Policies

The following are general rules to follow if you participate in communities' discussions or make editing around **The Immersive Communities Wiki**.

## Editing rules:

* When editing a page, vandalism is never acceptable and will result in varying degrees of punishment, depending on the vandalism and how often it happens. This includes (and is not limited to) removing content from pages, adding unnecessary information, adding inappropriate text and/or images, etc.
* Do not undo an edit from a staff member without a good reason. If staff has undone one of your edits that you deem necessary, leave them a message on their wall.

## Commenting / Chat rules:

* Keep religious and political talk peaceful. If one of your comments is considered "offensive" by an admin, you may be given a warning.
* If you've been repeatedly warned about anything, you may be temporarily blocked.
* Do not disrespect / discriminate other users under any circumstances.
* Spamming is not allowed and will result in an immediate block. When chatting in the General Community or in specific communities, regroup your comments and post them under one single comment instead of separating them in two comments or more like Chat allows.
* Do not post any inappropriate images in the comments section. Doing so will result in a block.
* Spoilers and rumors in the communities are allowed. Communicate in those at your own risk.

* Do not harass users. This will result in a block. Criticism is welcomed, not harassment.

* Do not mini-mod. This includes enforcing rules, telling people how to conduct themselves, or acting like a staff member when **staff is present**. If staff is not present, then you may mini-mod to a certain extent, but remember to keep it peaceful.
	+ If it escalates, leave staff a message on their wall.
	+ If you think a member should be blocked or banned, leave staff a message on their wall as well as your reasons on why you think they should be punished.
* Respect staff members' decisions, regardless of how you feel about them.
* Do not beg for a staff position. Staff will make it clear when a position is open.
* If a staff member is having a disciplinary / administrative discussion with another user, do not intervene until the previously mentioned portions are clearly finished.

## Communities, Events & Creations Rules

### Communities

* Communities can **solely** be created by bureaucrats, admins and content moderators. If you wish to see a community come to life, you may pitch it to a staff member and they'll determine if it's suitable for the wiki. More information on how to create communities, how to edit them and how to format them can be found at the Formatting Communities page.

### Stories Rules

There are a few rules to follow when writing your stories.

* Stories should be non-interactive and in no way should they mainly involve the community's actions or input. If they do, then they should be moved to the Games section.
* Stories should feature either the characters, places or events of a movie / TV-show, or take place in the universe of a novel, movie, or TV-show that's been publicly released. Another alternative is to write a story that revolves around a particular brand or media event, as our specific communities follow.
* Stories should be original and in no way should plagiarize publicly released content.
* Stories should be PG-13 appropriate.

### Games Rules

There are a few rules to follow when making your games.

* If you create your own brand new type of game, it is recommended to pitch it to an admin first, to make sure that it follows the wiki's guidelines.
* Games must be interactive and should mainly involve the community's actions and input at all times. If they don't, then they will either be cancelled by an admin, or if the circumstances fit, moved to the Stories section.
* Games should be original and in no way should plagiarize the game of another user. Remember, following the same format or type of game as another user is acceptable, but copying detail by detail another game is prohibited.
* Stories should be PG-13 appropriate.

### Creations Rules

There are a few rules to follow when making your creations.

* Creations should represent either the characters, materials, places or events of a movie / TV-show, or represent the universe of a novel, movie, or TV-show that's been publicly released. Another alternative is to make a creation that represents a particular brand or media event, as our specific communities follow.
* Creations should be original and in no way should plagiarize publicly released content.
* Stories should be PG-13 appropriate.

## Community Rules:

* Please be nice when welcoming new users.
* Sockpuppeting (the creation of multiple accounts) is not allowed. While a back-up account is allowed, accounts created to deceive / troll will be blocked infinitely with a punishment to the puppeteer. If your main account has been blocked, do NOT use any back-up account, as those will also be infinitely blocked.

### Staff Guidelines:

* Do not do make any actions that could harm the wiki.
* Do not factor bias in punishments.
* Assume good faith from users until they've made it clear that they're unquestionably a danger to the communities.
* Listen to any appeals of blocked members that you or another staff member have blocked. There may have been a misunderstanding.
* Defer to the decision of the block if you're uncertain of one's actions.

### Levels of Punishment:

* 1. Warning - Staff will alert you that your actions are unacceptable.
* 2. Second Warning - Staff will alert you that your actions are unacceptable and a block is imminent.
* 3. 1-Day Block - You aren't permitted to edit or comment for a day.
* 4. 1-Week Block - You aren't permitted to edit or comment for a week.
* 5. Extended Block - You aren't permitted to edit or comment for an extended period of time.
* 6. Infinite Block - You aren't permitted to edit or comment ever again.
* Staff reserves the right to bypass any of these levels of punishment if they feel it is warranted, though for minor infractions, there will be a general order.

### Promotion to Staff Procedure:

* Staff will announce the opening of a new position. Those will be the only opportunities for you to be recruited as staff.
* Alert staff that you have an interest in the position.
* Staff will send an application to your Message Wall.
* Complete the application in due time.
* Once applications are complete, staff will discuss their thoughts and make a decision together. They also reserve the final say on applications, even though they may ask members from the communities they're thoughts on the applicants.