This is the page for Dinopedia's guidelines for the discussions boards, and elaborates on the simplistic rules given in the guidelines tab on the side of the board. For rules on the editing side of the wiki, visit the Manual of Style. For discussion of things besides prehistory, please check out our Off Topic post: The Nest.
Without further ado, here's a far more in-depth explanation of out code of conduct. Please read it carefully and follow it as closely as possible.
Basic Rules and Regulations
1. No Fights, Arguments, or Harassment.
Everyone should do their best to be polite. This means being respectful to other people when writing, while also not taking what they say personally. Also, please don't act out of malice or spite, even when you disagree with someone. If someone is insulting you, you may respond by simply ignoring them. It is okay to swear on this wiki, but just don't be too excessive. Sexual jokes and innuendos will be typically looked down on too, as this just makes things very unprofessional, and may be deleted based on graphicness.
- As a subset of being respectful, please do not try to argue politics, religion, or other worldviews on the silly dead lizard wiki. Users didn't come here to get bombarded with heated debates over who is running the country or which god is inferior. Discussion of political news and religious information is permitted, of course, but please keep it on topic if not posted on The Nest.
Don't engage in flame wars or use ad hominem attacks. Even if someone is rude, don't jump in and argue with them. It's best to just ignore them and let them seethe and mald and burn out. There are a few restrictions in place to prevent this kind of thing. Do not make a post with a sole purpose to start an argument. If you think the post is turning into an argument, please report it. Repeated offenders that constantly start arguments will be blocked accordingly.
Do NOT dogpile or attack any user regardless if they actually did something wrong. This also goes for posting about drama, and any such drama posting will be deleted.
2. No NSFW content at all
This one should be an obvious one as well. No pornography in any way. Gore can have exceptions with certain paleontology media normally being bloody, such as eating carcasses or a gory fight. But any art or videos of extant animals or humanoid characters/creatures with gore are very much banned. If you don't know, just ask!
3. Post Limits and Rules
A user is allowed to make up to 4 posts per day per person. Exceeding the limit will result in the 5th or more posts getting deleted; if a user goes over the post limit many times, after getting warned many times by staff, they will be blocked for spamming posts.
Additionally, certain types of posts have their own limitations. Such as:
- Versus posts are limited to one per day. Additionally make sure the fight you post is a good matchup. Carcharodontosaurus vs Giganotosaurus is a fair enough fight, but Carcharodontosaurus vs Compsognathus is not, VS posts like the latter will be removed.
- Spinosaurus vs Tyrannosaurus posts will be deleted as well, because they cause nothing more than fuel for toxic arguments.
- "Bias check" polls, in which an animal is pitted against a ludicrously strong opponent, are also prohibited.
- Unfair VS polls will be locked, so make sure the fights aren't too one sided.
Avoid making low effort posts. These usually don't bring much to the discussions and just clog up the feed. You don't need to put hours of work into each post, but try to give people something to talk about. This includes AI "art". Here's a post explaining the rule in greater detail: dinopedia.fandom.com/d/p/4400000000000114958.
Oh, and please don't necropost. Any post that is about 3 months old shouldn't be commented on, excluding blogs and the off topic thread. Its generally an unsaid rule among most wikis, but it should be mentioned here to clear up confusion.
Unlike some larger wikis with international variants, Dinopedia is also an English-only website, so foreign-speaking posts will be locked accordingly and users unwilling to at least translate their posts will be asked to leave.
4. Credit Sources
Users are free to make any kind of post or debate regarding paleontology, but if you aim to make a claim and present it as truth, be ready to present your source for your claim. Otherwise this could just be blatant disinformation and could get the post in question locked. Also if any images of art that don't belong to you are used (or used as references for your own art), be ready to credit them.
5. Use Correct Categories
When making posts, use the correct categories! They are as follows: (Must be related to the wiki itself or a topic of paleontology as a whole)
- General: For general purpose, or the “Hello, I am a new user,” posts.
- Versus: For "Who Would Win?" posts. Limits above apply.
- Fun & Games/Art: For posts with user interactivity, memes, art, etc.
- Dinopedia Debates: For debates over certain topics related with the wiki and extinct life.
- Popular Culture: For posts regarding trending news feeds and popular prehistoric stuffs.
- Paleontology: For posts regarding new discoveries, museums and experiment related stuff of all sorts.
- Q&A: For any questions regarding the wiki or Paleontology, or for surveys.
- Dinopedia Announcements: For staff to make announcements to the community.
6. No Advertising
If you want to advertise a wiki, a post, or something else, just take it to the off topic thread, The Nest.
7. No Threats, Hate Speech, Discrimination, Harassment, etc.
This should go without saying but just be a decent human being, treat others how you want to be treated. Any threats, racism, xenophobia, pretty much every -ism and -phobia out there, will be met with a block. If threats or anything are made to other wiki users off-platform and there is sufficient evidence, then this also constitutes a block.
Extra Rules
These rules are less Dinopedia-specific and instead relate to the site of Fandom as a whole in some cases. Breaking these not only put you at risk of banning here, but potentially the entirety of Fandom.
7. If you're under the age of 13, don't join the community
There's this very specific law known as COPPA, or the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, which makes it illegal for companies like Facebook and the like to gather information on people under the age of 13. This includes personal information like e-mail addresses and passwords, which makes it illegal for a person under the age of 13 to join Dinopedia.
8. Don't use sockpuppets or abuse many accounts
If you've been banned from Dinopedia, or Fandom as a whole, there's a good reason for that. Using sockpuppets will only make the situation worse, and you'll only have yourself to blame. It is okay to have more than one Fandom account, but abusing the multiple accounts to get better results in polls, to get away with rule breaking, or evade bans will result in a punishment by staff.
If you're confused about any of the above rules or just have a question about them, don't be afraid to ask a staff member.
Consequences of Breaking Rules
If you violate any of the above rules, the punishment varies based on the severity of the violation. Minor infractions are dealt with by merely editing your post and/or deleting the offending comment. A warning may also be issued. For more severe infractions, such as discrimination, abuse or other forms of malicious behavior, you may be banned from Dinopedia altogether, and risk losing your Fandom account.
Reporting
Have you seen anyone violating the Fandom codes of conduct? Are they harassing other users, spamming, or vandalizing pages? Are they an obvious sockpuppet account? If so, you have two options: you can either contact Fandom directly through ZenDesk, or you could contact Dinopedia's staff if it is a more local issue.
Contact the staff listed here: Wiki Management.
Council
If you have any complaints about the current rules, or want to make suggestions on some changes, feel free to ask in this thread here: the council!