User:NuclearVII/GWW2:BENIGN

Okay. everything goes.

Be benign

A brief overview

Overtime, two wikis have been developed for Guildwars. The unofficial Gwiki and Official GWWiki. Both wikis have suffered problems of their own, and, even when there was minor conflict, they got along reasonably well with each other. This guideline, among with it's fellow policy MALIGN (not written yet nuke7 ) is designed to harness the strengths of both wikis. To this end, it could be said that BENIGN represents the relaxed and harmonious nature of Gwiki, and MALIGN represents the strong and serious side of GWWiki.

So, what is BENIGN?

Benign is a guideline on how to be good wikian. It is not to be enforced by sysops and admins, but it is to be shown at those breaking it to avoid further drama and sadness. It could be said that it is a philosophy or a way of behavior (not really sure here, might want to change phrasing nuke7 )in GW2W.

How to be benign

1) Editing...

...Articles

1. Reverting: Do not revert out of pure spite. Do not revert out of personal vanity or personal grudges. In fact, try not to revert at all (Vandalism excepted, of course). If you feel that you want to change an article, or bring it back to its original form, bring it up on a talk page. Express clearly why you want to revert, and why you feel that the said article is better of with a reversion. Revert wars, as experienced on many wikis, do not bring victory to either side, only bans.

1. Being Bold: Be bold. There is nothing wrong with it. Make mistakes. Do idiotic things that will send other editors facepalming. Making mistakes, and learning from them is a great thing for the wiki: You gain experience, and the wiki can simply revert the said mistake back without any permanent damage whatsoever.

...Talk pages

1. Signatures: As an user, you undoubtedly will want to customize your signature to a degree. You will want your signature a part of your identity, as other editors will connect that signature with your name. So, if you feel that you should make a masterpiece out of your signature, go right ahead. However, there will be some standards you will have to abide by. Arguably, the most important one is the pixel limit. If your signature is higher than 19 pixels, it will hurt the line spacing and turn the talk page in question a horrible mess. While a microscopic violation (20 pixels) will not be as harmful, try not to push it. Leave it at 19 pixels, and everything will be alright.

Of course, having a disruptive signature is also frowned upon. You will not be subjected to MALIGN if you don't go over board with it (Huge signatures that break pages, big, flashy, blinking texts, pictures of genitalia etc.). When making a signature, keep in mind that you are creating art in a limited space, and the simpler it is, the better it will look.

1. Personal Attacks: Don't. There is absolutely nothing to be gained by it. There are numerous examples in wiki history that prove this. When you feel like you need to warn someone, do a reality check on a "clueless" editor, or even to have fun, try not to offend them. calling them "epic failure", "noobsicle", or even "charr doodoo" is not helping the disscussion. If there is a disagreement that looks to be unresolvable by the participants, politely request an administrator to look at the case. If you feel that the administrator is mistaken as well, ask yourself "Is this getting personal? Am I fighting just for the heck of it?" before running to arbitration committee. Remember, if you resort to personal attacks to prove your point, you only prove that you are an incompetent editor, nothing more.

1. Proving your point: At times, you will disagree with other people. This is nothing uncommon, as we are all unique amongst ourselves. When you feel the need that your ideas and your thoughts are under attack, you will want to defend them. When doing so, you need to keep in mind a few important factors that help this wiki run: First, we are not a democracy. We are a group of people that tend to favor the ideas and opinions that are correct and most civilly defended. In a democracy, you would feel the need to conduct propaganda, attack both the submitter and the idea, and undermine his credibility. In a democracy, you'd call for a vote to resolve an issue, after you have conducted the said propaganda. In this wiki, try not to do neither. Propaganda is usually frowned upon, and voting is only reserved for extreme cases where consensus is reached. When you defend your ideas, do so civilly and clearly, and ask for an administrator to look into the case when the other party resorts to personal attacks. You'll be suprised how fast you get results on this type of community.

1. Language: Swearing is an indication of maturity. When a person swears as if he/she is a 17th century sailor suffering from hysteria, that said person looks like a childish dolt. When a person swears creatively and sparsely, that person looks like a mature, frustrated adult. Needless to say, you'll want the second impression. In other words, think of swearing like chilly sauce: Add to much, and you ruin the meal, but a drop just does it.

EDITOR NOTE: to be continued, feel free to correct grammar, add links, to formatting stuff etc..