YPPedia:Editors' Code of Conduct

From YPPedia

Editors are the lifeblood of YPPedia. They actively participate in the community by creating, expanding, updating, and discussing the content on YPPedia. Good editors will follow a high standard of behavior including the Code of Conduct outlined below.

Code of Conduct

Be ready to discuss things. YPPedia is a community editing project and there are often questions about everything from the source of information in articles to the visual look of templates. Remember to debate the ideas in a calm and respectful manner. The wiki, forum, and private messages are all appropriate places to have discussions on YPPedia issues. It is appropriate to politely ask administrators or other editors in game if they'd be willing to chat there on specific issues, but if they ask you to stick to the venue of the wiki/forum, respect their wishes and do not harangue them in game.

Be prepared to adhere to the decisions made by community consensus. While everyone has their own opinion and should voice them in discussions & voting, YPPedia is a community resource and as such is driven by community consensus. You might not always agree with the decided upon policies and decisions, but you should be follow them while continuing the discussion if you can think of an alternative or change that could be agreed upon.

Be sure that your content adheres to the rules of YPPedia. Do not use offensive language. Do not blank or otherwise vandalize articles. Do not submit copyrighted material without permission. Be familiar with and follow the policies and guidelines and YPP's terms of service.

Be understanding that responses from administrators and other editors may not be instant. Sometimes it can take hours or even days for people to respond to a question. While it is acceptable to make an occasional, short inquiry about the status of a particular discussion or request for feedback, do not make demands for immediate action. YPPedia is a volunteer effort and sometimes people are busy; you will need to be patient.

Be patient with other editors, especially new ones. In order to attract and expand our community of editors and readers, YPPedia needs to be a welcoming place where folks can get help in learning how they can contribute to this community resource. Try to be helpful without being intimidating. To this end, the following should always be considered:

  • Don't jump in to immediately change something that someone has just very recently edited. A general guideline would be to wait about 15 minutes after the last edit has been made. If you notice that a user is making a string of multiple edits, it would be good to wait even longer to let them finish without feeling sniped and getting confusing messages about edit conflicts. Also remember that it may take even longer for a new edit to appear if they are unfamiliar with wiki markup & formatting, but are using the preview button. The article will still be there for you to edit when they are done. If you have something important to point out to that user during their string of edits, leave a message on their talk page.
  • If the content of a page contains information, but is need of heavy clean-up and you haven't the time, don't just delete the content. Label it for clean-up.
  • Don't revert larger edits or remove large sections of articles without mentioning the reason for your actions. You can easily do this on the article's talk page or on the user's talk page. It is extremely disconcerting to spend time trying to help on the wiki only to have your efforts removed without a comment explaining things.
  • When leaving messages for other users, try to be clear, concise and polite. Unless it is a more involved discussion, there is no need to innundate a user with long monologues on a subject if a few sentences will convey the message just as well. Try to be friendly enough that the user will not feel shy about asking questions if there's something they don't know.
  • If you find that you haven't the patience to deal with someone, just let another editor or administrator work with them instead.