Geometry Dash Wiki:Policy

The Geometry Dash Wiki enforces a number of policies applying to behaviour and the use of site features. This extends across all local namespaces as well as the Chat and Discussions platforms.

The Geometry Dash Wiki abides by senior Fandom policy requiring full compliance on behalf of its users.

Other policies can be found on Community Central.

A user who demonstrates unacceptable conduct may be blocked by an administrator in response to their behaviour, preventing them from editing and performing other actions. Respecting common sense is the underlying principle in avoiding being blocked. Everyone, including staff, is subject to comply by the content stated in this section.

Procedure

Blocking is an unfavourable practice but should be justified when resorted to.

Staff have complete authority in determining a block's duration based upon the offence committed.
Warnings may be issued to inform an offending user of their violation of policy where it is assumed that they were unaware of wrongdoing.
Block duration will increase with subsequent blocks related to a particular offence up to a maximum of 1 month.
Active users with a recognisable history of contribution are entitled to a detailed explanation regarding the cause and conditions of their block.
An appeal may be pursued with the staff member who applied a block to have its details clarified and its duration potentially reduced, until the staff member deems that the matter has been adequately settled, where then no other staff member is required to provide further intervention.
Blocks may be reduced or lifted at any time without notification.

Unacceptable conduct

Committing any of the following actions - including through automated processes - may result in being blocked:

Transmitting by means of publishing, linking to or uploading: inappropriate material, such that is recognisably obscene, discriminatory, violent, pornographic or illegal.
Transmitting by means of publishing, linking to or uploading: unrelated, redundant, nonsensical or visually obstructive content. (Simply, spamming.)
Persistently promoting sites, services, products, individuals, groups, ideologies or behaviours which are not connected with the wiki's subject or are recognisably objectionable.
Displaying intentionally antisocial behaviour towards other users in the form of abuse, harassment, threats, manipulation, gossiping or subtle degradation, on or off-site where recognised.
Undermining staff authority, or deliberately disobeying or constantly disregarding staff instructions.

Prohibited account usage

Utilising an account(s) for the following is forbidden and may result in reports being made to Fandom staff:

Improper use of account credentials: including account name, avatar or user page masthead information, for displaying content that qualifies as an action of unacceptable conduct as stated in the above section.
Sockpuppetry: using an alternate account to give the impression that it is operated by a completely separate user.
Impersonation: using the name of other users or distinguishable real life people, groups or organisations.
Personal information handling: including possession and distribution, therefore compromising users' privacy.

Deletion may occur suddenly and without warning. Pages may be marked for deletion by having Template:Delete included on them. When reading the Deletion Log, the following reasons are likely mentioned:

Unnecessary/insignificant: A page either completely unrelated or partially related but of low significance and not requiring a full article.
Relocation/substitution: A page with content either being directly moved elsewhere or with similar information already so.
Vandalism/spam: A page created solely out of misconduct.
Redirect removal: Redirects are not used and are deleted where they occur.
Other reason: Any other reason a page is deleted at staff's discretion.

Existing pages that are vandalised are not deleted, rather, their edits are reverted to the last proper version. This takes only the click of a button.

If you believe a page has been deleted without good reason, you may make an enquiry to a staff member.

Staff have the ability to protect (lock) pages, preventing specific user groups from editing them. Page titles can also be protected, which means that uncreated pages will not be able to be created under the protected title. Generally, protection is not commonly used so to allow all users to contribute towards the wiki's development. However, there are various circumstances which necessitate page protection. When reading the Protection Log, the following reasons are likely mentioned:

Complex page stability: Applied to pages containing complex code or important information.
High traffic page: Applied to pages widely edited by many users who are unintentionally causing mismanagement and inconsistency.
Excessive vandalism/spamming: Applied to pages repeatedly targeted for vandalism.
Other reason: Any other reason a page is protected at staff's discretion.

There are three levels of protection, none, autoconfirmed and sysop. Second level protection prevents unregistered and newly registered users (within four days) from editing, while third level protection prevents all but local and Fandom staff from editing.

If you believe a page has been protected without good reason, you may make an enquiry to a staff member.

Files include various types of media, organised under either Category:Images, Category:Videos, Category:Audio or Category:PDFs. All uploads made to the wiki are therefore expected to contribute towards article development. Uploads made for any other purpose will be deleted immediately. Replacing files with versions of lesser relevance or quality is considered a form of vandalism and may be punishable.

When reading the Deletion Log, the following reasons are likely mentioned:

Unused/insignificant: A file which is related but of low significance and lacking intended placement.
Duplicated/superseded: A file duplicated or of lower quality to another file which is effectively able to replace it.
Unrelated/inappropriate: A file either completely unrelated or one which violates policy standards.
False/unverified: A file implied to be official or relevant but is unable to be verified or determined to be false.
Corrupted/missing: A file that fails to function or display correctly.
Illegal/copyright violation: A file that contains decisively illegal material or violates a distinctive copyright.
Other reason: Any other reason a page is deleted at staff's discretion.

If you believe a file has been deleted without good reason or by mistake, you may make an enquiry to a staff member.

Namespaces designate the design and intention of page content. Each serve unique purposes, with specific structures and differing permissions. The Manual of Style attempts to explain these aspects in order to achieve a logical high quality interface that is consistent and understandable across the site.

Articles

Formally titled the (Main) namespace, articles are the primary medium which content relating to the wiki's subject is presented on for viewers, and is most frequently edited.

General syntax

British English should be applied.
Articles should be written in third person, and without specific reference to the 'player'.
No heading should be provided for the lead introduction section.
The first instance of an article's title should be formatted in bold only.
Game names do not require additional formatting, with the exception of being capitalised or linked in their first instance.
Page titles should be linked once only. If the same page title appears further down the page, it should not be linked. Links appearing in infoboxes and tables are included in this count, although links in tables may be repeated, including a single table containing multiple of the same link. If a tabber is being used to divide page content, the same links in different sections may be repeated, granted that the links did not occur before the tabber. If they occurred after the tabber, then they may be repeated once only.
Headings which use consecutive equals signs '=' should not be separated on either side from the contained phrase by a space. Headings should be preceded by a line break. All level headings should use a capital letter for the first word only, excluding proper nouns. Floated elements including various thumbnails and infoboxes should be positioned from the first line after a heading and before any text.
The asterisk '*' or hash '#' used for unordered and ordered lists respectively should not be separated with a space from their text, nor from each consecutive line by a line break.
Gallery captions should not end with a period, unless multiple sentences are included.
Tables composed of wikitext should begin and end with '{|' and '|}' respectively at the start of their lines. Cells which may use either of '|', '!', '|-' or '|+' should be separated by one space from the start of their lines. Style specifications for specific cells should be separated by spaces on either side from the initial pipe and the second pipe beginning the content input. Only class="article-table" should be included within the first line of a table to enable design styling and formatting, unless a range of tables with varying widths are present and at least one of them occupies 100% of the article, where style="width:100%;" should be included to maintain consistency, or where otherwise visually appropriate.
Line break tags <br> and <br clear="both"> which are self-closing do not require the end slash '/' to be included. They should proceed the immediate last content character where needed.
Any HTML that is specifically needed should condensed, with no spaces between characters unless the syntax requires it.
Avoid using comments  except in irregular cases where the common positioning of an element differs or where unusual code may be necessary.

Examples

'''Nocturne''' is the umpteenth level of [[Geometry Dash]] and the first level with a Psycho difficulty. It introduces ''Bob the Cube'' to the Geometry Dash universe.

==Primary heading==
[[File:FILENAME.png|thumb]]
[[File:FILENAME.png|thumb]]
Text.
{| class="article-table" style="width:100%;"
 |+Main heading
 |-
 !Header1
 !Header2
 |-
 |Cell
 | style="color:yelow;" |Formatted cell
|}

===Lower level heading===
<div style="float:left;width:50%;">
*Bulleted
*Bulleted
**Bulleted
*Bulleted
**Bulleted
</div>
<div style="float:left;width:50%;">
#Numbered
#Numbered
#Numbered
</div><br clear="both">

Talk pages

Talk pages are a traditional method of discussing page content on wikis. With a multitude of modern communication platforms on Fandom, talk pages are now obsolete and on the most part are hidden and not to be used.

User pages

User pages are a user's own personal editing space with no restriction on subject outside of site policy precedents. However, they must remain in compliance with Maintenance standard as described further below. Only staff may edit the user pages of other users (typically to remove files, templates and tags once the user becomes inactive). Consent must be given by the owner for other users to edit the owner's user page.

User page extensions

User page extensions (sub-pages of the User namespace) are not permitted by default, but may be permitted upon request to staff on the condition that they are found to be necessary in being able to hold a large amount of information or advanced code for relevant preservation or testing purposes that would otherwise significantly disrupt the flow of the requesting user's user page. Approved user page extensions will be reviewed after 1 month without receiving any edits as to whether they are still necessary to maintain.

Project pages

Project pages are prefixed with 'Geometry Dash Wiki:', designating them as site articles that may pertain to wiki-related subjects but not Geometry Dash itself. They are usually editable only by staff.

Files

Files are non-textual components of articles providing visual and auditory content. They should remain in compliance with site policy. No content other than a category should be present on any type of file page.

Article syntax: All file names should be capitalised as is consistent with their titles.

Images

Images should be of the .png image file format where possible as this ensures high digital quality compared to other wiki software-supported image file formats. Ideally, the resolution should be as high as possible, although this should be consistent among any one image series as determined by a common category. Images may be replaced in this regard, given that the whole series is replaced to maintain consistency.

Article syntax: 1) Inline image files should be thumbnailed, right-aligned (default for thumbnails, not requiring specification) and configured to 270px on their own lines, individual of one another. 2) Configuration may be ignored where they are used in galleries or 3) when used in infobox image fields. 4) Icon images used in vertical infobox fields should be configured to 35px but not thumbnailed. 5) Icon images used in tables should be configured to 22px but not thumbnailed. Captions should be used sparingly.

Examples

1. [[File:FILENAME.png|thumb|270px]]
2.
<gallery>
FILENAME.png
</gallery>
3. |image = FILENAME.png
4. |FIELD = [[File:FILENAME.png|30px]]
5. |[[File:FILENAME.png|22px]]

Videos

For stability purposes, video files should be sourced from YouTube only. Where there is the option, higher quality videos of greater resolution and frame rate are preferred.

Article syntax: Inline video files should be thumbnailed, center-aligned and configured to 300px on their own line. This may be ignored where they are used in galleries. Titles do not use file name extensions.

[[File:VIDEONAME|thumb|center|300px]]

Audio

Audio files are internally restricted to the .ogg file format.

Article syntax: Audio files should be used in conjunction with Template:Audio to be displayed within an article-friendly container, or use the standard file syntax with no additional specifications when appearing in tables or infoboxes.

{{Audio|FILENAME.ogg}}
[[File:FILENAME.ogg]]

PDFs

PDFs complement articles with third-party information. They should be positioned under their own heading so that they are easy to locate.

Article syntax: PDF file pages should be bypassed and the documents themselves should be directly linked to using the 'Media:' prefix. The link should be bold and be assigned a relevant title.

'''[[Media:FILENAME.pdf|Title]]'''

MediaWiki

MediaWiki pages are system pages that affect the design and functionality of the site. They are editable only by administrators.

Templates

Templates work by having content on a separate page transcluded identically onto another page to either prevent clutter or allow frequently occurring content to universally modified from a centralised source. Information about documentation on template pages may be viewed on Category:Templates.

Article syntax: Template names should be capitalised as is consistent with their titles but do not require prefixing. Parameters beginning with pipes '|' should be separated by one space from the start of their lines. Equals signs '=' should be separated on both sides by a space, unless more than two parameters are present, where all equals signs should be vertically aligned starting from the equals sign closest to the longest word on its left side, still separated by a space.

Notices should be included on their own line at the top of articles.
Infoboxes should be included on their own line at the top of articles, below any notices.

Examples

{{TEMPLATENAME
 |parameter1   = field1
 |parameter2   = field2
 |parameterXYZ = fieldXYZ
}}

Message wall

The message wall namespace itself is not directly editable, but serves as a directory for all thread pages and sub-pages that are addressed to the respective user. Message walls use a thread commenting system that allows multiple users to converse. Messages may be formal or informal and may involve any topic of conversation that does not violate site policy. Threads with over 100 replies may be closed due to the lag they cause, but may freely be resumed by starting a new thread at the discretion of those participating.

Message wall greeting

Message wall greetings are similar to user pages in that they are managed by their respective users and are not restricted by subject, but are generally encouraged to remain as intended greetings and not be highly descriptive. Message wall greetings that are determined to occupy excessive vertical space will have their content relocated to the respective user's user page to allow greater accessibility for those seeking to post a message. The same policy standards regarding user pages also apply to message wall greetings.

* Maintenance standard *

Maintenance standard elicits that content on pages does not contribute towards reduced structural integrity that is then reported on various Special pages.

Internal links should only be produced on official content pages and not user-possessed pages including user pages, threads or message wall greetings. External links are permitted.
Expired links should not be produced on any pages.
Files should not be produced on threads.
Templates, unless using the substitution method (furthermore, only those absent of files), should not be produced on threads, while certain templates should not be produced on user pages or message wall greetings.
Tags should not be produced on threads.