Moderation:Guidelines

This page provides guidelines as to the conduct of Moderators, and the use of Moderator abilities. All Moderators are expected to follow the guidelines listed below, and not following these is considered misconduct.

These are the effective will of the community at this point in time. Modification of these Guidelines is expected as a part of the growth of this community. Those wishing to modify any part of this document should discuss the changes at this page's Talk page. Consensus of the community is required in order to change these guidelines.

'''Please Note: These are provisional guidelines only. All users (including Moderators) are welcome to discuss these guidelines on this page's talk page. These guidelines are a first draft only.'''

=Owner Privilege= As owner of this wiki, Motorhed is not required to follow these Guidelines, and has full carte blanche of any activity within the wiki. Further, Motorhed retains the ability to create new Moderators as he sees fit, and to remove Moderator rights from any Moderator found misusing them.

=General Conduct= Moderator are provided with abilities beyond that of normal users on the expectation that these will be used to fulfil duties on the wiki that normal users are not capable of fulfilling. They are not provided on the expectation that Moderators are any "more worthy" or "more authoritative" than any other user. In short, a Moderator is to be treated as a normal user, with all the rights and responsibilities therein, with additional responsibilities as listed below.

Moderators are not to use their status as a badge of authority. Moderators are merely especially trusted wiki users, and are beholden to the community just as any other user is. A Moderator's word has no greater weight than any other user. As a wiki, each voice has equal weight, regardless of their abilities.

=Deletion of Pages= Deletion of Pages is restricted to Moderators due to its permanent nature - Deletions (especially of images) are not able to be reverted by other users, and Image deletions are permanent by nature. The following guidelines indicate when Moderators may delete pages.

Moderators delete pages that users have requested be deleted on Moderation/Deletions and Moderation/Speedy Deletions. Deletion requests on Moderation/Deletions must be ratified by the community (measured by the results of a two-week vote), before a Moderator may delete it. Deletion requests on Moderation/Speedy Deletions must follow the Speedy Deletion guidelines for a Moderator to delete it. It is part of a Moderator's responsibility to check these pages often and serve any pending requests, subject to the guidelines above.

Recreating the exact same page that has been deleted before immediately qualifies it for deletion without requiring it be nominated on the 'Speedy Deletions' page. The only exception to this is when the page has been restored through M/U. Recreating something that has been deleted already once will get you a polite message to stop doing so. Doing it a second time will qualify as vandalism, and will be treated as such.

In some circumstances, Deletions on a scheduled basis may be required as part of a system on the wiki. In this case, it is not expected that each deletion be requested through the Moderation Pages. Instead, the schedule should be approved by the Community at the Schedules section of Moderation/Deletions. Approved Schedules are listed in the following Subsection.

Scheduled Deletions

 * Unused Image Removal - Images on the Unused Image list that are 2 weeks old are to be deleted.
 * Image revision removal - Image revisions that are older than 7 days are to be removed.

=Protection of Pages= Protection of Pages is restricted to Moderators due to reasons inherent in it's nature - Protections would not be useful if regular users could Protect and Unprotect pages at will. The following guidelines indicate when Moderators may Protect pages.

Moderators may only protect pages that users have requested be protected on Moderation/Protections, or (for a short period, and without the need for a protection request) high-visibility pages that are undergoing repeated vandalism.. Before a page is protected, it is expected that the Moderator will ensure that there is good reason for it's protection - these include protracted edit wars, and constant vandalism by multiple users on a high-visibility page. Further, except in the instance of heavy vandalism mentioned above, Moderators may not protect a page that they themselves have requested be protected. It is part of a Moderator's responsibility to check these pages often and serve any pending requests, subject to the guidelines above.

In the event of Protection, a Moderator is expected to protect the page in whatever state the page was in at the time the request is reviewed, regardless of it's original state.

In some circumstances, Protections on a scheduled basis may be required as part of a system on the wiki. In this case, it is not expected that each protection be requested through the Moderation Pages. Instead, the schedule should be approved by the Community at the Schedules section of Moderation/Protections. Approved Schedules are listed in the following Subsection.

Editing of Protected Pages
As a subset of their Protection abilities, Moderators also have the ability to edit protected pages. Given that Moderators and Bureaucrats are the only users who can edit protected pages, it is expected that Moderators take care to edit protected pages only in good faith. Requests for a Moderator to edit a Protected page should be made on the specific page's Talk page.

=Banning of Users= Banning of Users is restricted to Moderators due to security reasons - a conflict between two users could easily escalate to a constant ban war if such power were available to all users. The following guidelines indicate when Moderators may Ban users. When a Moderator warns or bans a user, the action should be noted on the Moderation/Vandal Data page.

Moderators may only ban users who consistently vandalise wiki pages. This is typically the alteration of a wiki page not in good faith. Impersonating another user via the use of misleading signature tags or any other method is also considered vandalism. A Moderator is expected to warn the user twice (in response to at least two different edits) on their talk page before administering a ban. Some pages may have specific rules as to their usage, and consistent and flagrant disregard for those rules may also be considered vandalism.

Bans shall be escalating in nature, the first being for 24 hours, the second being for 48 hours, the third being a week, the fourth being a month, and the fifth being indefinite. A Moderator may also choose to ban the IP of a user on this scale, should the user attempt to circumvent the ban.

Due to the time-sensitive nature of Vandalism, it is not expected that the Moderator gain community approval before banning vandals. It is, however, expected that a Moderator ban those who clearly act against the community's wishes, and be prepared to reverse a ban should the community desire it. It is part of a Moderator's responsibility to ban any vandals they find on the wiki, subject to the guidelines above.