From Rrules

also see RRules Formatting Manual

The RRules wiki is a web-based, mass collaboration, free content Parenting Guide and Teen Handbook. The RRules wiki is written by user volunteers and can be edited and voted on by anyone who logs in. At RRules, we know that we cater to many underage teen users and we are, therefore, very serious about maintaining the integrity, appropriateness and safety of our articles for our users.

We are striving to build a usable, and reliable information source for all parents and teenagers and, therefore, all users must abide by the editing policies and guidelines outlined in this document.

We rely heavily upon users to alert the RRules admin to articles that have been defaced. We have also created a teen and parent Moderators force to help monitor all articles and new content that is being put up.

Although we will have volunteer monitors as well as RRules staff governing the wiki, the governance can be inconsistent. Please be patient with us, as we work out disagreements on particular articles or issues. We have attempted here to explicitly state rules, yet many users believe that written rules are inadequate to cover every possible variation of problematic or disruptive behavior.

A user who acts in violation of these rules or contrary to the ideas of our written policies may be reprimanded, even if technically no rule has been violated. Those who edit and write articles in good faith, show civility, seek consensus, and work towards the goal of creating the ultimate comprehensive parenting guide and teen handbook should find a welcoming and community environment.

Key Policies:

1. Differentiation between fact and opinion:  When fact statements are written (have no notification in front of the sentence/paragraph), they should be written from a neutral point of view, representing views fairly, proportionately and without bias. Facts should be referenced or supported. Sentences without notation are deemed fact and these types of sentences should be appropriate for an encyclopedia. Therefore, when writing facts you can refer to Wikipedia’s Neutral point of view, words to avoid, and Verifiability articles. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Neutral_point_of_view.

If advice or tips wish to be given, they must be clearly marked by the word “Tip:" or “Advice:” These should not be personal stories, they should not be in the first person and should not use words like ironically, sadly, so-called, fortunately, fundamentally or naturally.

Advice should be direct and to the point and is most beneficial with clear reasoning for it stated. If you would like to add personal convictions or stories, you may enter in a blog plug-in (see RRules Formatting Manual) and write on the blog within the wiki. Users will then understand it is specifically your point of view and is within a contained area.


2. Respect other contributors and their opinions. RRules users come from many different countries and cultures, and have widely different views on parenting and teen lifestyles. Treating others with respect is key to collaborating effectively.
If you do not agree with a piece of Advice or Tip, you may not delete a piece of advice. You may:

a. Install a “Vote!” mechanism and vote against the tip.
b. Write an alternative tip or piece of advice that is not the opposite of the original tip, but rather an alternative or different option that users could try.
For example: If you disagree with the following tip:
Tip: To connect more with your teenager, do not ask About their day right when they get home from school.

You could not write alongside this tip:

Tip: To connect more with your teenager, ask questions about their day when they get home from school.

or you could write another option still with your same principles:

 

Tip: To connect with your teenager, discuss your day with them when they get home from school.

This way, there are not contradictory pieces of advice saying the same thing all over the RRules wiki. This is why we have the voting mechanisms, so a piece of advice can be given and then users can see how others feel about it.

*If you see a pair of contradictory tips, it is important to erase one and install a “Vote!” feature in its place.


3. RRules is meant to help parents and teenagers lead happier, safer, and healthier lives. Material that does not fit this goal must be removed by admin.

*If you feel that a something on an article is offensive or goes against these goals, you can alert an admin and post on the discussion page of the article. A panel will assess whether or not the discrepancy is actually against the community’s goals and will consequently be erased or maintained.

*When in doubt, take it to the talk page. We have all the time in the world. Mutual respect is the guiding behavioural principle of RRules and, although everyone knows that their writing may be edited, it is easier to accept changes if the reasons for them are understood. If you discuss changes on the article's discussion page before you make them, you should reach consensus faster.

*Clear edit summaries and straightforward and transparent explanations are universally appreciated. Other editors need to understand your process, and it also helps you yourself to understand what you did after a long leave of absence from an article. Please state what you changed and why.

*Comment on content, not on the contributor. Personal attacks damage the community and deter users. Nobody likes abuse.


4. Respect copyrights. The RRules Wiki is a free guide licensed under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. If you are writing the ideas of others, you must credit them.


5. Strict code of conduct:  The RRules wiki is a place where teenagers and parents can get along anonymously and in their own space. Therefore, it is crucial to respect other RRulers even when you may not agree with them. All users must be civil and avoid personal attacks. Edit wars will not be tolerated. An edit war is when two or more contributors repeatedly revert one another's edits to an article. An editor must not perform more than three reverts of the same piece of information. Act in good faith, never disrupt RRules to illustrate a point, and assume good faith on the part of others. Be open and welcoming.

*If you are posting anything on the RRules wiki, you are allowing others to modify, vote or comment on it.

*Do not use multiple accounts to create the illusion of greater support for an issue, to mislead others, or to circumvent a block; nor ask your friends to create accounts to support you or anyone.

*Choose a neutral username that you'll be happy with. You can usually change your name if you need to by asking, but you can't delete it.

*Vandalism is any addition, deletion, or change to content made in a deliberate attempt to compromise the integrity of the guide. It is, and needs to be, removed from the RRules wiki.

*Promotion and Advertising: There are spaces for advertisements alongside articles. If you wish to advertise on our site you must use these ad spaces. Posting about products, places and services is encouraged, but these must appear on specific product pages with the appropriate neutral languages, and voting statements. Products pages may NOT be a single push for or against a certain product. The wiki is a forum for all users to judge the products and services they like, and therefore positive and negative comments need to be encouraged.

*Naming conventions: Generally, article naming should give priority to what the majority of English speakers worldwide would most easily recognize, with a reasonable minimum of ambiguity, while at the same time making linking to those articles easy and second nature.

* Deletion policy: Deleting articles requires an administrator. The RRules team reserves the right to speedily delete an article temporarily in cases of exceptional controversy. Page revisions can be deleted for legal reasons. An article can be proposed for deletion by a user, though once only.

*Banning policy: Extremely disruptive users may be banned from RRules. Please respect these bans, don't bait banned users and don't help them out. Bans can be appealed to the RRules admin, depending on the nature of the ban.

* Blocking policy: Disruptive users can be blocked from editing for short or long amounts of time.

*Locking Articles: If a particular article is controversial, has had many revert edits or the RRules admin decides locking is appropriate, admin can lock an article from further changes until the disruption has been resolved.

*Spoilers: RRules contains spoilers. There is generally no need to warn readers of this.

*Avoid statements that will date quickly.

*Disambiguation: If an article's name is very similar to another, make a note at the top. If many articles share a name, create a disambiguation page.

*Build the web: Link articles sideways to neighbours, and upwards to categories and contexts to create a useful web of information.

*Please do not bite the newcomers: Many new contributors lack knowledge about RRules policies. But always understand that new contributors are prospective "members" and, are therefore, our most valuable resource.

*We are not a Dictionary: many slang words used today can be deemed inappropriate in nature and definition. These words can be discussed for informational purposes, but a page cannot contain the simple definition of the word. These articles should be deleted or expanded upon to go beyond the definition.


6. Words and Images to Avoid

 There is probably not a word that should never be used in the RRules Wiki. However, most inappropriate words can be replaced for appropriate ones. Bad or inappropriate words can, if misused, convey different meanings than intended and offend other users. Poorly chosen words may subtly promote a point of view or may be unintentionally pejorative.

Words and images that might be considered offensive, profane, derogatory or obscene by other RRules readers should be used if, and only if, their omission would cause the article to be less informative, relevant, or accurate, and no equally suitable alternatives are available.

Since we want to distinguish inappropriate or profane words from socially acceptable words for our younger users, we ask that profane words be placed in these brackets. In this way, users will understand that this word is only being used because there is no substitutes and is merely used for instructional purposes.

If profanity is discovered by users or admin, this person can post on the discussion page, place the quote in the brackets or, if it is extremely inappropriate or could be considered vandalism, can be deleted and replaced with the words .

*Users should also avoid unnecessary jargon and local slang unless for a specific purpose and except for technical terminology when appropriate to the subject.

* Time Words: Unless used in specific contexts, or quotes, the meaning of some words will change with time. Be careful when using words like: yesterday, today, tomorrow, last/this/next week/month/year, recent(ly), current(ly), imminent(ly)/soon, now.

Article Writing Style:

 In terms of styles, headings, bullets and spacing, wiki language can get a bit confusing. Wikipedia has a great guide to writing better articles:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Guide_to_writing_better_articles