading vulgar, pornographic, copyrighted and otherwise illegal media is strictly prohibited. Offenders will be banned and their contributions deleted.'''
 * High Resolution Preferred. Good screenshots should be shown in detail.
 * .PNG format Preferred. .jpg and .jpeg files often become over excessively compressed or suffer from additional compressing within thumb tags.

Audio guidelines

 * Clear and Audible. Please avoid unnecessary noises such as sound effects, music or ambient noise.
 * .OGG Files. Wikia by default does not support other audio formats.

Audio files are uploaded in the same way that images are, and the wiki will automatically recognize it as an audio file and not a picture. Always refer to an admin before capturing or uploading any audio files to the wiki, and always check if the file does not already exist.

Audio files can be added using the code, similar to images as noted below. is used to remove the unnecessary "file info" icon.

Animation guidelines

 * Format. Wikia will accept both .gif and .ogv files, if a .gif is unable to fully display its contents or exceeds file size limitations, .ogv formatting will be preferred.
 * .ogv's will not render thumbnails but support VoD instead.

Before uploading
Editors are welcome to upload images for both content or showcase use. Apart from following the Basic Guidelines, editors must ensure that there are no existing pictures on the same subject already to prevent image duplication.

Every image uploaded should be added to the related page as soon as possible. Stray images with no page association will be marked for deletion as a warning and deleted shortly after.

Adding photos to the media section also requires an understanding of what the media section is for. It is to display relevant images to the content it is hosted on, usually in the form of user screenshots or official images. This section is not for content that is non-existent in the game, including fan art or concepts. Media sections of articles are also not to be used as 'fashion shows'; that is, uploading multiple versions of a similar photo in order to showcase different viewpoints or color combinations.

During upload
Editors can upload pictures and videos by clicking the Contribute button on the top right corner of any page. As stated in the Basic Guidelines, .png files are preferred for image files due to quality issues in image compression.

Naming Scheme
Editors are expected to name image file in a way to maintain consistency in content.

How to Contribute
Depending on the purpose of upload, media should be added to different part of the page.
 * If your uploaded media refers to a specific line of text in an article, make sure to add it next to the related text. These images are for informational and formal use only. Humor is not tolerated.
 * For any media that serves for showcasing or clarifying an article, make sure to add it in the Media section, which is often located at the bottom of the page.

If the uploaded media is to be added next to a line of text as part of the page's content, it should be noted that plain images are generally preferred over thumbnails. However thumbnails can be used if a caption is really necessary.

To add an image or a video, insert the following syntax in the appropriate area in Source mode after upload:
 * Note that the parameters  and   are used in thumbnails only, and should be omitted in most media.
 * defines the position, in which  and   can also be used.
 * defines the widths of the media, in which any number of pixels up to  can be used, depending on the page format.
 * If the height needed to be defined instead of widths, insert  in place of widths.

If too much media are added to a page, especially in the page's Media section, a slideshow should be used:

Please make sure to compact the page after adding the media by tweaking the position and the size.

For more details regarding galleries, please refer to the Community Central page.

These formatting rules apply to formal pages only. Editors are free to use any format in blogs, profile pages and any sort of personal pages.

Blog Policy
Creating Blogs is a great way to share your personal opinions, news and creations etc. to the community. Most styling rules can be disregarded when writing a blog as they are not considered as part of the formal content on. However, please do keep them clean and reader friendly.

Before deciding to create a blog, check out our Discussions page to see if your content would fit better there. General discussions designed to talk loosely about Pokémon GO do fit better on the Discussions page rather than in a blog format.

What To Blog

 * Personal Opinions. Freedom of speech shall be appreciated as long as they are relevant to the game and or the wikia.
 * News. Keep the community posted about news regarding Pokémon GO or Wikia!
 * Mechanics Research. Test data and results on any game mechanics are very much appreciated. They will be added to Category:Mechanics Research for future reference.
 * User Guides. Follow the instructions in this page.
 * Fan Creation. Fan fiction and art are all welcome.

What Not To Blog

 * General Questions. Look up the wiki for your answers first, blogging about questions which answers can be found in this wiki are not acceptable and should be asked in the Wiki Forum or the comment section of the page instead.
 * Multiple Blogging. Please refrain from blogging multiple times within a short period of time, as they can clog up the blog section. Ideally, users should not have more than two blogs visible at the same time, and serial blogging should be done with a delay of at least three days per entry or if the previous entry of the blog has been pushed into the next page of the blog section.
 * Pokémon GO Ideas. Ideas about new game content or changes should be put on the Pokémon GO Ideas board instead. However, suggestions for improvements to current systems can be accepted as long as they do not emphasize a 'new' idea.
 * Irrelevant Contents. The blog section is not a place to share your daily life experience, please keep the entry relevant to the game or the wiki.
 * Spam and vulgar content. Including blogs pertaining to trolling, or blogs designed to antagonize or harass users inside and outside the wiki. These blogs will be deleted and the author banned with no question asked.
 * Short Blogs. Any blogs that lack content are not acceptable.

Creating a New Blog
To create a blog, editors will need to navigate to the "Blog" tab in their personal profile, then click on "Create blog post". Then follow the guidelines to add a title, content and finally publish the blog.

Protected Pages policy
Administrators can protect and unprotect pages, including ones that do not exist. Protection of a page or image usually means that a non-admin cannot modify it.

The majority of pages on all Wikia should remain publicly editable, and not protected. Pages may, however, be temporarily or permanently protected for legal reasons (for example, license texts should not be changed) or in cases of extreme vandalism or edit warring or abusive re-creation.

Uses

 * Protecting highly vandalised pages, such as the Main Page on large wikis.
 * Maintaining the integrity of the site's logo and favicon.
 * Maintaining the integrity of key copyright and license pages.
 * Preventing repeatedly created vandal or spam pages from creation. See Special:Protectedtitles
 * Protecting the interface and system messages in the MediaWiki namespace (these are protected automatically)

A temporary protection is used for:
 * Enforcing a "cool down" period to stop an "edit war", upon request.
 * Protecting a page or image that has been a recent target of persistent vandalism or persistent edits by a banned user.

There is no need to protect personal .css and .js pages like user/monobook.css or user/cologneblue.js. Only the accounts associated with these pages (and admins) are able to edit them. (For more information on using these pages, see Help:User style)

Usage
Most pages and images are unprotected by default, only the site logo and favicons are automatically protected. You can protect editing, moving, or both by checking or unchecking the Unlock move permissions selection box.


 * (default) means any user, whether logged in or anonymous, can edit or move the page.
 * Block unregistered users, or semi-protected, means anonymous users and new accounts less than 4 days old cannot edit and/or move pages.
 * Sysops only, or fully-protected, means only administrators may edit and/or move the page.

Pages can also be cascade protected, this will cause all images, pages, or templates transcluded onto the page to be fully protected, even if the main article is only semi-protected.

Rules

 * 1) Do not protect a page you are involved in an edit dispute over. Admin powers are not editor privileges - admins should only act as servants to the user community at large.
 * 2) Avoid favoring one version of the article over another, unless one version is vandalism.
 * 3) Temporarily protected pages should not be left protected for very long.
 * 4) Talk pages and user talk pages are not protected except in extreme circumstances.
 * 5) The protection of a page on any particular version is not meant to express support for that version and requests should therefore not be made that the protected version be reverted to a different one.

=Community Policies=

Discussions Policy
This policy regards communication with other contributors across talk pages, comment sections, forums and message walls.


 * Talk Pages are used for discussing the page itself in terms for formatting, maintenance and any major changes that require administrators and editors attention. User's profile pages and message wall also belong in this category.


 * Comments are used for anything else, such as minor format suggestions, constructive criticisms and other interactions between contributors. They can be found on the bottom of any page.


 * They are both essential tools for communication in Wikia, please do not abuse them. They are actively moderated and all inappropriate comments are subjected for removal. Please do not spam, write in caps, insert inappropriate text or criticize in an intimidating manner.

Using Talk Page
The Talk Page can either be accessed via the "Talk" button beside the "Edit" button on pages that do not have a comment section available, or by typing "Talk:" before the page name in the URL, such as Talk:Pokémon GO Wiki. In there simply switch to Source Mode and type your suggestion/opinion below the existing text. After that, please sign your post by typing  at the end of your post, it will automatically produce your username and sign date upon publishing.

Chat Policy
As the chat is available to the entire Wikia community, its users are expected to follow basic guidelines in order to maintain the collective community. All users that are connected to the Pokémon GO Chat should abide by these rules:


 * Be Polite toward other users - Keeping the chat and personal messaging polite will make the chat overall more pleasant and more enjoyable for its users, keep it civil! In extreme cases this can result upon a chat warning, if persistent, a removal from the Chat.
 * Do not spam - Spamming and/or flooding is unnecessary and will result in warnings issued by Chat Moderators and Admins.
 * No Unicode stacking - Using excessively stacked text like zalgo is absolutely prohibited under any circumstances as it may cause browser crashing and major chat disturbance.
 * Caps lock - Please refrain from using exclusively block capitals within message strings.
 * Singular use of Whitespace/Tab/Breakline - Sending blank messages with either space or breakline exclusively is a direct attempt at disrupting chat and is prohibited.

Banning Policy
In order to keep clean and free from vandalism, administrators are given the task to moderate and ban any users who violate any rules stated in the policies. This article aims to introduce the different types of bans and guide moderators to initiate the proper ban in any given situation.

Ban settings: Due to the number of complains regarding shared IP addresses being blocked, moderators should avoid: Un-checking these two options should allow blocked users to voice their concerns and prevent any undesirable blockage from going unheard, though moderators can always make exceptions depending on the situation at hand.
 * Duration of ban.
 * Blocking users from creating accounts.
 * Block last and subsequent IP addresses used by the user.
 * Blocking users from posting on their Message Wall while blocked.
 * Blocking logged-in users from editing from a blocked IP address.


 * One warning will be issued: Registered users who violate policy for the first time will be contacted by an administrator via a Message Wall thread as a warning, and banned for minimal duration (typically two hours) for recording purposes. These users are more likely to be long term contributors. Issuing a warning beforehand should clarify any policies that the user may have missed.
 * Block at second offense: After a warning has been issued, any subsequent offences will be deemed intolerable. The length of the ban will be handled on a case by case basis, and further subsequent offences may prolong the ban duration.
 * Block at case by case: Under specific case by case circumstances where actions must be taken immediately, a ban may be issued without a warning.
 * Maximum infinite ban: If a moderator sees a user's presence jeopardizes the professional atmosphere of the wiki and should not be welcomed in the future, a ban with a duration of infinite can be issued.

In the case of emergency or serious incidents such as hacks or major vandalism, VSTF members can intervene and make final decisions on bans that may override the policies stated above.