User:Gaia Octavia Agrippa/Adoption/Basic policies
 | This is a lesson for User:Gaia Octavia Agrippa's adoption program. You are welcome to edit this page if you notice any errors or have any additional information to add, but as a courtesy, please notify Gaia Octavia Agrippa if you make any major changes to avoid any possible confusion between her and her adoptee(s). Thanks! |  |
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Policies are basically the same as rules. However, wikipedia uses a different term for them, so we will too.
- Being rude, insensitive or petty makes people upset and stops Wikipedia from working well. Try to discourage others from being uncivil, and be careful to avoid offending people unintentionally. Mediation is available if needed.
- Most editing decisions are made by a continually evolving rough consensus among editors. The first step to resolving any dispute is to talk to those who disagree with you. If that fails, there are more structured forms of discussion available.
- If someone challenges your edits, discuss it with them and seek a compromise, or seek dispute resolution. Do not just fight over competing views and versions.
- Do not make personal attacks anywhere in Wikipedia. Comment on content, not on the contributor. Personal attacks damage the community and deter editors. Nobody likes abuse. Aside from being annoying, harassment is one of the two quickest ways to get your account blocked.
- Vandalism is any addition, deletion, or change to content made in a deliberate attempt to compromise the integrity of the encyclopedia. It is inappropriate behavior for an online encyclopedia.
- Generally, article naming should give priority to what the majority of English speakers worldwide would most easily recognize, with a reasonable minimum of uncertainty, while at the same time making linking to those articles easy and second nature. A good way to determine the appropriate name of an article is to ask yourself, "When searching for my article or subject, what are the majority of people going to search for?" The exception to this rule is if a common name is used to describe multiple, separate things.
- Ex. With an animal article, many animals are known by the same name, so you would instead use the scientific name."
- Everything that our readers can see, including templates, categories and portals, should be written from a Neutral Point of View. This means do not support any point of view, positive or negative. Hitler may have been a monster, but there are still groups who think of him as a god. So even if it's the point of view of the majority to call him a monster, its still a point of view, and cannot be added to the article.
- Original research is defined as any research that is not published in a reliable publication. A good rule of thumb: If you can't find a source, don't post it. Blogs are not reliable.
- Wikipedia has no tolerance for copyright violations in our encyclopedia, and we actively strive to find and remove any violations. If you didn't write it, don't post it.