Policies

This is the official policy page for the Harry Potter Fan Club Wiki. It will grow as problems arise, but it is hoped that most issues may never need addressing.

The first commandment of the wiki, implicitly agreed upon by generations of wiki editors, and from which stem most of the policies stated herein, such as spelling conventions and in-universe points of view, is:

## Content

First and foremost, the Harry Potter Fan Club Wiki is exactly that - a wiki, or an editable online encyclopedia on the Harry Potter universe. We host information, facts, images, and official theories related to Harry Potter on this site, as well as discussions about the material presented here. We do **not** entertain any fan fiction, images, or ramblings (collectively "fanonsense"), Harry Potter game cheats or walkthroughs, advertisements, spam, or articles not directly associated with the Harry Potter universe. You may talk about anything which you like on your talk page, or add the same in your namespace, as long as it is legal. We don't really care. Just remember that this wiki is **not** a social networking site. If you don't have anything of real informative value to contribute and if you don't want to help out in editing or monitoring - in short, if you don't want to be a productive community member - then this probably is not the site for you.

All the content in this wiki (i.e. text, images, music) must be in the public domain; unless you have obtained permission to use them publicly, copyrighted files will be removed, no matter how nicely written or beautifully shot. Quotes, facts, and figures may be taken from anywhere, as long as they are sourced. All text must be original - no copying from Wikipedia or MuggleNet (see No Copy Policy below).

Any users or editors who repeatedly refuse to follow these rules may be banned at the discretion of any administrator, and their contributions deleted.

## Vandalism

**If you see an act of vandalism, please revert the page to its original state and report the vandal.**

Any users committing acts of vandalism will be blocked and sent to Azkaban for a period of 24-72 hours. Repeat offenders will receive the Dementor's Kiss and be blocked indefinitely (with the exception of anonymous IP addresses). Administrators may also choose to use their best discretion and block for a longer or shorter period of time. Difficult to block or otherwise exceptional vandals will be reported to a staffer at Wikia.

## No Copy Policy

All articles must be written so that they have complete and comprehensive information, at the same time being distinct from their Wikipedian counterparts. Some users and/or anons cut and paste Wikiarticles, leaving a whole tangled mess of redlinks and loops in the HP articles.

If you see an article which seems to be a copy of a Wikipedian article, you can either **be bold** and rewrite the article yourself, or you can paste {{dwfy}} at the top of the article and wait for someone else to dewikipediafy (abbr. "deWPfy") the article.

## Style

### "In-universe" point of view

For the sake of consistency, all articles written about people, places, or things *within* the Harry Potter Universe have to be written from an "in-universe" perspective rather than from a "real world" perspective: for example, *"Alicia Spinnet was a Chaser **in the first five books**"* should be changed to *"Alicia Spinnet was a Chaser **from 1991 to 1996**"*. This rule naturally does not apply for subjects *outside* the Harry Potter Universe, like J.K. Rowling, Bloomsbury, and the different books and films. Subjects that exist both in the real world and in the HP Universe should be written about from an in-universe perspective (e.g. London, Nicolas Flamel, etc.).

Should a reference be necessary, one may use the <ref> tag. For example <ref name=HBP>''[[Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince]]''</ref> would create a reference to Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Don't forget to put:

==Notes and references==

{{Reflist}}
at the end of the article.

## Article tense

Articles should be written in the past tense, as if the editor is writing from a point in the future after the events in the series have taken place. This is to maintain a consistent and uniform feel to the articles, and to eliminate ambiguity by switching tenses in the middle of an article.

## Spelling

Since the Harry Potter books are originally a British series, the U.K. editions are the final source on spelling and phrases. For example, the U.S. editions of the book refer to Cornelius Fudge as the "Minister *of* Magic" but the U.K. editions refer to him as the "Minister *for* Magic." Other small examples are such things as the usage of alternate spellings like "colour" instead of "color", or "Sybill" instead of "Sibyll". We should strive to remain consistent with the British versions wherever applicable. Where there exist multiple spellings, redirects should be made to the page with the British variant.

Additionally, when writing articles in general, usage of British customs and spelling is preferred, even when not specifically quoting or referencing from the text or other media. While it is accepted that those who are not native to the region may occasionally make mistakes, less tolerance will be allowed when it comes to attempting to correct such "errors". The first time this occurs, the user may be warned using the template {{British}}. If done again, the user should be informed to check carefully before making such corrections and warned that they will be blocked if they continue to do so. If the user continues to edit in this manner, he or she may be blocked at administrator discretion.

## Naming of articles

Naming of articles about characters and real people will, wherever possible, abide by the following conditions:

* An article's title should contain the full first and last names.
	+ For example: Use *Ronald Weasley* instead of *Ron Weasley* or *Ronald Bilius Weasley*
	+ Exceptions to this are characters who are known by two given names (e.g. Phineas Nigellus Black) or who have more than one surname (e.g. Hector Dagworth-Granger). The article's title should include all of these names, since they represent the character's full first name or last name.
* An article's title should contain the surname used throughout the Harry Potter series, regardless of marriage.
	+ For example: Use *Ginevra Weasley* instead of *Ginevra Potter*
	+ For example: Use *Molly Weasley* instead of *Molly Prewett*
* Titles are not to be used in an article's title. A listing of such titles may be found here.
	+ Titles include: *Mr*, *Mrs* (and derivatives)
	+ For example: Use *James Potter's father* instead of *Mr Potter*
	+ Exceptions to this are characters who are considered fictional in-universe (e.g. Sir Luckless) or when the title is part of their actual name (e.g. Mrs Norris).
* Character articles should use Western name order, which places the given name(s) before the surname(s), even if the subject is from a culture which traditionally places the surname(s) before the given name.
	+ For example: Use *Keiko Takahashi* instead of *Takahashi Keiko*
* Eastern name order (i.e. surname before given name) should be used for articles on real people from China, the Koreas, and Vietnam, but articles on real people from Japan should use Western name order. This is because most Japanese people are known outside of Japan by Western name order.
	+ For example: Use *Jeong Mi Sook* (a South Korean actress) instead of *Mi-sook Jeong*
	+ For example: Use *Yumi Sudō* (a Japanese actress) instead of *Sudō Yumi*

## Deletion

Articles, images, categories and other pages in the Harry Potter Fan Club Wiki which have been tagged with {{delete}}, {{tfd}} or {{cfd}} and will be automatically listed in Category:Candidates for deletion and will be deleted after no opposition have been given. Articles which have been previously deleted will be re-deleted if there are no significant improvements; articles which obviously do not belong in the Harry Potter Fan Club Wiki (e.g. vandalism, unrelated topics, game cheats/walkthroughs) will be deleted on sight. (*Note: If an article has been tagged for an exceptionally long time without consensus, an admin may or may not delete it at his own discretion.*)

If your article has been tagged or deleted, please do not take offence - this is not meant against you. You may defend your article on its talk page or deletion page, or talk to an administrator. **Never** remove the {{delete}} tag before the vote is done - repeatedly doing so may result in a ban of three days minimum. If your article is deleted, please refrain from rewriting it without consensus from your fellow editors.

This logic also applies in reverse. Please do not attempt to delete articles by yourselves. Blanking articles is just as bad as removing delete tags from those unfortunate articles, and repeatedly blanking articles (not necessarily the same one) also constitutes a minor offence and may result in a three day minimum ban. If you wish to delete an article, you may use the tags mentioned above, state your reason, and wait for a consensus.

## Templates

When editing character templates, please refer to Template talk:Character infobox for things such as the template colour and the character's house.

## Page moves and rewrites

As with any Wiki article, please do not make drastic changes and rewrites without the consent of other editors. Exceptions can be made if the article is in obviously bad shape.

## Quality

The Harry Potter Fan Club Wiki is not an ordinary fansite, it is an encyclopedia. Please give your best efforts in writing, and if you find a typo, grammatical or factual error in an article, **be bold** and correct it!

For most of the lesser known facts, sources would be very much appreciated!

And, last but not least, fanfics and other fan pages should be limited to userspace (e.g. [[User:Example/HPFiction]]) and not in the main wiki. All fan pages in the main space will be deleted **on sight**!

## Layout guide

The layout guide should be followed wherever possible in order to give the Harry Potter Wiki a more professional and encyclopedic view on content. Though this layout is not compulsory, its usage will definitely raise the quality of lesser or poorly-written articles, and the wiki in general. A must read before making major rewrites or starting new articles.