The following Discussion Guidelines are in effect for the Discussions feature of this wiki. Please periodically check these guidelines as they may be updated by admins or moderators as needed. If you have any questions or concerns about these guidelines, please contact an active admin or our designated Discussions moderator, Birdkiller.
The Code of Conduct policy is in effect throughout Discussions. Posts and responses that violate the Code of Conduct will be locked, deleted, or both. Repeatedly violating the Code of Conduct will result in a ban.
Discussions is meant to be a fun, interactive, collaborative tool used to foster community and editing on a Fandom Wiki. We encourage positivity, optimism, assume good faith, and want you to enjoy your time here. We understand the need for a community and are here to offer you a place to discuss and interact. Because this wiki documents real life information, our guidelines are stricter than other wikis to protect you and others.
Many of our Discussion Guidelines revolve around common sense. This means some of our rules aren't explicitly documented here, because they are universally understood to be bad. If a team member identifies behavior that is unacceptable, they are within their right to intervene through whatever means needed even if the violation isn't explicitly documented here as being bad.
Staying on-topic
The biggest thing you can do as a member of Discussions is to stay ON-TOPIC. If you're making a new post and it doesn’t fit into the list below, it's off-topic and should not be posted here. Off-topic posts will be locked or deleted. Repeatedly posting off-topic posts will result in a ban. Discussion posts are on-topic if they:
- Have questions or constructive feedback about any of our articles.
- Suggest new articles that will meet our content requirements (ex. Sourcing Policy and Deletion Policy)
- Discuss identities, orientations, events, or news related to the LGBTQIA+ community, within the guidelines below.
- Introduce yourself or share your LGBTQIA+ themed artwork. (Each user should only post one introduction and otherwise use their User Profile, not re-introduce themselves.)
If someone asks an off-topic question inside a thread (such as, "why did I get a notification for this?") please allow only one user to respond with an answer. There's no reason for a bunch of users to answer the question (often in the same way, indicative of spam) as this causes the threads topic to shift. If you can add more substance to the answer, such as how long the notification will be active, you may do so.
List of rules
- Do not share art outside the general art thread, the most recent one being: this thread. Any art shared in other posts will be deleted.
- All art must be created by you. Any art not created by yourself needs to give credit to the original artist. Users found to be claiming other people's art as their own will be warned and banned if it continues.
- You may introduce yourself to Discussions once. After that, please use your User Profile and don't re-introduce yourself. How a second introduction is handled is up to the team member that spots it.
- Please avoid using alternate fonts and symbols. Our wiki goes to great lengths to ensure accessibility for all users - including those who use screen readers or have visual issues/impairments. The usage of plain text emoticons does not translate well through screen readers. Because they add little to no value themselves, we are comfortable asking you to not use them in the titles of your posts. Their inclusion in the body of a post should be limited. All other symbols are not permitted and will result in your post being removed.
- Do not spam, troll, or otherwise impede on users ability to engage with Discussions. This includes harassment of any kind.
- Advertising other sites, wikis, or services is also considered spam. Links to illegal sites, pirating sites, or torrents is also forbidden.
- If you notice someone is spamming or being a troll, please report it using the Report Post function. You can also tag a team member directly.
- Do not engage with these users. They are baiting you. And your responses are just creating more work for moderators.
- Please only tag a team member about a troll/spammer or inappropriate conduct once per thread, per incident. You don't need to excessively tag every team member in ever reply. We receive notifications through the notification bell, email, and Discord. If we do not respond within a reasonable amount of time, this is because we are offline. We are all busy adults with off-wiki responsibilities, and are mostly volunteers with the exception of a few Fandom staff. We try our best to moderate throughout the day. You can also leave us a message on our Message Wall if you are uncomfortable using the "Report" function or tagging directly in comments.
- Memes of any kind are not allowed on the LGBTQIA+ wiki.
- Scamming is not tolerated. Any attempt to scam a user will result in an infinite ban.
- We do not allow interwiki linking in Discussions, especially other LGBTQIA+ Wikis, as we cannot verify the information found on other wikis. Please do not discuss other LGBTQIA+ themed wikis as that is considered off-topic and inappropriate since we cover the same topic.
- Wikis are NOT your personal dating or relationship service, chat site, or diary. Wikis are PUBLIC. If you are not comfortable with a complete stranger who is significantly younger or older than you reading something you have written, do not write it. Remember, NOTHING here is private. Misusing these Discussions to advertise that you're looking for a partner or "family" will result in a warning and then a ban. This is to protect you and others.
- No discussions about who can and cannot identify as a lesbian, including yourself. There is a lot of discourse about this, and this wiki is not the place to hash it out. We recommend to just read our lesbian article and make up your own mind. For a further explanation of the rule, see the designated thread.
User art
- Do not share art outside the general art thread, the most recent one being: this thread. Any art shared in other posts will be deleted.
- All art not created by yourself needs to give credit to the original artist. Users found to be claiming other people's art as their own will be warned and banned if it continues.
- Users must not use AI (artificial intelligence) to generate their art. If you are found to be using AI art, the post will be deleted and you might be banned.
- Collages are allowed but all art within the collage must be made by you. No stock images.
- All art must be related, in some capacity, to the LGBTQIA+ community.
- All art must be PG-13 or below. Any art depicting violence, illegal, or sexual acts will be deleted. You may be warned or banned for posting such content.
The wiki acknowledges the importance of art and expression in the LGBTQIA+ community, and appreciates art as a generalized concept. However, we are a small team moderating dozens, if not hundreds, of weekly posts. To ensure our moderators can effectively do their jobs, locate inappropriate discussions, review reports, answers questions, etc., we have limited the posting of user art to a specific thread. This thread will change when the previous one becomes too "full" or difficult to moderate. It is the team members job to notify users of the new thread by posting it as the final message in the thread and updating the Guidelines. Each thread is easily found because they should be the only thread in the "User Art" category.
User art that is posted outside of the designated thread will be locked for 24-hours and then deleted. Why? This is to ensure users have the chance to A) know why their post will be deleted, B) be redirected to the user art thread, and C) repost their art if it falls under allowed art.
See also