Editing The Wiki Fire:Code of Ethics

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|The Wiki Fire community must follow the guidelines of [[libel law]] if it is to be positive and useful.

However, after that, the code of ethics is open for discussion. The college-aged generation now is the first generation to grow and develop with the power of the [[Internet]]. [[Media]] is changing, and it is on our shoulders to decide where it goes.
Therefore, feel free to edit this page; if you have comments ''about'' the page, or suggestions (as opposed to actual policy changes), you can also post those on the talk page — click "discussion" at the top of the window.
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{{Policies}}
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== Pages about members of our community ==
{{main|The Wiki Fire:Policy on people}}

One of the first things people will do on this site it create a page about themselves or their friends. Please read the page on [[libel law]] before writing something that could be controversial. Remember that even if something is not libelous, it may still be inappropriate. The most important statements to avoid are ones concerning someone's sexual history or sexual habits.

== Mood ==

[[The Wiki Fire]] should be a positive source of free information that reflects its community. However, not everything in this community is positive.

Therefore, the following guidelines should be followed by the community of contributers to preserve and garner a positive mood for the site, even when discussing negative aspects of [[Knox]] life.

* Information should be of an '''objective''' nature. Even at a college as small as [[Knox]], there are a wide variety of opinions regarding individuals, organizations, departments, events, and Knox in general. Therefore, your opinion is just that: your opinion. For this reason, '''subjective''' statements should be excluded, or at least rewritten to refer to opinions rather than promote them. If opinions are referred to, opposing opinions should be included if at all possible.
* Edits should be made to '''entertain''' or '''inform''', not to cause harm. This includes information accusing an individual, group, or organization of illegal activities. Even if the allegations are true, take a moment to consider what consequences might arise as a result of your posting them here.  [[The Wiki Fire]] isn't an exposé. If people start getting in trouble because of things on [[The Wiki Fire]], it will only discourage people from using it.

== Editorial power ==

This site has an ever-changing and growing team of editors, similar to that of [http://www.wikipedia.org Wikipedia] does. [http://www.wikipedia.org Wikipedia] must have them to prevent vandalism and keep the pages "true".

[[The Wiki Fire]], however, is not going to serve the entire world in the same fashion as [http://www.wikipedia.org Wikipedia]. [[The Wiki Fire]] is, at its core, about [[Knox College]], a school of 1,351 [[students]].

If you would like to become an [[editor]], e-mail [mailto:editor@thewikifire.org the editor] with your reasons why and your user name.

=== Deleting pages ===
''Join in the discussion at [[The Wiki Fire talk:Code of Ethics]]

In many cases, a discussion should occur before a page is deleted. If a page is irrelevant, but not harmful then a contributor should "mark" the page for deletion by writing the reason on the talk page. After a couple days, if nobody has presented a counter argument for keeping the page, it will be deleted.

However, mean-spirited pages that could not possibly make a meaningful [[Knox]] connection will be deleted immediately.

===Banning users and IPs===
Users may be banned if they partake in obvious vandalism or SPAM of the site. If such vandalism is coming from an anonymous user, the IP address may be banned for 30 minutes or until the user stops attempting to vandalize. IP addresses (Knox IP addresses, mainly) should not be banned permanently because many users often share the same address. 

==Obscenity and taste==
Content on The Wiki Fire is governed by the concept of [[Project:Consensus|consensus]]. This means that the value of potentially obscene content is governed by those who read the pages and see the content. If the content is completely unrelated and unnecessary, then it will not likely last long. If it is relevant, then the community will likely defend it.
===Disputes===
If there is a dispute over an issue of taste, it should be settled on the discussion page for the article where the dispute has occurred. Through an intelligent conversation with the site's users, a responsible decision should be made that can be considered consensus.

== Creative Commons — mostly free information ==

This site retains few rights to anything published here. Under a [http://creativecommons.org Creative Commons] license, anything written or uploaded on this site can be used by anybody for any use they see fit (as long it is attributed). In this way, it is almost completely free information. All software used to create this site is open-source and free, as well.

== Ownership ==

Who should own The Wiki Fire? How should it be organized? Someone has to pay $120 a year ... how should that be handled?

At the moment, the site is owned by [[User:Tfooq|Tom Fucoloro]].

If anybody would like to take the initiative to establish [[The Wiki Fire]] as a not-for-profit entity, e-mail [mailto:editor@thewikifire.org the editor].

[[Category:The Wiki Fire]]
[[Category:Policies]]