Help:Editing Etiquette

Editing etiquette is the proper behavior and actions expected of a user here on Zelda Wiki. We understand that fans of The Legend of Zelda are part of a diverse crowd of people: young and old, tall and small, intelligent and illiterate; however, we must uphold a standard of conduct here on the wiki so that every user is not only treated fairly, but treats everyone else as they would expect to be treated. Enumerated below are guidelines as to correct and appropriate wiki behavior; any deviation from these posits may result in corrective action.

Though much editing etiquette falls under common sense, there are several specific situations in which we expect certain behavior of all of our users so that this wiki is a positive, supportive place for everyone to work at.

Assuming Good Faith
All users, excluding vandals and spammers, join this wiki for one purpose: to contribute to the ever-expanding knowledge base this website provides in respect to The Legend of Zelda series. As such, no one's contribution is holier than another's, and no one user has the right to deny another from contributing in any circumstance. There is a strong difference between incompetence and a misinformed contribution - in all cases, we must assume good faith that any contribution a user makes (excluding that of obvious vandals) is for the wiki's benefit. That being said, it is entirely fair for another user to revise a previous editor's work, as long as it too is in the name of improving the wiki. Wikis thrive on constant user contribution; in this way, no user has the right to attack or complain about their work undergoing alteration by other users, unless they are defacing it and by extension, the wiki.
 * Assume that any contribution a user makes is for the wiki's benefit. This excludes obvious vandalism.

Civility
Do your best to be polite at all times. Remember that Zelda Wiki is a fan-site and users are here for their amusement. Everyone must do their best to ensure the site remains a pleasant environment for all. If another user is being uncivil towards you, do not respond in kind. You can always ask an administrator to mediate a dispute.
 * Speak to others as you would like to be spoken to. If another user is being uncivil towards you, it does not give you an excuse to respond in kind.

Civility goes hand in hand with assuming good faith. A user who dedicates his time to working on the site does not deserve to be treated harshly if his or her edits are substandard. Do not be afraid to speak your mind and provide constructive criticism when necessary. However, know that there is a difference between being direct and being harsh. Negative comments such as "this is the worst edit I've ever seen" are not helpful in any way. The staff will not tolerate those who use the wiki to elevate themselves by putting others down. This is especially true for edit summaries. The character limitation forces you to be brief and sometimes even blunt, but that is not an excuse to be deliberately harsh.

Collaboration
Wikis flourish when users band together under a common purpose to tackle projects; these can include the creation of a large page, the reorganization and/or merging of an older one, the uploading of many images, references, etcetra. Due to the collaborative nature of wikis, '''no page can be monopolized by one user or claimed as "his/her work." ''' Anything within a particular user's rights is fair to edit, and as said above, any attempt to prevent users from contributing to a segment of the wiki under construction may lead to corrective action. A popular method of "privatizing an article" is to work on it off-wiki, and when it is finished, the user will return the revision to the wiki, analyze to see if the changes to the page during the interim were more beneficial than theirs, and then submit it to the wiki. The only articles off-limits to typical users are those that are protected.
 * Do not prevent others from editing a page because it is "your work."

Edit Conflicts
Picture this situation - two editors are working on the same page at the same time, perhaps even the same section. Both editors are adding significantly different information to the article, and hit "Save page" at the same time. A rare event called an edit conflict occurs; this blocks both users from submission until one allows the other to submit. During these situations, both editors are expected to discuss their contributions to see how they can coalesce and compromise over the differences. If the editors are working on differing sections of the same article, they simply need to communicate to each other as to who is going to submit at what time to avoid perpetual editing conflicts. Though this seems like common sense, there have been many conflicts on this wiki pertaining to this because editors maintain a sense of "ownership" over their individual work.
 * If there is an edit conflict, both editors should discuss their contributions and see how to make them work together.

Edit Warring
When an edit is reverted, it is natural to feel somewhat offended. However, understand that in most cases it was because your contributions did not meet Zelda Wiki's Quality Standards. In these situations, it is best to talk to the person who reverted your edit, or, if you prefer, to contact an active staff member and ask them to review the edits. Under no circumstances should you re-revert the edit. When two people engage in the activity of undoing one another's edits, it is known as "edit warring." This causes a high amount of unnecessary changes to a page's history and clutters the recent changes.
 * If you feel an edit has been reverted without sufficient reasoning, contact the person on their talk page or contact an active staff member.
 * Keep all discussion civil, and do not use personal attacks when arguing your point.

Edit warring may also come in the form of repeated "back-and-forth" on talk pages where two or more parties engage in slanderous, argumentative, and derogatory behavior while trying to argue their points.

Zelda Wiki has a "zero tolerance policy" on edit warring; anyone participating in such behavior will face an editing ban with a length varying depending on the severity of the situation and the past offenses of the user.