This page states the general rules and guidelines that every user who contributes to the Myths and Folklore Wiki must abide by. Please note that Fandom's wiki-wide rules do apply to this wiki, even though not stated here. Also note that every rule here is subject to change at any time without warning. Any user account is subject to banishment if they break any of these rules, but the conditions and form of punishment varies depending on which rule you've broken.
Mission Statement
Myths and Folklore Wiki is a website for cataloging, studying, and celebrating the various mythological and folkloric traditions that have existed throughout humanity. Our goal is to create a website that serves as an open, easy access, and scholarly resource in the study of Mythology and folklore. We plan to fulfill this goal by creating accessible, easy to understand articles on both mythology and folklore that are accurate and credibly sourced. All contributions to the Myths and Folklore Wiki are considered to be released under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Basic Editing
In order to begin editing pages on Myths and Folklore Wiki, you must first sign up as a member of the wiki. This requirement is meant to prevent anonymous people from maliciously editing pages. Once you've signed up you'll have access to edit the majority of the content on this site with the exception of Protected Pages.
Protected Pages
Protected pages are pages that are only able to be edited by Admins. These pages are protected to prevent vandalism or mistaken editing. Protected pages include but are not limited to:
- High-visibility pages, such as the Main Page
- Official Myths and Folklore Wiki guidelines
- Pages including legal texts
- Site templates
- Pages that are heavily and/or frequently vandalized
Justifying Edits
Before completing an edit for a page, make sure to write down a justification for your edit at the bottom of the editor page where it says "Describe what you changed." This helps avoid confusion and conflict by letting other users, including admins, know what you are doing.
Avoiding Stubs
Out wiki believes that creating too many empty stubs without adding any content can be detrimental. Therefore, we would ask that you add a minimum of 3 sentences, or 1 paragraph, when starting a new page along with {{stub}} to automatically categorize it as a page that needs work. Pages that haven't been expanded upon and remain stubs after an entire year may potentially be subject to automatic deletion by admins.
Utilizing Bots
Bots can be useful tools for performing large amounts of mundane edits that would normally be very time consuming. They also can cause big problems if those edits go awry. Because of this only admins are allowed to create and use bots on the site.
Verifiability
Due to our goal of being a scholarly resource for information about mythology and folklore around the world, it is of the utmost importance that information added to article pages comes from a verified source. In order to do so, we require that users site any and all claims that are added to article pages, or else such claims are subject to deletion.
- Verified sources are backed up by evidence and are written by trustworthy organization or author. This includes (but is not limited to) primary source material, books by scholars/experts, reviewed and up-to-date journal articles, encyclopedias, and dictionaries.
- Unverified sources include (but are not limited to) information from personal blogs/social media sites, self-published books by non-experts, articles without citations, the personal opinions or religious beliefs of users, etc.
If you see an article has claims that lack sources, or is using unverified sources, simply add {{Citation needed}} to the claims in question so that admins and other users can review the claims and add needed sources.
Using Wikipedia as a Source
Wikipedia is not considered a verified source. All individual claims found on Wikipedia must be independently verified by a verifiable source. All article pages found to contain information from Wikipedia must include the Wikipedia Template at the bottom of the page to indicate that the information is sourced from Wikipedia and potentially subject to deletion. The Wikipedia Template may only be removed once the article page has been fully rewritten utilizing verified sources.
Fanfiction and Roleplaying
Also due to our goal of being a scholarly resource that uses verified sources, fan-fiction and role playing are not allowed on the article pages on this site. Users who would like to engage in either fan-fiction or role playing may still due so within their own user spaces, such as their user profile, message wall, or personal blog.
(All user content is restricted to no more than PG-13 rated content. Rated R content will be deleted and the users involved will be subject to penalties.)
Manual of Style
- Main article: Myths and Folklore Wiki:Policy/Style
Deletion
As mentioned in the verifiability section above, any information contained within a page that lacks verification, utilizes unverified sources, or only draws it's sources from Wikipedia is subject to being rewritten, updated, or deleted by all users.
Deleting Pages
For pages themselves, only admins can delete entire pages. Pages that may be deleted by admins without warning include:
- Empty pages
- Stub pages that are over a year old.
- Redundant/unnecessary pages
- Pages lacking sources
- Pages that are off-subject, or do not fit into our mission statement
Requesting Deletion
Even though regular users cannot delete entire pages, there are multiple options for users to notify admins if a user believes a page should be deleted. For certain pages, it can easily be discerned that they should be deleted immediately. Such pages are considered to be candidates for speedy deletion. A full list of criteria for pages that would be candidates for speedy deletion can be found by clicking the bold link in the sentence prior, but some notable examples of candidates for speedy deletion are:
- Pages that are purely vandalism
- Pages filled with nonsense characters/jumbles of letters/word salad
- Leftover test pages
If you think that a page is a candidate for speedy deletion, simply add {{delete}} to a page to tag it so an admin can quickly review and delete it. Otherwise, if a page you want deleted does not fit the critera for candidates for speedy deletion, please contact one of the Admins in order to explain why you feel the page should be deleted.
Conduct
Here at Myths and Folklore Wiki we expect users to follow a basic code of conduct when using this site. This code of conduct is first and foremost meant to ensure users have a safe and enjoyable experience on the site. Secondarily it is meant to protect the site from all forms of vandalism and misinformation.
Enforcement
Admins have the authority to enforce Fandom and Myths and Folklore Wiki Policy. This authority includes banning users from the site. Below is a chart showing the typical disciplinary action per offense:
| Offense | Enforcement |
|---|---|
| 1st Offense |
|
| 2nd Offense |
|
| 3rd Offense |
|
| 4th Offense and higher |
|
NOTE: Each individual edit counts as one offense. For example, if you edit a page twice and both times they are vandalizing edits, you will be issued 2nd Offense enforcement automatically without a 1st Offense punishment being issued.
Automatic Permanent Bans
Any offense, if severe enough could result in a permanent ban, but there are certain things that will guarantee it. Those things include all forms of bigotry, such as racism, sexism, and homophobia. It also includes any and all forms of abuse, bullying, harassment, or calls to violence. If you see or experience any such things on this site please contact one of the Admins immediately.
Differences of Opinion
In the study of myths and folklore there can also be differing opinions without a clear answer. In these cases we encourage all parties involved to have a high level of maturity and good faith towards finding an appropriate solution. Please remember to collaborate with others, be friendly, discuss differences of opinion, and be mindful of the work others have done.
If someone's work isn't accurate, please politely let them know why it's inaccurate so they can understand why their work needs to be changed. Use reference sources so people are not left to take your word for it. The goal of this website is to always best represent the scholarly consensus, and not one's own pet theories.
Religious Tolerance
One of out core values on Myths and Folklore Wiki is religious tolerance. There can be a large amount of overlap with religion when discussing mythology and folklore, and people's views on mythology and folklore can be greatly linked with their strongly and sincerely held religious beliefs. Because of this we ask all users to use the utmost respect when discussing any particular religion specifically.
Since this is a scholarly site, we do not favor any one religious view, perspective, or tradition over another, and maintain an impartial perspective when writing our article pages. Any users found to be using this site to promote their own particular religious tradition while referring to other religious traditions as "wrong," or maintain that their one religious tradition is not a "myth" because they believe it is "true" while maintaining that all other religious traditions are "myths," are potentially subject to permanent bans.
Our Definition of Myth
Anyone who claims that their one religious tradition is "not a myth" does not understand the definition of myth that we use on this site, which is that:
- "Myths are traditional narratives existing within a culture that function as non-scientific methods of describing the origin, nature, pattern or structure of an aspect (or aspects) of reality. Like poetry, myths often make use of symbolism, allegory, metaphor, and visual language."
At Myths and Folklore Wiki, we in no way intend to suggest that any one group's beliefs are untrue by using the term "myth":
- "In common parlance today the term myth has gained a pejorative connotation, often being equated with "false, fictional, or lie." This however is not the intended meaning of myth in the scholarly sense of the world, which has been outlined on this page. Many myths exist, both in the past and the present, as part of sincerely held religious traditions and beliefs. On this website the term "myth" is only used respectfully in the scholarly sense of the word."
Profanity
Our general policy on Myths and Folklore Wiki is that profanity (aka: swearing/cussing) is strongly discouraged on this site. The rules vary slightly depending on the location on this site. The rules for specific site locations can be found below:
Profanity in Article Pages
Since we strive for professionalism on this site, we do not allow profanity on our article pages. The only exception to this is if a culturally relevant piece of artwork or other media happens to contain profanity. In such a case it is up to the admin's discretion to determine if the profanity is considered appropriate whenever profanity in an article page is discovered or brought to their attention.
Profanity on the Forum Page
Additionally, profanity is not allowed on the Forum page. Any profanity found there will be removed and the user who was writing the profanity may be subject to either a warning or disciplinary action depending on the severity.
Profanity on Message Walls
Generally the admins do not regulate personal discussions between users within their message wall, but this does not mean that this privilege should be abused. If excessive profanity is found on a user's user page or message wall, admins do have the right to enforce the profanity restriction. Additionally, if any profanity is found to be directed towards a specific user it is to be considered harassment, and that user will be subject to disciplinary action, potentially including a permanent ban.
Profanity in Blogs
Users are allowed to express themselves by creating their own content through their blog. While we don't wish to limit people's personal expression, we politely ask that people refrain from excessive profanity on their blogs.
Vandalism
Vandalism is against every wiki's policy on Fandom. Any user that is caught doing any kind of vandalizing on any page here at the Myths and Folklore Wiki will be subject to termination from the wiki.
Personal images
Personal images are defined by the Myths and Folklore Wiki as images that are used for the userspace and/or contain personal information. For example, a piece of fanart, a photo of you, or anything similar counts as a personal image. The current maximum limit on the amount of such pictures you can have is one. Personal images that contain real-life photos of a user is subject to immediate deletion on sight.
GNU Free Documentation License
- Main article: Myths and Folklore Wiki:Policy/GNU Free Documentation License