Difference between revisions of "The Wiki Fire:Code of Ethics"

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== Editorial power ==
 
== 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".
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This site has an ever-changing and growing team of editors, similar to that of [http://www.wikipedia.org Wikipedia]. [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]].
 
[[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]].

Revision as of 10:35, 22 May 2007

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.

Pages about members of our community

Main article: The Wiki Fire:Policy on people

It it obvious that 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; and 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

As the creator, I would like The Wiki Fire to be a positive source of free information. However, what I want the most is for this wiki to reflect its community, and not everything in this community is positive.

Therefore, what (if any) guidelines should we as a community of contributers aim for concerning the mood of this site? Please add ideas.

  • 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 facts instead of mere opinions.
  • 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 WikiFire isn't an exposé. If people start getting in trouble because of things on WikiFire, 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 Wikipedia. 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 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 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.

Creative Commons — mostly free information

This site retains few rights to anything published here. Under a Creative Commons license, anything written or uploaded on this site can be used by anybody for any use they see fit. In this way, it is completely free information. All software used to create this site is open-source, as well.

However, should the information be completely open to public use? For example, there are Creative Commons licenses that prevent the use of the material for commercial purposes. Should The Wiki Fire prevent this as well? I do not think so, but the debate is open to the community. If there is enough objection, this can be changed.

Ownership

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

If anybody would like to take the initiative to establish The Wiki Fire as a not-for-profit entity, e-mail the editor.