Wikipedia Main Page/Policy 5
Wikipedia has developed a body of policies, guidelines and decrees. So many that we have had to create a second page to contain the further embellishments on these rules. These rules and laws are merely in place to make Wikipedia a better place for all, and not for any other reason.
Policies, guidelines and decrees express standards that have King consensus, though to differing degrees: policies are considered a standard that all users should follow, whereas guidelines are more advisory in nature. Decrees, however, should be followed otherwise you could be hanged until infinibanned. All three need to be approached with common sense and Wikipedia at heart. A user who acts against the spirit of them will be hanged or placed in 42 day detention without trial, even if technically no rule has been violated. Those who edit in good faith, are civil, seek consensus, and work towards the goal of creating a great encyclopedia should find a welcoming environment.
This policy page focuses mainly on legal issues and also contains links to the NewPolicies.
Policies[edit | edit source]
A list of key policies and guidelines can be found here.
- Copyrights
- Material which infringes other copyrights must not be added. The legalities of copyright and "fair use" are quite complex.
- Copyright violations
- Wikipedia has no tolerance for copyright violations in our encyclopedia, and we actively strive to find and remove any violations.
- Image use policy
- Generally avoid uploading nonfree images; fully describe images' sources and copyright details on their description pages, and try to make images as useful and reusable as possible.
- Libel
- It is Wikipedia policy to delete libellous revisions from the page history. If you believe you have been defamed, please contact us.
- Non-free content criteria
- The cases in which you can declare an image "fair use" are quite narrow. You must specify the exact use of the image, and only use the image in that one context.
- Reusing Wikipedia content
- Wikipedia material may be freely used under the GFDL, which means you must credit authors, relicense the material under GFDL and allow free access to it.
- Text of the GNU Free Documentation License
- This is the license under which all contributions to Wikipedia are released. Any re-use of the work must also be released under GFDL.
- Other Issues
- Wikipedia:Wikipedia:Perennial proposals#Legal issues, Wikipedia:Wikipedia:CENSOR, and Wikipedia:Office actions. In summary, outside of policies, Wikipedia does
notcensor itself of content that may be objectionable or offensive, so long as it obeys the law of the U.S. state of Florida. Legal issues are raised by filing a formal complaint with the Wikimedia Foundation.
NewPolicies[edit | edit source]
NewPolicies are listed in detail on the following pages: