Mapperdonian Handbook

Welcome to The Alternate Future of Europe(s) Wikia! This handbook will help you out in getting involved in the community. It will also provide you some tips if you are in a complicated situation. If you still need help after reading this, see FAQ Page. Otherwise, feel free to contact any of the staff members if you have any questions or concerns. If you have any suggestions, feel free to post them in the comments below.
If you are found violating the rules, please note that you are responsible for your justified actions. If you have been banned for whatever reason, you deserved it. Ignorance or a joke is no excuse to justify your actions.
Please note that this guidebook can be edited at any given time without further notification. It is your responsibility to keep up with the rules, Terms of Use, and the Guidebook.
For information about the rules, see here.
===What do I if someone is breaking the rules?===
Make sure when you are reporting a problem to the staff members, report it to the any staff members, make sure you include proof (Screenshots or videos) that shows a user is violating the rules. The request will be denied if there is not enough sufficient proof. If you do not know how to take screenshots, see here.
It is your responsibility as a bystander to help make the wiki a better place than before.
===Someone is insulting/harassing me. What do I do?===
If you feel the insult/harassment is violating the rules, feel free to report it to the staff members. Do not ever insult back at the user who is insulting you or you may be punished for your actions. Ignore the user and don’t give them a reason to respond.
===What do I do if I see an alt/sockpuppet?===
Alt/Sockpuppets are secondary accounts. In order for the staff to ban alts/sock puppets, sufficient proof is required. Do not accuse the user as an alt as not every new user is an alt/sockpuppet. Most alts/sock puppets exist to troll users on the community. Therefore, do not respond to them as it feeds them something to respond to. Gather as much proof as you can and report it to the staff when necessary.
If you are sure that the user is an alt, it is best to ignore the alt at all costs. Most alts are looking for attention; it is best to not feed the alt at all costs. This will bore the alt to death and the alt will leave if they are not getting attention.
===How do I know if I have a valid reason to post an another Wikia in the chat?===
If you are just posting an image on another Wikia, that is considered a valid reason. If you are posting an another Wikia for one specific person or a group, you may PM them. Do not post Wikias solely for advertising and demoralization. Inability to add a reason for your linking an another Wikia is also considered invalid.
===Why am I not allowed to speak in another language in the chat?===
Although there are a few exceptions such as “Ja”, “Nein”, this Wikia is an English Wikia and it should remain that way. Posting in another language creates misunderstanding among the users in the chat which ruins the experience in the chat.
===I’ve been banned. What can I do?===
Unfortunately if you have been banned for a valid reason, you will have to wait for your ban duration to expire. Avoiding a block may result in a longer ban duration. Do not create another account in attempt to bypass the block or start threatening staff members.. If you feel you have been banned wrongly, see the next section.
===I have been banned wrongly, how do I submit a ban appeal?===
Please note that you are responsible for your actions and that the staff will ban users with a valid reason. Remember, using this Wikia is a privilege, not a right. If you feel you have been banned wrongly, you should leave a message on the staff member who initialized the ban. Do not insult/harass the staff member. Please provide sufficient reasons and evidence why you should be unbanned. Ignorance or seeing others doing it is not a valid reason for a ban appeal. If you see another user violating the rules, please refer back to section 1.1. 
===Why was I kicked from the chat?===
If you are found violating the rules, your actions are justified. Please note that these kicks are considered warnings. If you are kicked when you didn’t do anything, you were likely kicked for being away. Please note that being away isn’t against the rules; however, it is a duty that staff members do. You don’t need to worry about being banned for being away.
Being kicked by staff is used to ensure that there will be less lag in the chat.
===Why am I on a ban list in map games?===
If you are found banned in map games that you have or have not played in, you have probably done something wrong. There are numerous ways to get banned from map games. The two most prominent reasons are not doing your turns multiple times or being too overpowered to other players. If you are not allowed to join other map games, do not make a big deal about it. If you have questions or concerns, feel free to contact the host of the map game.
===Why am I being banned for being in a Union?===
While Unions are fine (for now) on the Wikia, there are numerous ways to be banned for being in one. If a member of one union offends the other user, there will be a ban. Any inter-union war will result in the instigators banned and every union at the present will be dismantled.
===I see a page that contains lack of content. What can I do?===
You can always add content to the stub to improve the page. Otherwise you can add
{{stub}} 
If the page in in a specific topic, put a slash after the "Stub" to see different prefixes of the stub template. If one of the topics that are in stub form match the topic of the page, click it, and the stub template will be added with the stub describing the topic of the page, letting editors know that this page is a stub in a certain topic.
However, if the page is violating the rules or Terms of Use(Link) or it contains invalid content, then you may add a deletion template to it with the code.
 {{Delete|Timedate = Month/Year}} 
If the page has a error that doesn't match the above, you can visit this category for the other message boxes.
===I see a category that doesn’t match the content===
As users on this Wikia, we have the privilege to edit pages. As long as your privileges are not taken away, you may remove the category that is not needed and make sure you add an appropriate reason. If you feel a category was removed wrongly, you may add it back but make sure there is a reason to do so. If there is no reason that states why a category is removed, ask the user who removed it before adding it back. If one cannot come to an agreement, contact the staff members and they will decide whether or not that category stays.
===What if I see someone vandalizing pages?===
If it is obvious that someone is vandalizing pages, please report it to the [staff members]. In addition, revert all edits done by the vandal. If a staff member cannot be reached, you may report it to VSTF Wikia.
If the category being added is reasonable, that category is free to exist. Please note that categories are case-sensitive. Do not add a duplicated category that means the same thing. (Ex. Mapping Series and Mapping series). For Nations category, if you are planning to add categories such as Nations_in_Europe(Name), Nations_in_Asia(Name), it is better to just leave it as Nations (Name). This has been done to reduce the large amount of categories on a nation page.
In addition, an Official Nation cannot be called a FuNation or Secondary Nation. The cycle repeats. (ex. Secondary Nation cannot be a FuNation or Official Nation)
===Spam===
The definition of spam on this Wikia involves: Bumping Old Threads without a valid reason, Posting “k” or “first” or anything else that is not related to the article/blog/pages, constantly posting the same message over and over again. Advertising sites that contains phishing content also falls into this category.
Making pages not relevant to Mapping, Mapperdonia, or Mapperdonian Culture (Map Games, Contests, etc.) can be considered spam, as well as redundant/unneeded pages. Making a page just for your own map is unneeded, egocentric, and considered spam. Maps you've made belong on Maps for Mappers or an appropriate sub-page.
Blog posts are more loose, but also shouldn't be too off-topic. Blog posts about something happening in your life are OK, but one just filled with memes without context is not. Blog posts are more up to the discretion of admins on a case by case basis. Any blog post about you or another mapper leaving the community, however, is against the rules and will be deleted.
===Constructive Content===
Please do not create pages and then leave it blank or one sentence. When creating pages, please make sure to add as much as detail as possible as well as links related to the content.
Please do not post a comment on a page, blog, article and etc that does not have any relations to the content.
Official Nations are for fictional nations created by other Mappers. Modern nations are not included in this. Nations is divided into many subcategories such as Official Nation's, Secondary Nations, Nations in Continents, Nations in Map Games.
===FuNations===
FunNations are nations that are not in a series and are considered to be troll nations. 
FuNations are allowed as long as they provide descriptive information about it. Once it is added in a series, it is no longer a FunNation.
===Official Nations===
An Official Nation (ON for short) is the primary nation that basically represents the mascot of a mapper. This nation is usually prominent in their series and always conquers a considerable amount of land. Some examples of Official Nations are Brabrantium, Miracium, Vordalkien, Gazientia, Permia, and Belfrug. Think of it as OCs (Original Characters) in most internet fandoms/communities.
===Secondary Nations===
Refer to Official Nations above, with the difference that there are more than one.
===Modern-day Countries===
Modern-day countries are pages that show information about a nation that exists today, like the United States of America or the People’s Republic of China. These pages show history and modern day facts about a nation, and mappers are free to add what they think will happen to said nation in the future. (Donald Trump will become president of the US)
===Discrimination ===
Discrimination is where a user starts stating unjust opinions of a specific category such as gender, age, religion, race and etc. Example of an opinion that crosses the line: “I don’t like gay people and they should die.” Example of a civil opinion: “I don’t like gay people and that is my opinion.”
*Be respectful to everyone including staff members.
*Respect other user's privacy.It is their decision to discuss what they are comfortable with. 
*If a staff asks you to stop doing something, you should listen to their requests.You are allowed to discuss why in private.Refusing to stop may result in punishments.
*Be civil and make sure whatever you say is constructive.
*Do not insult or harass a user for any reason. If you are being harassed/insulted, please refer to section 1.2.
*You are allowed to express your opinion about a specific aspect such as religion. Do not use the service to spread hate towards a specific group. For more information about discrimination, see Section 3.7 .
*Do not accuse new users as alts/sockpuppets unless there is enough evidence to support your claim.
*Do not spam. (Section 3.1 )
*Do not attack another an Wikia for any reason in the name of our Wikia. (Note: If you are telling us to do something to another Wikia in a malicious way, this is considered an attack).
*Criticism of the rules is allowed but you cannot force your demands. For example, if the owner said no, it will be no.
*Do not post Nazi Symbols unless it’s a nation page.
*Do not post offensive content, pornographic material, or troll links.(Ex. Jumpscares).
Category:Help