MarioWiki:Courtesy: Difference between revisions

The Super Mario Wiki is a collaboration between hundreds of users, all of whom are expected to exercise common courtesy when editing and interacting with other members of the community. Rude, intrusive or disruptive behavior makes editing unpleasant for other users and will not be tolerated.

If you were given a warning/reminder for discourteous behavior that you feel should have only merited an unofficial notice as outlined above, you can [[MarioWiki:Appeals|appeal]] to have the template removed. However, keep in mind that excessive impolite or disruptive behavior may earn you a warning right off the bat; if the administrators feel that you should have known better than to act the way you did even without an unofficial request to stop, your warning will not be removed.

The list of behaviors that are considered discourteous and unacceptable on this wiki are as follows. While some offenses are straightforward, others require lengthy explanation. Similar or related offenses are usually clustered together. If you have witnessed behavior that is not listed here or on [[MarioWiki:Warning policy]] that you feel is rude, invasive or disruptive, please contact an administrator or a patroller before proceeding with any punitive action.

*:If someone reverted a bunch of your edits, they're doing it because they felt there was a problem with your changes, not because they are maliciously stalking you. If they did not explain themselves in any of their edit summaries, you can contact them and ask why they reverted your edits, but don't be defensive or hostile about it. Instead, discuss the matter civilly and come to an agreement on the talk pages, be that to restore your edits, leave their reversions or make a compromise of some sort. Do ''not'' simply restore your edits and expect the other user to leave them alone this time, as that can easily spiral into an edit war, which is a warnable offense.

*:There is no need to be nasty when you undo an edit or clean up someone else's work. For example, if you're fixing someone's bad grammar, just say "fixing grammar" or "bad grammar", but don't make snide remarks like "what the heck are you trying to say?" or "learn to write better". Insulting, ridiculing or otherwise antagonizing other users with your edit summaries is almost as inappropriate as flaming them directly. ''Don't do it.''

*:The only comments you are allowed to remove are flames and acts of vandalism, and the only times you can alter another user's comment is to fix broken coding or replace a custom signature with {{tem|user}} on pages which enforce the [[MarioWiki:No-signature policy|no-signature policy]]. Altering the actual content of a comment, even if you're just fixing typos, is a warnable offense. This is not limited to mainspace: even on your own talk page, you shouldn't delete a conversation. It is also inappropriate to go back and alter or remove your own comments from talk pages; if you no longer stand by something you said earlier, slash it out using <nowiki><s></s></nowiki> or <nowiki><del></del></nowiki>, but be sure to leave it up for the record. In proposals and FA nominations, if no one has "per"d your vote or addressed it in the comments, you may remove it; however, if someone ''has'' referred to your vote, you must slash it out and ensure that it is no longer counted in the tally by affixing it to the preceding line through use of <nowiki><br></nowiki>.

*:Making friends is good, but don't go claiming to be someone's friend unless there's actually grounds for it, because this will only get them mad at you. Unless you have someone's permission, don't add their friend userbox to your userbox tower or create a fake box on their behalf. Writing about someone behind their back on your user page is also considered rude, and lying to others about your status as a certain user's friend is another good way to get yourself in hot water. Don't speak on others' behalf or claim that you have friends in high places that will support you in an argument: if anything, this will make admins unwilling to side with you at all.

*:While some users freely share details about things like their name, age and where they live, others are more private. It is considered bad form to ask others about what they look like or fish for other information that could be used to identify them offline. While casual conversations often involve chatting about real life matters, if someone implies they do not want to talk about something, ''drop the subject''.

*:Do not ask other users to vote for anything, period. While this is mainly directed at proposals, it applies to FAs, elections and any other voting that takes place on the Super Mario Wiki. Even if you don't explicitly ask your friends to support your cause (or to join you in opposing something), simply contacting them makes it look like you're fishing for votes in your favor. The only time you ''can'' draw someone's attention to a vote is when a proposal concerns a subject that is important to them. Far from an act of discourtesy, giving them a heads-up about some possible changes being made to that subject would be a very considerate thing to do. Furthermore, if the validity or rationale behind someone's vote is being questioned, you can contact the voter and ask them to check back in on the matter, which may result in them changing their vote.

*:If it's ancient history, don't bring it up again: the user has moved on, and so should you. While a user's record should not be forgotten, how they act now is more important than what they were like a few years ago, and focusing on problems they have since outgrown does no one any good.

*'''insert themselves into disciplinary measures being taken by the admins.'''

*:If an admin has issued a warning or reminder, or the user has been blocked, don't jump in with your own commentary, jeering or posturing: being ganged up on may simply make the offender feel victimized and unwilling to obey the admin's warning. Similarly, if a user is blocked, don't post about their block on their talk page, whether it be with advice or in celebration of their "defeat". There's no need to rub in the fact that they're blocked, and this can just add motivation for them to sockpuppet to try to return faster, work around their block, and/or get some payback on the community that treated them so poorly. Getting yourself involved when the admins have it covered just makes their jobs harder: if they're on the scene, stay out of it. If the user hasn't been blocked indefinitely, unless it's a question relating to mainspace and other wiki matters, you can wait for them to return ''before'' posting something.

*'''forgo the usage of proper grammar, punctuation, spelling and capitalization when communicating with other users.'''{{anchor|Grammar}}

*:If you're chatting with your buddies, you can be as lazy with your writing conventions as you want, but when you participate in proposals or talk page discussions, or when you ask someone (especially an admin) a wiki-related question on their talk page, you must use proper English (although short-forms and common slang are fine). Users should not be forced to decipher what is being said to them in order to follow important talk page discussions or proposals. Non-native English speakers should be given more leniency with grammar and wording, although they are expected to be able to use basic punctuation and capitalization.

*:While most of the ''Mario'' series is light and innocent, articles occasionally discuss content that some users find disagreeable, such as transgenderism, homosexuality, religion and the use of profanity in quotes. ''Under no circumstances'' will users be allowed to remove or otherwise suppress material of this nature: the Super Mario Wiki is an encyclopedia and will ''not'' censor its information. In most cases, there have already been repeated attempts to remove the content, and reopening these debates is frowned upon as being futile, disruptive and even offensive. If you can't handle certain subject matter being professionally addressed on the wiki, that's your problem, not ours.