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On the Zelda Wiki, we have rules to ensure that everyone here can feel safe and that work on the wiki can always be productive. This article is about the general rules of the wiki, the consequences of breaking them, and how you can prevent yourself from breaking them. If you wish to read the rules on how to ''edit'' the wiki with proper formatting, see the [[Guidelines:Main|Guideline pages]]. On top of these rules, you must also make sure that you are at least 13 years old, follow user conduct, and do not engage in {{Wp|Sock puppet account|sockpuppetry}}.

==Basic Rules==
# '''Keep it civil''': Follow the [[Guidelines:Code of Conduct|Code of Conduct]]. Do not make personal attacks on other people. If you wish to criticize another user's argument or provide constructive feedback towards their work, do so without displaying hostile behavior. Do not use bigoted language, including slurs that degrade another person or group of people based on gender, race, sexual orientation, nationality, religion, etc. Remember that the internet is a public place, so act like you would in the real-world.
# '''Be a productive member of the wiki''': Contribute to the wiki in line with the [[Guidelines:Main|established processes and conventions]]. Need help? Ask an [[Zelda Wiki:Staff#Current Staff|administrator]]! Disrupting the wiki with “[[#Edit Warring|edit warring]]” over differing opinions of a topic with another user or group of users is not productive.
# '''Do not engage in excessive self-promotion''': The wiki is a collaborative community resource for the topic at hand. It is ''NOT'' a free place to advertise your related website, YouTube channel, blog, social media account, etc. Have a question about whether your link would be welcome? Ask an administrator!
# '''Do not harass other users''': If somebody asks you to stop posting certain content on their wall, respect their wishes. It is their wall. Do not directly annoy or disrespect another user through their talk page or your own.
# '''Follow community guidelines for formatting''': All users should format their content in the style listed by the Guidelines. A full list of guidelines for each individual topic can be found [[Guidelines:Main#List of Guidelines|here]]. Any mistakes made simply because someone did not understand the guidelines or was not aware of them will not have bad consequences, and the person will be given additional help in formatting their content. You don't need to be perfect, but basing your content on the standards can help the flow of the wiki.

If you have any questions about these rules, we ask that you please contact us on our <span class="plainlinks">[https://discord.gg/eJnnvYb Discord server]</span>! We can respond quicker on Discord, but if you are not able to use Discord, we will still respond to our talk pages. See the [[Zelda Wiki:Staff#Current Staff|staff list]] for whom to contact! Or, on the Discord server, look for anyone with the <code>@Wiki Staff</code> role!

==Individual Rules==
This section will highlight each offense and its severity and block times or warnings for each offense. Each offense also has an explanation about the offense and how to prevent it, which can be found below the table. (Click on each offense to quickly scroll down to the respective explanation!)
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center; width:80%;"
!style="width:20%"|Level
!style="width:20%"|Offense
!First Offense
!Second Offense
!Third Offense
!Subsequent Offense(s)
|-
|style="background-color:#baba00"|Minor
|[[#Edit Warring|Edit Warring]]
|Warning
|1 Week Ban
|2 Week Ban
|{{Small|Double the previous ban time}}
|-
|style="background-color:#baba00"|Minor
|[[#Ignoring Staff|Ignoring Rule-Based Directives from Staff]]
|Warning
|1 Week Ban
|2 Week Ban
|{{Small|Double the previous ban time}}
|-
|style="background-color:#baba00"|Minor
|[[#Impersonating Staff|Impersonating a Staff Member]]
|Warning
|1 Week Ban
|2 Week Ban
|{{Small|Double the previous ban time}}
|-
|style="background-color:#baba00"|Minor
|[[#Non-Zelda|Posting/Writing About Non-Zelda Content]]
|Warning
|1 Week Ban
|2 Week Ban
|{{Small|Double the previous ban time}}
|-
|style="background-color:#ba5d00"|Major
|[[#Ads|Advertising]]
|Warning<br>{{Small|(May be skipped)}}
|2 Week Ban
|1 Month Ban
|Permanent Ban
|-
|style="background-color:#ba5d00"|Major
|[[#Plagiarism|Plagiarism]]
|Warning
|2 Week Ban
|1 Month Ban
|Permanent Ban
|-
|style="background-color:#ba0000"|Severe
|[[#Harassing Others|Harassing Others]]
|Warning
|2 Week Ban
|1 Month Ban
|Permanent Ban
|-
|style="background-color:#ba0000"|Severe
|[[#NSFW|Posting '''N'''ot '''S'''afe '''F'''or '''W'''ork Content]]
|Permanent Ban
|−
|−
|−
|-
|style="background-color:#ba0000"|Severe
|[[#Vandalism|Vandalism]]
|Warning<br>{{Small|(May be skipped)}}
|2 Week Ban
|1 Month Ban
|Permanent Ban
|-
|style="background-color:#ba0000"|Severe
|[[#Sockpuppetry|Sockpuppetry]]
|Permanent Ban on sock puppet account and 2 week ban on main account
|Permanent Ban on both accounts
|−
|−
|}

===Explanations===
:{{Section|Edit Warring|'''''Edit Warring'''''}} — Two or more users that continuously undo each others' edits in an argument is considered {{Wp|Wikipedia:Edit Warring|Edit Warring}}. An edit war is designated after an edit is undone and redone three times consecutively. A staff member should be contacted in order to resolve the situation before it gets out of hand.
:{{Section|Ignoring Staff|'''''Ignoring Rule-Based Directives from Staff'''''}} — If a user is aware of a certain rule but blatantly goes against it. This is different from a new user not understanding different rules or guidelines, and directions will be given in that matter. This is where a user directly goes against what a staff member has asked them to do. This includes {{Wp|Block (Internet)#Evasion|Ban Evading}}, in which a user attempts to get around a ban or shorten their ban time without an [[#Revoking Bans|Appeal]]. This one is easy to avoid: cooperate with the Staff! If you don't agree with the Staff, voice your opinion! We want as much feedback as possible, but what we don't want is people being rude.
:{{Section|Impersonating Staff|'''''Impersonating a Staff Member'''''}} — Pretending to be a staff member or pretending to have authority over others when you do not. This includes spreading blatantly false information about the wiki anywhere.
:{{Section|Non-Zelda|'''''Posting/Writing About Non-Zelda Content'''''}} — Posting about content that is not relating to Zelda can be counted as an offense. Accidents happen, and warnings are given first before action is taken. If you are unsure if your content is about Zelda, ask another editor! This can be seen as the lightest version of vandalism because of the way that this can be accidental or writing about something that doesn't relate entirely to Zelda, instead of outright spamming and gibberish.
:{{Section|Ads|'''''Advertising'''''}} — Any links or redirects to other media that are not used for citations or interwiki links. If you are unsure about your link being classified as an advertisement, ask a staff member! Most links relating to news articles or videos relating to Nintendo are usually allowed, as long as it relates to the wiki article. Mass-spamming advertisements across the wiki will instead be counted as [[#Vandalism|vandalism]] and a warning may be skipped. If you would like a place to post a link to your YouTube channel, Twitter, or any other website, you may post it on your [[Special:MyPage|user page]]. The links on your user page ‘’’cannot’’’ be scams, NSFW content, or have illegal products.
:{{Section|Plagiarism|'''''Plagiarism'''''}} — Any content that you write on the wiki should be your own content or content that is ''based'' on other content. {{Wp|Plagiarizing}} (i.e. copy-pasting) content is where content that another author wrote is directly copied and saved on the wiki. Basing your content on another's writing is accepted, but you must make sure that your own writing doesn't directly copy that author. The most common offense is taking content from other wikis, which is also not accepted under plagiarism. The easiest way to avoid this: write things yourself! If you don't feel confident in your own writing, or if you don't have the time to do all your own writing, feel free to send any info you have to another editor! The same goes for images: all images that you upload must be [[Guidelines:Files#Sourcing|sourced]] correctly. Uploading files as your own work falls under plagiarism, so make sure all of your images are properly sourced. Ask another editor if you need help with sourcing your image!
:{{Section|Harassing Others|'''''Harassing Others'''''}} — Be civil. Do not purposefully attempt to annoy, anger, or make someone uncomfortable in any situation. If a conflict emerges, stay civil and ask for a staff member to solve the problem. Do '''NOT''' attempt to continue pressuring either the staff who made the decision or the other person involved in the discussion. Further pressing on the question can fall under both ignoring staff '''and''' harassing others!
:{{Section|NSFW|'''''Posting NSFW Content'''''}} — Separated from Non-Zelda content and vandalism, posting {{Wp|Not safe for work|'''N'''ot '''S'''afe '''F'''or '''W'''ork}} content is strictly forbidden. Immediate action will be taken, and NO warnings will be given before a permanent ban is given. NSFW content involves any media that isn't safe or appropriate for the general public, hence the name Not Safe For Work.
:{{Section|Vandalism|'''''Vandalism'''''}} — Adding/replacing content with gibberish, blatantly false information, or anything generally unhelpful. This is different from Non-Zelda Content and NSFW in the way that this is not trying to add things from different media, but just outright spamming. If you see an article that got attacked, send a message to another editor! You can also make use of the undo function to rid of the vandalism, but you will also want another editor to help check to make sure everything is back to normal. If a user is attacking the wiki and mass-vandalizing pages, then a warning may be skipped and a second-offense ban will be issued in order to stop the user from vandalizing more pages.
:{{Section|Sockpuppetry|'''''Sockpuppetry'''''}} — Creating a sock puppet account (or {{Wp|throwaway account}}) to break any of the above rules under disguise. Please see the {{Wp|Sock puppet account|wikipedia article}} for more info.

===Warnings===
Warnings are messages that staff members will send editors when they break a rule. Warnings will be sent on the user's [[Help:Talk Pages|talk page]] to lay out what they did wrong and how they can fix it, along with a way to appeal the warning if they feel like they were warned unfairly. If you receive a warning, please stay civil even if you believe the warning was unfair; any disputes you have can be taken up with Staff through [[#How to Appeal|Appeals]]. Warnings should always be given before a ban, and any ban without warning is immediate cause for appeal, unless the offense specifies that a warning may be skipped.

==Revoking Bans==
If you have been warned for an offense, you will be given a six-month period to try your best to not make the offense again. Not making any offenses in that time period will remove that warning, and we will see your offense as a one-time mess up or accident that won't affect you anymore. If in that time you do make the same offense, then the second action will be taken and your time period will be extended to one year. After a third offense, the period will become indefinite and you cannot revoke your warnings without an appeal (see below). There shouldn't be any reason that someone makes it to the fourth offense, so we have given people many ways to stay out of that area.

===How to Appeal===
If you feel that you have been banned unfairly, your talk page should still be open for you to edit and appeal. If your profile is locked, it is probably because you committed an offense harsh enough to not deserve an appeal. Otherwise, appealing is an option for unfair bans. First, you must understand the requirements for appealing a ban:
#The ban must be longer than a 2-week period.
#You must have read the warnings that you were given and understand why exactly you were banned. If you start your appeal with "Why was I banned" your appeal will not be reviewed.
#You must have read over the rules above and understand the correct block times for which offense you made.

If you meet all of the requirements, you can choose one of these two ways to appeal to your ban: through [[#Appealing on Discord|Discord]] or through [[#Appealing on the Website|Zelda Wiki]]. Your appeal will be taken and discussed with all the staff members, and any decision that the team makes is final. If the team chooses to not accept your appeal, you may not make any more appeals afterward. (Doing so may be taken as harassing and annoying; don't dig yourself into a hole!) If the team accepts your appeal, your ban or warning be removed and any warnings will be revoked for as many as the team decides.

====Appealing on Discord====
You may join our <span class="plainlinks">[https://discord.gg/eJnnvYb Discord server]</span> and appeal your ban to one of the staff members. '''MAKE SURE that you are Direct Messaging a WIKI STAFF member and not a COMMUNITY STAFF member.''' Some staff are both, so if you click on someone and they have the "Wiki Staff" role, then they are someone that you may contact. Any staff that is on the [[Zelda Wiki:Staff List|Staff List]] should also be on the server, so you may contact one of them.

You should DM a Staff Member this information:
#Your Zelda Wiki username
#What you were banned for and how long
#A link to your talk page or wherever the warning was given
#Why you feel that the ban should be revoked

You may copy and paste this format into Discord and fill in the blanks for ease of communication:
<pre>
__**Wiki Username**__
USERNAME

__**Ban Reason/Length**__
I was banned for REASON for TIME

__**Warnings I was given**__
https://zeldapedia.wiki/wiki/User_talk:  <-- YOUR USERNAME HERE

__**Appeal**__
Type here everything you may have: unclear warnings, unclear rules, anything that you feel that made your ban unfair.
</pre>

[[File:ZW Discord Ban Appeal Example.png|thumb|left|750px|What a Ban Appeal should look like on Discord, using the format above|link=]]
{{Clear}}

====Appealing on the Website====
To appeal to your ban on the Zelda Wiki, you may create a new section on your talk page labeled "''REASON'' Ban Appeal" and include the time that you were banned for. You may write about why you think the ban was unfair, but remember to stay civil and remember that you are talking to actual people. A staff member should respond to your appeal within 48 hours, and in the event that it gets missed, feel free to contact a staff member on their talk page about the appeal. However, please give the team 48 hours to review your appeal or at the very least respond to let you know that it is in review.