Rules and Guidelines

The following is a list of policies that are meant to ensure everyone can enjoy this wiki and the information/community it offers. By implementing these policies and guidelines, administrators expect users to adhere to them, and all contributors will be held accountable by administrators; if you have any questions, concerns, suggestions, etc, do not hesitate to ask!

Administrators always try to "assume good faith." We do not want to block someone who made a mistake — only users who intend to harm the wiki. The administration page can be found here.

#### Current Active Rollbacks

NOTE: For now, please ignore the rules relating to FanFiction. Fanon related things ARE allowed here. Staff will edit this when they have the time

## Behaviour Policies

Administrators/Moderators will delete or edit out content that violates these policies. They will issue a warning and may block you, especially if you have past offenses.

1. **Be inclusive and polite towards others.** We expect users to be respectful towards others at all times.
	* Do not bully or post other hurtful comments. These are not tolerated under any circumstances.
	* Do not ship/character bash. Please consider others' opinions and keep ship-related arguments civil. This includes comments such as: "This ship is stupid." "Down with this ship." "All ships except this ship are dumb."
	* If debating, arguments are expected to be made respectfully, without degrading others' opinions.
	* Do not direct any arguments towards users. You are arguing against the user's comment, not the users themselves. (For example, instead of saying "You're wrong. This ship is better because..." try saying, "I prefer this ship because...")
	* Homophobia, transphobia, racism, religious intolerance, and ableism will not be tolerated, regardless of circumstance.
2. **Ensure that all content is suitable for all readers.** Nothing inappropriate or mature is permitted on this website.
	* Potentially triggering content, such as violence, should have a warning with a non-graphic description of the content (tw: violence). Especially triggering or offensive material will be deleted, and the user will receive a warning or consequence depending on the severity.
	* Do not swear. Even minor swear words, acronyms, or abbreviations can hurt, offend, or discomfort others.
	* This rule encompasses adult/minor shipping.
3. **Be respectful of administrators' requests and actions.** Administrators ensure that the community is friendly and that the pages are informational. You are expected to follow any requests. If you disagree, you may send a polite message that explains ways for them to improve or suggests a solution.
4. **Give credit for work that is not your own.** Reposted work (including fanart, theories, fanfiction, and other fan-made content) created by another person must clearly give credit to the original creator.

## Commenting Policies

Comments that do not follow these policies will be deleted, and warnings may be issued. Blockings may follow if the offense is repeated.

1. **Make sure to post your comments on the pages they relate to.** Do not post comments unrelated to the topic of the page. Conversations unrelated to Keeper of the Lost Cities may be had on the forum and/or message walls.
2. **Do not spam,** whether it be on pages or threads. Do not post comments such as '1st Comment'
3. **Especially long comments (such as fanfiction) should be placed in Discussions or in a blog post.**

## Discussion Guidelines

All users must follow these guidelines at all times. Please report any content that violates these Guidelines. This can be done by hovering over the three dots on the right side of a post. On the dropdown that appears, click 'Report Post' and an Admin or Moderator will address the situation shortly.

Failing to follow these Policies and Guidelines may result with a punishment.

1. **Be respectful and treat others kindly.** Keep discussions civil and be open-minded about differing opinions. Do not get heated or start drama - It is better to say nothing than say something unkind.

2. **Spamming, flooding, trolling, or vandalizing of any kind will be deleted** and can lead to your account being banned.

3. **Impersonation of other users or famous people will not be tolerated.** If you have been banned and return on a new account, your posts will be deleted, and your new account(s) will be banned.

5. **Check the wiki before asking questions**; there's a good chance that whatever you're confused about is already explained in an article.

6. **Mass spamming (in comments, posts, replies, upvotes) or encouraging it will result in a warning/block.**

7. **If you notice that anyone has broken the rules, report the post and leave it.** There is no need to mini-mod and berate the other user. Staff will take care of it.

8. **We do not tolerate sexual content, references to drug usage, or any other content that would not be acceptable in a middle-grade series.** **Keep things PG. Swearing is to be completely censored (even when used in acronyms) and is not to be used at another user. Profanity is not allowed.**

9. **We strive to create a safe, accepting community for our users. Homophobia, racism, religious intolerance, ableism, or any other forms of discrimination will not be tolerated.** These comments/posts will be removed immediately, and action will be performed immediately.

10. **Potentially triggering content should be preceded by a warning at all times.** If a post is especially triggering, it will be deleted.

11. **Impersonation, fraud, and other forms of manipulation are not tolerated under any circumstances.** If you are found to be guilty of any of these violations, your account will be banned immediately.

12. **Any useless polls/discussion posts will be deleted.**

13. **Do not advertise posts that were just created on this forum.** This is redundant and entirely unnecessary, which will count as spam.

14. **Do not use the forum for direct communication with a specific user.** Use the person's message wall.

15. **Any face-reveals or posts that reveal too much personal information will be deleted immediately.**

16. **Categorize your posts appropriately.** Please do not place posts that fit perfectly into another category into General. If you have questions about what should be in what category, please contact an Admin or Moderator for help. **Check the Discussion Categories here.**

## Editing Guidelines

To reduce edit wars and other frustrations, please read the following guidelines before making any edits. Edits that do not follow these guidelines will be undone. Warnings and/or blockings may follow. If you have any questions, concerns, suggestions, etc, contact an Admin or Moderator.

NOTE: For now, please ignore the rules relating to FanFiction. Fanon IS allowed here. Staff will edit this when they have the time

1. **All Wiki pages are to be factual and contain only information directly acquired from books.** Do not add any second-hand information. Do not edit pages to include opinions or theories. Avoid adding false information, jokes, removing relevant content, or engaging in any form of vandalism that may compromise the accuracy and reliability of the articles.
2. **Please write correctly spelled grammatical full sentences**. Use grammar correctly. This includes commas, full stops, etc.
3. **All edits to Wiki pages are expected to be made in good faith.** Removing content, inserting false or unrelated content, and any other vandalizations are prohibited. Refrain from making unhelpful or bad-faith edits. Examples of such edits include changing words to synonyms, adding and immediately removing content, adding words letter-by-letter, creating unfinished pages solely for the purpose of obtaining contributions or badges, and other inefficient or unnecessary edits.
4. **Do not create non-factual pages such as fanfiction or fanart.** Instead of creating non-factual pages, such as fanfiction or fanart, consider utilizing the blog post or forum post features as more suitable platforms for sharing creative content.
5. **Properly name images when uploading pictures.** When uploading a file, ensure that the name of the picture is appropriate and relevant. Specifically, if the picture relates to a book character. Do not upload it as 'Download2' or keyboard smashes.
6. **The first occurrence of the page's subject should be bold**. All subsequent occurrences should be normal text.
7. **Link the first occurrence of any other page only once on a page.** Don't make every occurrence of a particular word a link to that page.
8. **Stick to a consistent voice.** Don't use "you" in one sentence and "they" in the next.
9. **Don't add pointless trivia**. It's better for a page to not have a trivia section than to list things that are painfully obvious to anyone with a brain in their head.
10. **When referring to a book or a series*,* titles should always be written in italics.**
11. **Names of characters and places should always be capitalized.**
12. **Avoid using contradictions such as "don't", "can't", "won't", etc. Instead, spell out the whole word - "do not", "cannot", "will not", etc.** This is to help our Wiki stay as professional and formal as possible.
13. **When editing, there is a section to "Describe what you changed". Please fill this out.** This greatly helps the community when checking history, recent changes, etc.

## Page Guidelines

Pages that do not follow these guidelines will most likely be deleted. Warnings may be issued, and blockings may follow for repeat offenses.

1. **Before creating a page, ensure that the page has not already been created.** Redundant pages will be deleted.
2. **Instead of making a non-factual page (as seen in "Editing Guidelines"), make a blog post or forum post.** Examples of non-factual pages are fanfiction, fanart, and pages unrelated to the series.
3. **Only Administrators may create disambiguation pages.**
4. **Use articles for notable content only.** Do not make articles for unnamed people or locations unless they are especially relevant.
5. **When creating a page, state the name of the character and what book/s or series they are from in brackets.** For example, instead of "Newt", do "Newt (The Maze Runner)". Instead of "Sophie", do "Sophie (Keeper of the Lost Cities)". Instead of "Luna", do "Luna (Wings of Fire". This is just to help classify Characters and what book/s or series they are from. Furthermore, there are Characters with the same names across different book/s or series, and pages are not allowed to have the same name. Adding on what book/s or series the Character is from greatly helps!

If you see any of the above rules being broken, please report it to a Staff Member immediately.

Other than that, please enjoy this Wiki, have fun, and follow the rules and guidelines!