GetMeta:Policy

general policies

1. Academic Freedom: GetWiki is a limited range "Encyclopedia-Primer" along with original works, and is not limited by the "community" concerns of other wiki encyclopedias. GetWiki should primarily be used for discussing and developing documents on intellectual and technical topics, including peer-reviewing them when desired. Discussions on talk pages should be about improving articles, which leads to better articles, arguments or software. Discussions elsewhere should be cordial, but free.
2. Choosing Articles: Look for opportunities to extend GetWiki by creating new theoretical and intellectual articles, ebooks, papers, and discussions in the Humanities, Arts, Sciences and Technology and by only importing articles in these fields which you plan to "fork", adapt, or tightly integrate into GetWiki. Simply importing pages from another wiki, especially the disorganized Wikipedia, isn't useful here - we do not want to be another Wikinfo. We want unique, well-maintained subject matter no other wiki can, or is unlikely to, have, with original works presented alongside.
3. Point of View: Make sure the main subject in a given article (eg. [[Article]]) "posits" something useful and true. Articles should be written with a Positive Point of View, and differing views are welcome either in sections of the article, on the article's counterpart "critical" page (eg. [[Against Article]]) or even in disussions (eg. [[Forum:Article]]) in the Forum namespace.
4. Titling Articles and Headings: Title acronyms are acceptable and encouraged, as GetWiki is a metawiki on the Humanities and Sciences, generally intellectual and technical issues, and our limited encylopedia-primer pages can use short titles. Our readers may already be familiar with terms like "PHP" or "QED". Wikipedia-style disambiguation is not strictly necessary, and commonly accepted lingo from the various subjects is welcome, even in using "C" instead of "C Programming Language". Titles should also follow "academic" or "Chicago" style and usage (ie. "Book Title in Philosophy", or "New Theory of Logic"), while CamelCase, or a stylized usage (such as Proteus' tendency to small caps in headings) are fine. Bad Wiki habits (ie. "Book title in philosophy", or "New theoryof logic", or "C programming language") must be avoided, and pages will be moved or merged with others to reflect easier to read titles and to avoid confusing messes of repetitive articles.
5. Multiple Wikis: GetWiki imports articles via XML from Wikipedia and Wikinfo, but editors are encouraged to manually import available articles from any other wiki where appropriate. Generally, imports should be used as raw material for GetWiki papers, ebooks and discussions, rather than merely to increase the GetWiki database (we're not going for quantity, but quality).
6. Don't Get Personal: Respect other contributors. By treating others with respect we are able to coöperate effectively in building a Wiki. Observe general Netiquette. Repeated trolling, flaming and vandalism will not be tolerated, and will result in immediate reverts and long term bans.
7. Don't Plagiarize Work: Do not infringe anyone's copyrights. Submitting work without the copyright holder's permission could lead to legal liability for the project or for you. See Copyrights for more information.
8. Added Protection: GetWiki offers protection for some texts, similar to Wikinfo's "signed articles". If you have a paper or short ebook on a relevant subject and you would like to have it presented on GetWiki, you can request via GetWiki mail the page be protected by a sysop, who will review your work(s) for potential issues and then protect the page(s), thus blocking casual editing.
9. Technical Lingo: Generally follow typical wiki and internet discussion forum convention, but for GetWiki, technical lingo and terms are welcome, and can even be helpful. Many contributors are familiar with how wikis work, and this is a metawiki after all.
10. Using Accounts: GetWiki requires you register an account with a unique email address and login to edit any page. Blocked usernames, IP addresses or ranges, prevent editing, account registration, and file uploads, even if you are otherwise a registered user who is not blocked.

kudos and peeves

• It truly doesn't matter how they do it on Wikipedia
• Use "show preview", instead of saving multiple minor changes in a row
• Go ahead and update pages, either by section or by reimporting
• Integrate changes instead of just talking or complaining about them...really
• Keep Category and Facet titles short, to one or two words
• Sign your posts on talk and requested protected pages
• Follow the formatting given on a page
• Allow that your text or formatting may, and can, be edited
• Beware of flames and libel, personal attacks, or trolling
• Avoid inappropriate usernames, as they may be edited or removed
• Jargon is welcome, but establish context where necesary
• Put your real thoughts into the articles, not the edit summaries
• Use clear citations of your sources, where applicable
• Avoid excessive links to non-existent, or similar, articles
• Observe generally accepted academic/journalistic style and editing guidelines
• Build the wiki and make articles useful to experts as well as laypeople

area needs

editors and administrators

We are all contributors, and thus, Editors, while "Developers", "Sysops" and "Admins" are collectively referred to as Administrators.

• Editors monitor recent changes and make copyedits and corrections to the content and format problems they see.
• Developers have access to some database/website functions, and can lock the database to prevent edits or to make technical changes.
• Sysops (and only someone with Sysop status) can step in and ban an Editor who has vandalized or spammed, and can delete or move pages and images.
• Admins can monitor private information and promote/demote other Editors (based on work/discussion here, not elsewhere).

All of us should work together in an honest, supportive way toward the goals above, but free speech is a hallmark of this wiki. Some Editors may become an Administrator through consistent and fair discussions and useful contributions, and there is no posting threshold or particular benchmark for promotion. Editors may also be relieved of their Administrator designations if they clearly disregard Policy, and there is no particular test for such demotion. Editors can discuss, even to challenge, any action taken by any Administrator, and the Administrator must consider the views expressed and whether or not to reverse it.

issue resolution

All matters should be addressed to an Administrator, either on their talk page, or preferably, through email. Make your best efforts to explain the issue and allow time for its resolution. Policies on GetWiki have been adapted from online experience on many internet forums, wikis, and common sense. The policies here on GetWiki are an attempt to improve bad habits found elsewhere, but mainly to avoid domineering practices (knee-jerk bans, "Thought Police" bullying), in favour of a more welcoming and useful environment for everyone. Still, please note that free speech is to be preserved here: We don't ban, demote or moralize Editors for expressing opinions, unless they become personal, vandalistic, spam-like, or violent, and only if they do so on this wiki.

GetWiki uses accounts and high security standards for its open content, rather than rely on the measures taken by some wikis to revert articles and discover "sock puppet" accounts. Because of the problems involved with allowing non-registered users to edit, and blocked users with autoblocked IP addresses to still create new accounts, GetWiki blocks non-account editing and uploads by default, as well as new account creation from blocked IP addresses or ranges. GetWiki also uses a blacklist to prevent "link spam" inserted into articles, and Sysops have the abibility to rollback all current edits (and delete all non-edited pages) made by a proven spammer/vandal.

wiki resources

GetWiki is not affiliated with any of the Wikis below.

• CommunityWiki, WardsWiki
• WikiSphere, Wiki

Some content adapted from the Wikinfo article "Wikinfo:Policies and guidelines" under the GNU Free Documentation License.