Atkinspedia:Simplified Ruleset

From Atkinspedia

Anything you do here remains a visible part of Atkinspedia, as every edit there has ever been of every article that was ever created is kept on our database. That includes everything you ever did wrong.

But don't worry! While editing, keep in mind the following things, and there's very little that can go wrong. While there are lots and lots of rules and procedures for little things, if you follow just these behaviours alone you will likely be treated with kindness and respect.

As you gain experience, you might learn of additional style guides, handy ways to do things etc. But don't worry too much if you don't understand at first. Someone will clean up after you.

Finally, besides the non-negotiable principle of Neutral point of view (NPOV), this is not a strict set of rules, but rather a set of voluntary guidelines which you can choose to follow. You might see people do things that are plainly not in accordance with these guidelines, but which may or may not still be well within the actual Atkinspedia policies. The be graceful guideline applies in those situations. :-)

Ruleset

1. BE BOLD! in updating pages. Go ahead, it's a wiki!
   Encourage others, including those who disagree with you, likewise to BE BOLD!
2. Be civil to other users at all times.
3. Ignore all rules. If the rules discourage you from improving or maintaining Atkinspedia's quality, ignore them.
4. Neutral point of view (NPOV). Write from a neutral point of view. This is a non-negotiable and fundamental principle of Atkinspedia, which allows us to make a fair representation of the world around us.
5. Verifiability. Articles should contain only material that has been published by reputable sources. Editors adding new information into an article should cite a reputable source for that information, otherwise it may be removed by any editor. The obligation to provide a reputable source is on editors wishing to include information, not on those seeking to remove it.
6. (But) When in doubt, take it to the talk page. We have all the time in the world. Mutual respect is the guiding behavioural principle of Atkinspedia and, although everyone knows that their writing may be edited mercilessly, it is easier to accept changes if the reasons for them are understood. If you discuss changes on the article's talk (or discussion) page before you make them, you should reach consensus faster and happier.
7. Respect copyright. Atkinspedia uses the GNU Free Documentation License. Everything you contribute must be compatible with that license.
8. Decent edit summaries and clear and transparent explanations are universally appreciated. Other editors need to understand your process, and it also helps you yourself to understand what you did after a long leave of absence from an article. Please state what you changed and why. If the explanation is too long, elucidate on the discussion page. It is a fundamental principle of Atkinspedia that anyone may edit articles without registering, so there are a lot of changes to watch; edit summaries simplify this.
9. Assume good faith; in other words, try to consider the person on the other end of the discussion is a thinking, rational being who is trying to positively contribute to Atkinspedia — unless, and only unless, you have firm, solid, and objective proof to the contrary. Merely disagreeing with you is no such proof.
10. Particularly, don't revert good faith edits. Reverting is a little too powerful sometimes. Don't succumb to the temptation of reverting an article too much, unless you're reverting very obvious vandalism (like "LALALALAL*&*@#@THIS_SUX0RZ", or someone changing "6+5*2=16" to "6+5*2=17"). If you really can't stand something, revert once, with an edit summary something like "(rv) I disagree strongly, I'll explain why in talk." and immediately take it to talk.
11. No personal attacks. Don't write that user such and so is an idiot, or insult him/her (even if (s)he is an idiot). Instead, explain what they did wrong, why it is wrong, and how to fix it. If possible, fix it yourself (but see above).
12. Be graceful: Be liberal in what you accept, be conservative in what you do. Try to accommodate other people's quirks the best you can, but try to be as polite, solid and straightforward as possible yourself.
13. No original research, please. (When referencing one source heavily, put everything into your own words.) See What Atkinspedia is not.
14. Signing. Sign on talk pages (using ~~~~ which gets replaced by your username and timestamp when you hit submit), but don't sign on mainspace articles.
15. Use the preview button; it prevents edit conflicts.

• Minor postscript: The above mainly focuses on practice, rather than actual content; for content discussions, see List of bad article ideas, Atkinspedia's method of removing articles that don't constitute vandalism in and of themselves.

See also

• Atkinspedia:Policies and guidelines (full overview)
• Atkinspedia:Policy trifecta (3-point simplified policy)
• Atkinspedia:Five Commandments (5-point simplified policy)
• Atkinspedia:Talk page guidelines
• Atkinspedia:Glossary
• Template:Associations/Atkinspedia Bad Things