Dune Wiki:Policy

This is the official policy, including rules and guidelines, for Dune Wiki.

The policy occasionally refers to a Manual of Style, which does not currently exist but is a planned addition. The Manual of Style will also be proposed to the community for feedback and changes before it is implemented.

Scope of the wiki[]

Dune Wiki is a wiki dedicated to all official things related to Dune. Content unrelated to that topic should not be documented here. Fanon and fannish works should also not be documented here, with some exceptions outlined elsewhere.

Fandom's Terms of Use[]

All members must comply with Fandom's Terms of Use. These rules apply to every wiki on Fandom.com, including this one. Some notable portions of the Terms of Use include (paraphrased):

Age restrictions: members must be age 13 or older. Additional age restrictions may apply depending on region.
Do not abuse, harass, threaten, or intimidate other users.
Do not post spam, advertisements, or solicitations of businesses.
Do not post any inappropriate content including content that is obscene, pornographic, abusive, offensive, profane, or otherwise violates any law. This includes content that contains homophobia, transphobia, ethnic slurs, religious intolerance, or encourages criminal conduct.
Do not vandalize pages.
Do not circumvent bans.

Violating any of the above will result in a ban.

Code of conduct[]

Vandalism: disruptive editing, hate speech, and inflammatory content will not be tolerated and, depending on the severity, may result in an immediate permanent ban.

Be good to others, the wiki, and the community.
- Respect other people: do not make any personal attacks or direct insults, threats, or profanity at any real person including contributors or anyone involved in production including any of the actors, writers, directors, and the rest of the crew members. Comments that are misogynistic, sexist, racist, homophobic, transphobic, or similar will result in a permanent ban.
- Respect the work done on the wiki: when suggesting or making improvements, do not be insulting to content that needs to be improved. Do not vandalize the wiki, add gibberish, add falsehoods, clear suitable content from pages, or take any action to disrupt or sabotage the work done here.
- Respect the community: this is a wiki for fans and we aim to have a positive environment for fans. While critical and negative comments are allowed, coming to the wiki to make frequent complaints (e.g. saying that characters are terrible and should be killed off; cast and crew members are awful and should be fired; an episode that has not even aired is horrible, etc.) is considered trolling and is not allowed. If this commentary is directed at fellow users, it is additionally considered harassment and is not allowed. This applies to discussions about the series and to how users interact with each other, the wiki, and the admins here.

Discuss disagreements: do not engage in edit wars. If a user is continuing to add inappropriate content to a page, contact an admin. If you and another editor are having a disagreement on what is best for a page, do not continue to undo each other's changes; instead, discuss the page and why you would like to see it one way, and listen to the editor when they explain themselves, and try to come to an agreement with them. If you and the other editor are unable to resolve the dispute, or fail to communicate but still insist on edits, contact an admin for help.

Multiple accounts: do not use multiple accounts on the wiki without permission from an admin.

Bots: do not use a bot on the wiki without permission from an admin.

Respect decisions from admins: admins are here to hear you out and help. Sometimes we are just not going to agree and that can be frustrating. Please respect the decision. We are doing what we think is best for the wiki and the community. For appeals, see the #Appeals section below.

Style guidelines[]

Follow the wiki's style guidelines outlined on the wiki.
The text you add to this wiki should be originally written by you. Do not copy/paste article text from other sources, such as Wikipedia.
Thinking Machine Ban: Do not insert text, images, or other content generated by an artificial intelligence (AI) program. Inserting text generated by a large language model (LLM) AI, such as ChatGPT, can result in a permanent ban.
Check with an admin before making any major changes across the wiki, such as changing page designs, templates, categories, or category structure.
If an admin asks you to do something a certain way to maintain style standards or consistency, please follow their instructions. You may still propose and discuss changes, but they will need to reach consensus before being implemented.

Admin and mod rights[]

Some users on the wiki will have additional rights. These include bureaucrats, admins, discussion mods, and content mods. For more information, see Help:User rights.

Admins and mods are responsible for ensuring a healthy community. To help maintain a positive and productive community, admins and mods are encouraged to reach out to each other, collaborate on decisions, and to keep each other and the members of the community informed.

Users can be promoted to be an admin or a mod based on a number of factors including the quality of their edits, involvement in the community, ability to collaborate, community need, and general helpfulness with other users. User promotion is at the discretion of the wiki bureaucrats and admins. If there are no active bureaucrats or admins, you may be interested in adopting the wiki.

Misusing or abusing rights, in addition to violating other rules, can result in a user losing their rights.

Appeals[]

To appeal decisions made by an admin or a mod:

If you think that an admin or a mod had made a decision that requires further review or a second opinion, try to communicate with the admin who made that decision first. If you still feel like the situation could benefit from a second set of eyes, you can respectfully reach out to another admin and ask if they would be willing to take a look.
If you feel that an admin or a mod is misusing or abusing their rights, you can appeal to another bureaucrat on the wiki. Respectfully state what the issue is and why you believe that it requires intervention.
If you have been blocked and you would like to appeal your block, you can reach out to the admin who blocked you on Community Central. Suggested reading: Help:I have been blocked.

Change proposals[]

Any regular editor can propose changes to the wiki's Manual of Style or Policy.
Consensus among regular editors will typically be the deciding factor for implementing changes.
Proposed changes will not be decided by a poll.
While any editor can be involved in the discussion, typically only the opinions of established editors will be considered, as these are the editors who will be putting in the work.
On occasion, an admin may expedite necessary changes for the benefit of the wiki, and details can be worked out after.
An admin may veto a proposed change that violates wiki rules or goes against best practices. A veto should only be used when absolutely necessary, and it can be appealed (see: #Appeals).

To propose a change:

First, reach out to an admin to bring up the idea for initial discussion. This could save you time and effort, such as if an issue has already been addressed and is considered decided, or if the admin has tips on how to proceed with getting your proposal implemented. An admin may even give you the go-ahead to make changes, without the need for further consensus. Even if an admin disagrees with your proposal, you can proceed with proposing it to the community for further discussion.
To proceed, post your proposal in an appropriate location, such as on a relevant article's talk page or in a blog post.
Consider the following when developing your proposal:
- Be clear and concise. Start with a short sentence summarizing what you are proposing.
- What problem will this change solve?
- Who will be putting in the work to implement these changes? Are you volunteering to do it yourself? Will you need help?
- How long will it take to make the changes throughout the wiki?
Contact other active editors and admin, pointing them to your proposal.
Give the community time to consider and discuss the change. This will typically be at least a week. At least some other active editors will need to respond for consensus to be considered.

Handling violations[]

If someone is violating the rules or Manual of Style guide on the wiki, the following is what you can do to help:

Edit: correct the changes made on the wiki by undoing or improving the problematic content.
Reach out to an admin. If the issue is severe and/or urgent, feel free to also contact the Spam Obliteration and Prevention (SOAP) team: report advertisement spam or report vandalism.
For smaller good-faith violations, such as not following the Manual of Style, feel free to reach out to the user in order to let them know the preferred way of doing things here. Be supportive and encouraging. This will help guide the user to be a better contributor for the wiki, and it is always good to develop rapport with your fellow editors.
Do not mini-mod: mini-modding typically comes in the form of threatening another user with consequences or making statements about how things should be done on the wiki that are not outlined in the rules or Manual of Style guide. It is okay to point a user to the rules or Manual of Style guide, asking the user to follow them; it is not okay to make other claims, warnings, or threatening a user that they will be banned -- leave that to the admins and mods.

Consequences and blocking policy[]

If you are causing disruption or violating the rules of the wiki, then consequences will follow. Depending on the severity of the initial violation, it may result in:

A request: this is for minor issues and it is where an admin asks that you do things differently to keep things in order. Regular users can also make good-faith requests to help you learn. Repeated requests will not necessarily escalate to anything more than that, and are considered to be a normal part of helping a new contributor to grow and learn. However, if repeated disruptions are notable enough and are causing too much work to fix, then it may result in a warning or a ban.
A warning: this is a clear statement from an admin that certain actions or behaviors will not be tolerated in the community. Repeated warnings will result in a ban.
A temporary ban: you will not be able to edit or contribute to a wiki while you are banned. After a certain amount of time, you will be able to edit again. The length of the ban will depend on the severity of the infraction.
A permanent ban: for severe or repeated infractions, a permanent ban would be enacted whereupon you would be no longer allowed or welcomed to edit on the wiki ever again.
A global ban: this is enacted across every wiki on Fandom.com. If you violate Fandom.com's Terms of Use, a staff member could intervene and block you across all wikis on Fandom.com, not just this one.

We would assume good faith and offer help when we can, but ongoing disruption, even if inadvertent, eventually can result in a ban to help ensure the quality of the wiki and the health and well-being of the community.