Villains Wiki:Rules

As a community we at Villains Wiki value our contributors and have managed to build a sizable following, however as with all communities there are a small minority of contributors who either do not wish to play nice or are having difficulty understanding what this Wiki is all about.

These rules will serve to try and help contributors who are confused or needing a little help while also discouraging contributions that are not in the spirit of this Wiki:

General Rules

 * 1) Chain Of Command : Although we are a friendly community we have a "chain of command" with the admins making rules, enforcing rules and keeping order: users contribute and have fun but need to remember admins are not democratic, neither are they tyrants - Admins should be approachable and not completely insane with power but at the same time users must treat admins with the respect you give any authority or expect punishment. It's much like the real-world, you can not walk up to an authority figure and force them to do as you say, empty threats and outright stupidity will only serve to alienate you from the community as a whole - This system may not suit everyone but much like any community we need to acknowledge the fact that contributing is a privilege, not a right and like all privileges it can (and should) be removed if abused.
 * 2) Plagiarism : Whenever possible only post original content - copying directly from other wikis or online sources is plagiarism and is frowned upon by the community as it gives a bad name not only to yourself but to us and can cause copyright dilemmas. Just because something is on the Internet doesn't mean its right (or even legal; plagiarism is a type of theft and stealing is not alright anywhere) to claim it as your own - Articles that are obviously taken from other wikis will be deleted as a matter of principle.
 * 3) Language & Offensive Content : Contributors should be aware that this wiki is PG-13 at best, we do not allow excessive profanity or offensive language - We are a community of mixed age groups and some profanity/offensive terms will crop up but users should not make a habit of using them. It is never acceptable to use extremely offensive language however and users who do so will face punishment. As a general rule the same applies to articles, do not litter articles with offensive language - even articles listed as mature. This may be hard when dealing with extremely controversial media (such as exploitation films or some of the Japan-exclusive manga/anime) but with such things common-sense needs to come into play: Do not go into detail about the gruesome aspects of the character and don't quote their most offensive lines. Try to make the article as "clean" as possible - that way it doesn't come across as being what is known as a "shocker".
 * 4) Grammar : In the same way, remember that articles are meant to be read by people so try making them clear, concise and readable. Few people will frown upon one typing error or two but having hardly readable messes instead of articles is not very enjoyable for anyone. The same thing goes for non-English edits; if possible these types of edits will be translated, but viewers should be aware this is an English-speaking Wikia. There are foreign language wikias elsewhere, including ones of the Villains Wiki (ex. Wiki Villainos).

Behavior

 * 1) Trolls : We have a zero-tolerance when it comes to trolls, whether it be for humor or for harassment - there are plenty of troll sites for that sort of behavior - this is a wiki about villains, not a chan site.
 * 2) Vandalism : Vandals will be banned on sight - much like trolls, we don't really need to explain why. Vandalism is just that.
 * 3) Don't feed the Trolls : If you see a troll/vandal, just report him to an admin and leave him be; don't engage in flamewars with him, you'll be only fueling his desire to cause problems and make it harder for the admins to undo the damage.
 * 4) Harassment/Cyberbullying : Any user who harasses or bullies another will be liable to punishment by admins as they see fit - If you are foolish enough to pick a fight with an admin you'll likely be banned. We are a good-natured wiki but nobody likes a bully, and we are no exception.
 * 5)  Edit-war : Any users who engage in edit-wars will receive a warning and a possible ban, and the article will be locked. Any user can call an admin if another user is undoing his edits for no reason.
 * 6)  Category Spam : Adding categories for the sake of it is counter-productive and considered a charge. When adding categories, users must add them all in one edit. Users who add one category per edit can get in trouble, especially when they do nothing else to contribute to the wiki and add many categories one by one.
 * 7)  Ban Evasion : Got yourself banned? Chances are you deserved it so either wait for your ban to expire or, if you truly believe your ban was undeserved or too severe, contact an admin. Creating sock accounts to evade your ban will only result in all of your accounts to be permanently blocked.
 * 8)  Requesting : It is both annoying and insulting when a user shows up only to say things like "Why nobody made 'X' page yet?" or "Please make a page for 'X'", so please do not go harassing other users asking them to do things for you. If you think there should be a page for a particular character, by all means go ahead and make it.

Content

 * 1) Only add official information : Any media have more than enough information that you may need for creating an article. Do not make stuff up and especially do not add things that have nothing to do with the character in question. Fan-theories and mass guessing can go into a separate trivia section.
 * 2) No articles on upcoming media/leaked info : Do not create any article on villains from upcoming media, be it movies, games or anything else. Not only this could figure huge spoilers, we would never be able to determine the veracity of the information on such pages which could be nothing more than speculation.
 * 3) No "One-line" articles : There is just no excuse for laziness. Articles with little to no content (only a single paragraph or just a picture without any text) will be deleted on sight. If a user only makes articles like this he/she will be warned. (Please write 5 or more sentences to make a complete page.)
 * 4) No Fan-Creations : This wiki is for legitimate villains from every existing media, however for sake of variety we will accept villains from original web content that is NOT OF YOUR OWN CREATION. Characters like Weegee and Pinkie Pie will be allowed to slide because they have enough infamy. In order to count, the character in question must either be well-known across the Internet (for example: found on http://knowyourmeme.com/), have multiple videos by a neutral party (NOT yourself), and be an ACTUAL CHARACTER - we won't be accepting "demonized" characters and/or characters which only exist as random image macros around the internet, basically anything that doesn't have a story/plot attached to it. If you have questions about a particular character, CONTACT AN ADMINISTRATOR. In regards to fan-fiction on Youtube, that which is made by non-authors is valid, if it has more than one video proving it is popular beyond a single instance. We have an entirely separate Page wiki just for this.
 * 5) No Articles on Minor Enemies/Generic Thugs : Please, you do not have to make an article on every single enemy which appears on a game, the gaming Wikias exist for that. Instead we will limit our articles to organizations, named villains and plot-relevant boss characters. In short, do NOT add numerous pages for a single enemy when it would save time and space by merging them into a single article.
 * 6) No Real-Life Villains : Our wiki focuses exclusively on fictional villains. For any criminal that lived or still lives, go to "Real-Life Villains Wiki". Articles found about real-life villains will get deleted on sight.
 * 7) Do Not Recreate Deleted Articles / Categories : As a general rule when an admin deletes an article or category it cannot be recreated without admin approval. However if you can provide a valid reason to do so you may proceed - users who recreate deleted articles/categories without a valid reason however risk punishment.
 * 8) No Span Tags, No Nowiki, and no Null/Empty Tags : A general rule that prohibits Span tags (which interferes with any article's data and loading, causes terrible slowness when zooming and moving the page, are a possible and visible sign of plagiarism in Source Mode, and they are generic containers which have no special meaning at all) and Null/Empty tags (which are empty tags, interferes with any article's data and loading, causes terrible slowness when zooming and moving the page and generic containers which have no special meaning at all.
 * 9)  Antagonistic Scale : Abuse of the antagonistic scale, or as it is otherwise called "antagonist fussing" is frowned upon here. Conflicting over the scale (etc. "main/secondary/tertiary antagonist, true main antagonist") falls under edit warring and will not be tolerated and adding "misinformation campaigns/plots" clogs up the wiki and is prohibited. More information can be found on this blog .

Links, Pictures & Misc. Items

 * 1) General rules : We allow users to post links, funny pictures and "fun" items but within reason - Do not provide links to pornographic sites (rule 34 counts, just so you know) and do not upload pictures that are overly offensive. "Fun" items should only be posted into userpages or talkpages - Do not add them to main articles unless you have a good reason to do so.
 * 2) Do not add too many pictures : Not only this isn't a photo-sharing site, most users who visit here don't have super fast connections. Twenty pictures is more than enough for any article, there is no need to put hundreds of pictures. Also, keep in mind that pictures are meant to illustrate the article and provide an image of what is described. Voiding the page of pictures and putting a overly long gallery will only make your article hard to read.
 * 3) Do not add too many videos : Much like the above. Five videos is a good enough limit.
 * 4) No Fan-art allowed : Only add official art on articles (screenshots, concept art, promotional art, etc). This wiki isn't DeviantART, and posting fan-art made by others is copyright infringement. Special cases can be taken into consideration (a render of an organization's symbol, or if you just cannot find a decent official picture by any means).
 * 5) WATCH FOR THE FILE'S NAME : It is a big hassle when someone uploads a picture and overwrites a previous one which is being used in another article, so PLEASE rename your files before uploading them if a file with the same name already exists.
 * 6) "Type Of": Always use a short and concise description on the Infobox template's "Type Of" section. Using a category name or a trope name is possible, but clogging it with categories is not only redundant but flooding. Category list belongs in the category list.

Categories

 * 1) NO NEW CATEGORIES: We have far, far too many categories and it is no longer necessary to have any more, users who make new categories shall be warned and blocked if they persist - the ONLY exception is for a franchise we do not have yet, everything else has been done many times and makes the wiki incredibly burdensome for others.
 * 2) Check Categories Beforehand : We have many categories on this wiki, so DO NOT add a page to a category that does not correspond or has been deleted. Finally DO NOT add categories that are already on the list. Do check the category page and then the article's list before doing anything.
 * 3) 20 pages minimum : Categories are meant to group hundreds of pages, twenty at the very least. Only create a new category if you can fill it with a minimum of 20 pages. New categories that don't fit this criteria will be marked for deletion.
 * 4) No categories on copyright holders : Characters are associated with the franchises they belong to, not to whoever holds the rights over them, especially since copyright holders tend to change when IP's are bought over or the holder goes bankrupt. DO NOT create categories for creators, writers, developers, publishers, designers, mangakas, studios, companies, etc. Categories like those will be deleted on sight and the user will get a ban, period. We only allow exceptions when all their creations exist withing the same world or multiverse (such as Marvel or Looney Tunes).
 * 5) Do not put categories on userpages : Categories are meant to categorize REAL pages, as in pages on the "Main" namespace, they're not tags you put on social profiles. As such your userpage is just a special page to introduce yourself, not a social profile page. So do not put any category on your userpage, if an admin sees it he or she WILL remove them.

Villain-specific rules

 * 1) Jerk ≠ Villain : Please be mindful not to add a character to this wiki unless he or she is established as a villain in their setting - although standards vary greatly we do not desire articles concerning minor bullies or rivals unless they show exceptionally cruel and/or immoral traits. Name-calling and just being "nasty" is not enough to make a character valid and such articles risk deletion once found. If you are confused over this topic you may find the Villainous Jerk concept helpful in deciding whether or not a character is valid for this wiki.
 * 2) Flawed Hero ≠ Villain : The number of articles about anti-heroic characters is no longer acceptable - this is a VILLAINS Wiki and we need to keep it that way. A character should have either malicious intent or be actually dangerous to count. From now on "grumpy", "not nice" or "mean" as reasons for a character being here will be ignored and the content erased - start showing us actual deeds that are malicious (and NO, name-calling and minor "bullying" will not count anymore). This is similar to the above rule but will sum up to "just because something offends you does not make it evil / immoral" - from now on PROVE to us the character is criminal, immoral or dangerous, otherwise we will erase it.
 * 3) Antagonist ≠ Villain : Most people tend to confuse these two terms. By definition, antagonist is a character who opposes the protagonist/protagonists, while villain is a wicked character who does evil. While they may overlap, they are completely different things. That being said, do not add pages for antagonists who aren't shown as being evil/wicked, especially if they are good characters or on the side of law.
 * 4) Possessed/Brainwashed : We do not allow articles about heroes who have become "villains" due to brainwashing, possession or other scenario that makes them lose control of their actions (with the only exception being criminal insanity) - characters under a "spell" or hypnotism are victims, they have no control over what they are doing and thus they fail the basic criteria for antagonism (that is, deliberate attempts to cause suffering). The category Possessed/Brainwashed is ONLY meant for villains like Golbez, who USED to be benevolent characters but whose personality changed for the worse due to corruption. So much that they are almost only remembered as the villain they became.
 * 5)  Character-Centered Information Only : As part of a new policy established on this wiki, we now focus on villainous characters only. This means we have forbidden the creation of villainous events, songs, locations, or non-character centered information with certain exceptions. Creation of such tropes like the Villainous Breakdown or the Moral Event Horizon is now forbidden. Such information can be listed on the related villain's page (ex. Maleficent's Castle should be detailed under her own page) and more specific information is to be listed on another wiki entirely.