Destinypedia:Staff handbook

This page is an official Destinypedia policy.

Of staff

• Be welcoming to new users. Often newbies can be difficult to deal with because of their lack of experience or knowledge of wiki markup. Such users should be dealt with patiently and respectfully. If a newcomer seems to have made a mistake, try to correct it yourself: do not slam the newcomer. A gentle note at their user page explaining the wiki's standard and how to better achieve it in the future may prove helpful, as they may be unfamiliar with the norm or merely how to achieve it. If you use ban new users, have bad manners or curse at them, they may decide not to contribute to the wiki again or may even return as a vandal. Courtesy and professionalism should always be top priority when dealing with rookies.

• If you feel that you must say something to a newcomer about a mistake, please do so in a constructive and respectful manner. Begin by introducing yourself with a greeting on the user's talk page to let them know that they are welcome here, and present your corrections calmly and as a peer - never as a superior. If possible, point out things that they've done correctly or well. Intolerance of newbies due to high expectations is unreasonable and impolite.

• When editing on Destinypedia, it is always best practice to assume good faith. Since the Internet makes it difficult to determine a person's intentions, suspicious edits can very well turn out to be new users testing their abilities, making accidental mistakes, or learning wiki markup. To avoid mistakenly punishing new users with good intentions you should always assume good faith and kindly inform that user of how to properly use editing tools to help them along. If said user persists in a manner deemed nonconstructive to Destinypedia following a warning, they may be banned in accordance with the Blocking policy.

• If you are an administrator or bureaucrat, help mediate disagreements between others users. Do not use your administrative powers to fulfill personal preferences, and administrators should not be biased in their support of any one side in an editing dispute that isn't vandalism. Administrative powers should be used to help keep the wiki clear of vandalism, spam, and users who make malicious edits, but not for simple disagreements between users acting in good faith. If users prove unruly or unreasonable in a matter, an administrator may intervene to quell the issue, but only on a neutral basis.

• Wiki staff should not be considered "in charge". Just because staff members have a few extra keys does not mean they are able to dictate law or push other users around. Staff members should always be well tempered in all respects and never condescending to users of "lesser rank". They should also be careful not to instigate or taunt whether directly or indirectly. Provocative behavior may result in the staff member being demoted.

• Give praise when it's due. Everybody likes to feel appreciated, especially in an environment that often requires compromise. Drop a friendly note on users' talk pages once and a while. Show them you notice their effort and appreciate them.

• When reverting other people's edits, give a rationale for the revert (on the article's talk page, if necessary), and be prepared to enter into an extended discussion over the edits in question. Calmly explaining your thinking to others can often result in their agreeing with you; being dogmatic or uncommunicative evokes the same behavior in others, and gets you embroiled in an edit war. If the edit in question is of no significant consequence and its reversion will cause unnecessary controversy, then the said edit may be left alone. After all, nothing is permanent and can always be changed later.