SmashWiki:What SmashWiki is not
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This page documents an official SmashWiki policy, a widely accepted standard that all users should follow. When editing this page, please ensure that your revision reflects consensus. If in doubt, consider discussing changes on the talk page. |
SmashWiki is an online Super Smash Bros. encyclopedia and, as a means to that end, an online community of people interested in building a high-quality encyclopedia in a spirit of mutual respect. Therefore, there are certain things that SmashWiki is not.
SmashWiki is not a personal profile
The existence of the Smasher namespace and the ability to create a userpage do not make SmashWiki a place for one to create a personal profile. Smash-related sites of this type exist elsewhere on the internet; do not use this site as one of them.
SmashWiki is not a matchmaking service
SmashWiki does not exist to help people find others to play against. As per the above, many other sites exist to do exactly that. Please use them.
SmashWiki is not an image hosting service
This site is an encyclopedia, not an image hosting service. While personal images are allowed to be uploaded for use in one's userspace, do not upload an excessive amount, and instead take such business to a dedicated image hosting site. You should typically only upload images that are relevant to the encyclopedic content of the wiki (see SW:IMAGE for details).
SmashWiki is not an assortment of miscellaneous information
Just because you find a piece of information that isn't in an article does not mean it should be immediately inserted wherever you feel like it. This is an encyclopedia, and as such, should be carefully organized and well-written. Check around similar articles to see if your fact is already listed "nearby".
SmashWiki is not a forum hosting site
While SmashWiki has forums, it should not be used only for the creation of such forums. Not only are they a drain on the wiki's resources, but the majority are not related to improvement of the encyclopedia. Please take such business to Smash World Forums or the like.
SmashWiki is not an instant messaging service
SmashWiki is not to be used primarily to communicate with other users. Conversations on a wiki take up much time and space that can be better spent elsewhere; the wiki concept is simply not designed to handle it. Again, there are better places for this sort of thing.
SmashWiki is not fanon
SmashWiki covers the canon Smash series, not fanon or invented additions. While the existence of things such as fan fiction, machinima, and fan games should not be ignored, articles on specific creations do not have a place here.
SmashWiki is not official
We are not required to abide by official terms or stances. Unofficial vocabulary will always be a large part of the Smash Bros. series; using an uncommon official term over a well-known unofficial term is generally frowned upon and is usually an invalid argument in a debate.
SmashWiki is not speculative
SmashWiki is an encyclopedia covering factual information in the Smash series. As a result, speculation does not belong in mainspace articles. While there is a certain amount of tolerance for speculation that is widespread throught the Smash Bros. community (such as documenting the most well-known rumours), or in cases where a factual explanation is unknown or unknowable (such as causes of certain glitches), if something "may be" or "possibly is", it most likely does not belong.
SmashWiki is not censored
Certain crews, smashers, and techniques may have names or contain information that some may find offensive. However, because SmashWiki tries to be a complete encyclopedia, information should not be excluded merely because some find it offensive. This rule also applies to talk page discussions; while personal attacks are to be avoided, SmashWiki has no policies that prohibit profanity or language that some people may find vulgar.
SmashWiki is not spoiler-safe
Some wikis provide spoiler warnings for articles or sections should users wish to avoid accidental learning of plot details or unlockable content. SmashWiki is not one of them - spoilers are unmarked and used liberally without regard to spoiler safety. We believe that unification of information is more important than partitioning to cater to a minority. As such, spoiler-conscious users should be very careful as to how they navigate the wiki, and should be warned that it is not our job to hide anything.
A word of warning: This policy extends to all series represented in the Smash Bros. games. While cross-series spoilers are not common, users should be aware of their presence and browse accordingly.
SmashWiki is not tech support
SmashWiki is not a tech support service. While certain users may be willing to help in some situations, there are better sites to ask questions such as "Why isn't my Wii reading my disc?" or "Why is hack X not working?".
SmashWiki is not a strategy guide
SmashWiki is an encyclopedia of facts, not a repository for various strategies to accomplish things. Strategies are invariably opinion-based and lead to articles becoming stuffed full of them.
SmashWiki is not just Smash Arena
There have been trends in the past in which users seem to make accounts for the sole purpose of voting in the Smash Arena. Like user pages and other forums, Smash Arena is not a constructive part of the wiki, and as such should not be any user's main haunt.
SmashWiki is not complete
SmashWiki, like most wiki-encyclopedias, is not complete. There are still stubs to be expanded, articles to be cleaned up and images to be uploaded. Outside these categories, there is almost surely a few articles with faulty grammar, outdated information, or deprecated content. Don't ever think there's nothing left to contribute.
