Knowledge (XXG):Arbitration/Index/Principles/Pre-2020

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all disputes have been resolved and the ban for legal threats will be lifted. Further legal threats will reset the ban, and the ban will remain in place during and after any formal action taken. If other bans are not active and the matter is resolved prior to the lifting of this ban, the banned user can apply to the committee for a change to these conditions.

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allowance is made for the fact that parties and other interested editors may have strong feelings about the subject-matters of their dispute, appropriate decorum should be maintained on these pages. Incivility, personal attacks, and strident rhetoric should be avoided in Arbitration as in all other areas of Knowledge (XXG).

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As outlined above, users making deliberately vandalising edits may normally be summarily blocked by any Knowledge (XXG) administrator; as such, cases before the Committee do not normally issue penalties. Accounts whose contributions consist of nothing but personal attacks may be banned for periods of

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on Knowledge (XXG) are for discussion of the article, what information might properly be included in the article, and sources of information regarding the subject; they are not forums for debate of the topic or issues related to the topic except where such debate has a potential impact on the content

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The purpose of Knowledge (XXG) is to create a high-quality, free-content encyclopedia in an atmosphere of camaraderie and mutual respect among contributors. Contributors whose actions are detrimental to that goal may be asked to refrain from them, even when these actions are undertaken in good faith;

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Neutral point of view as defined on Knowledge (XXG) contemplates inclusion of all significant perspectives regarding a subject. While majority perspectives may be favored by more detailed coverage, minority perspectives should also receive sufficient coverage. No perspective is to be presented as the

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Knowledge (XXG) articles should contain information regarding the subject of the article; they are not a platform for advocacy regarding one or another point of view regarding the topic. Sweeping generalizations which label the subject of an article as one thing or another are inappropriate and not a

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Most users making legal threats are hardbanned by the community. When before the arbitration committee, users making legal threats face a unique ban, whereupon an immediate ban for a period of one year is issued. After one year with no further legal threats and no action taken it will be assumed that

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was implemented in some cases, wherein re-insertion of any edits which were judged by a majority of those commenting on the relevant talk page in a 24-hour poll to be a violation of the NPOV policy would result in temp-bans for a short time, up to one week. The experiment was generally regarded as a

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This principle does not have a directly associated penalty; however, it is often viewed to be an inherent cause of other punishable behaviour (e.g. personal attacks). Summary bans have been issued for violations of other principles which depend on this one (e.g. personal attacks, vandalism, and edit

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Editors with a national background are encouraged to edit from a Neutral Point of View, presenting the point of view they have knowledge of through their experience and culture without aggressively pushing their particular nationalist point of view by emphasizing it or minimizing or excluding other

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of any editor is not tolerated on Knowledge (XXG). Harassment is defined as a pattern of disruptive behavior that appears to a reasonable and objective observer to have the purpose of causing negative emotions in a targeted person or persons, usually (but not always) for the purpose of intimidating

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Knowledge (XXG) provides a variety of forums, including article and user talk pages, for communication by Knowledge (XXG) users regarding content of articles and Knowledge (XXG) policies and decisions which Knowledge (XXG) users are encouraged to use in furtherance of Knowledge (XXG) policies and

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The Knowledge (XXG) policy of editing from a neutral point of view, a central and non-negotiable principle of Knowledge (XXG), applies to situations where there are conflicting viewpoints and contemplates that significant viewpoints regarding such situations all be included in as fair a manner as

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it is contemplated under the initial steps of Knowledge (XXG)'s dispute resolution policies under language which suggests users who are in conflict talk to one another on their respective talk pages and on the talk page of any article in dispute. Effective negotiation often requires courtesy and

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The pages associated with Arbitration cases are primarily intended to assist the Arbitration Committee in arriving at a fair, well-informed, and expeditious resolution of each case. Participation by editors who present good-faith statements, evidence, and workshop proposals is appreciated. While

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The Wiki software and Knowledge (XXG) policy anticipates that disputes may arise regarding the wording and content of Knowledge (XXG) articles. When disputes arise editors are expected to engage in research, discussion with other users, and make reasonable compromises regarding the wording and

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The occasional light use of cross-posting to talk pages is part of Knowledge (XXG)'s common practice. Excessive cross-posting goes against current Knowledge (XXG) community norms. In a broader context, it is "unwiki". Knowledge (XXG) editors make use of a variety of methods to avoid excessive

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are expressly prohibited because they make Knowledge (XXG) a hostile environment for editors, and thereby damage Knowledge (XXG) both as an encyclopedia (by losing valued contributors) and as a wiki community (by discouraging reasoned discussion). Knowledge (XXG) editors should conduct their

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Administrators have been granted the power to execute certain commands which ordinary users can not execute. This includes the power to block users, to protect pages, to edit protected pages, and to delete and restore pages. All of these abilities must be used in accordance with policy (the

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Users who give up their sysop (or other) powers and later return and request them back may have them back automatically, provided they did not leave under controversial circumstances. Users who do leave under controversial circumstances must go through the normal channels to get them back.

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provides that users may be blocked for repeated vandalism but not under current policy for disruptive editing although such a policy is proposed. Nor may users be blocked for unpopular opinions. Editing under multiple accounts when their "main" account is not blocked is not grounds for

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When another user is having trouble due to editing conflicts or a dispute with another user it is inappropriate to provoke them as it is predictable that the situation will escalate. Provocation of a new or inexperienced user by an experienced and sophisticated user is especially

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If a subsection of an article grows past a certain point in size, it is generally desirable to split that subsection into its own article and leave an appropriately-sized summary in its place (e.g. "History of (country)" articles are normally branched off from "(country)"

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While the content of articles is the province of Knowledge (XXG) editors, a number of Knowledge (XXG) policies relate to content in peripheral ways; for example, it is desirable to limit reversions and to provide adequate references for material included in articles. See

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In general, Knowledge (XXG) policies are formulated through wide discussion by Knowledge (XXG) users who attempt by a process of consensus to make policies which advance the basic goal of creating a free and neutral encyclopedia. Knowledge (XXG) policy is discussed in

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a user account suspected of being used by them, which is a specific technical measure that stops the user account from editing; one result of this is that their IP address will be blocked from editing for 24 hours from each time that they attempt to edit with that

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Contributors are responsible for the security of their password. While accidental breaches are understandable and sometimes unavoidable, a contributor who deliberately releases their password should expect to be held responsible for any malicious edits made as a

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In order for the arbitrators to be able to decide a case based on evidence, the evidence to be presented by the parties must be brief and well organized, focusing on the principal issues involved with adequate references to examples of the behavior complained

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Knowledge (XXG)'s Neutral Point of View policy contemplates including only significant published viewpoints regarding a subject. It does not extend to novel viewpoints developed by Knowledge (XXG) editors which have not been independently published in other

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It is inappropriate to remove blocks of well-referenced information which is germane to the subject from articles on the grounds that the information advances a point of view. Knowledge (XXG)'s NPOV policy contemplates inclusion of all significant points of

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Aggressive point-of-view editing can produce widespread reactions as editors attempt to combat an outbreak of it, mobilizing others to join the fray. While this creates the appearance of disorder, it is better seen as an attempt to deal with a refractory

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Knowledge (XXG) users are usually expected to discuss changes which are controversial; while this does not necessarily mean discussing the edit before making it, if an edit is reverted a user should make an attempt at discussion before changing it

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One aspect of the responsibilities of an administrator is to attempt to prevent disruption to the Knowledge (XXG) site and its users. Administrators are authorized to use their best judgment in accordance with accepted principles in order to do

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Knowledge (XXG) users, especially administrators, will not permit a user under attack to be isolated, but will support them. This may include reverting harassing edits, protecting or deleting pages, blocking users, or taking other appropriate

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and good faith actions, where disruptive, may still be sanctioned. Use of the site for other purposes—including, but not limited to, advocacy, propaganda, furtherance of outside conflicts, and political or ideological struggle—is prohibited.

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Editors are generally expected to provide appropriate edit summaries for their edits; failing to provide edit summaries for potentially contentious edits, or providing misleading edit summaries, is considered incivil and bad

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other users harms the community by creating a hostile environment. All users are instructed to refrain from this activity. Admins are instructed to use good judgement while enforcing this policy. All users are encouraged to

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A ban is a standing order that a particular person (and all his/her reincarnations) is not permitted to edit the Knowledge (XXG) web site. This is different from an Admin-imposed block, which is usually imposed to prevent

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In determination of specialized areas of policy, discussion on the talk page of the relevant project page plays a central role. It is important that sufficient interest be generated in the discussion to formulate a valid

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to the best of their abilities. Occasional mistakes are entirely compatible with this–administrators are not expected to be perfect–but consistently poor judgement may result in reapplication for adminship via the

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A user may not edit another user's comments except to make insubstantial changes (such as archiving/moving, formatting, or correcting typos) or with express permission from the other user. (This does not apply to

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When editing on highly conflicted topics, editors should not allow themselves to be goaded into ill-considered edits and policy violations. Administrators in particular have a responsibility to set an example by

1266:. "Slow revert wars," where an editor persistently reverts an article but technically adheres to the three-revert rule are also strongly discouraged and are unlikely to constitute working properly with others. 735: 1601:

Injection of personal viewpoints regarding the subject of an article is inappropriate and not to be resolved by debate among the editors of an article, but referenced from reputable outside resources. See

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For the purpose of dispute resolution when there is uncertainty whether a party is one user with sockpuppets or several users with similar editing habits they may be treated as one user with sockpuppets.

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should be used appropriately within the guidelines on that page. They should not be used for frivolous or pointless disputes and should not be used as a forum for personal attacks, harassment, and abuse.

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reverts (where versions are only very slightly different). Attempting to avoid being accused of reversion by making very minor edits that are then edited out again is in bad faith and against

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Any user, including an administrator using administrative powers, may remove or otherwise defeat attempts at harassment of a user. This includes harassment directed at the user themselves.

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Although discussion is always encouraged, the Arbitration Committee does not expect users to compromise in all circumstances; doing so would serve only to support cranks and POV pushers.

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the primary target. The purpose could be to make editing Knowledge (XXG) unpleasant for the target, to undermine them, to frighten them, or to encourage them to stop editing entirely.

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Personal attacks which occur during the course of Arbitration either on the Arbitration pages or on the talk pages of the arbitrators fall within the jurisdiction of the Arbitration.

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A strong point of view expressed elsewhere on a subject does not necessarily mean POV-pushing editing on Knowledge (XXG); that can only be determined by the edits to Knowledge (XXG).

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page is unacceptable. Modification of other users' edits of Arbitration pages, inserting peripheral material, and especially deleting them or portions of them will not be tolerated.

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of sockpuppet accounts, such as using them to evade blocks, bans, and user accountability–and especially to make personal attacks or reverts, or vandalize–is strictly forbidden.

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In general, anonymous IP addresses are not allowed to vote on Knowledge (XXG). (this refers to actual elections only, such as the Steward elections, and not discussions such as

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Creating a second account for a given class of edits does not itself constitute sockpuppet abuse. However, it does not give an editor free rein to use that account abusively.

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Knowledge (XXG)'s neutral point-of-view (NPOV) policy contemplates inclusion of all significant points of view regarding any subject on which there is division of opinion.

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This principle does not have a directly associated penalty; however, it is often viewed to be an inherent cause of other punishable behaviour (e.g. personal attacks).

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This principle does not have a directly associated penalty; however, it is often viewed to be an inherent cause of other punishable behaviour (e.g. personal attacks).

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This principle does not have a directly associated penalty; however, it is often viewed to be an inherent cause of other punishable behaviour (e.g. personal attacks).

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This principle does not have a directly associated penalty; however, it is often viewed to be an inherent cause of other punishable behaviour (e.g. personal attacks).

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are usually considered harmful, because they cause ill-will between users and negatively destabilize articles. Editors are encouraged to explore alternate methods of

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Discussions of proposed policy are sometimes inconclusive or involve only a small group of users, thus questions arise of whether a valid policy has been formulated.

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This principle does not have a directly associated penalty; however, it is often viewed to be an inherent cause of other punishable behaviour (e.g. POV disputes).

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No user has yet been found to have deliberately removed evidence from an underway arbitration case; as such, no penalties have been devised for this circumstance.

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is reduced to two, one, or even zero reverts with similar penalties, as revert warring is often associated with violations of this policy. For a period between

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This principle does not have a directly associated penalty; however, it is invariably an inherent cause of other punishable behaviour (e.g. personal attacks).

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Talk pages may be refactored in order to improve their usability, brief, unbiased summaries of past discussion may be useful, especially for new editors, see

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It is the practice on Knowledge (XXG) when a talk page becomes too long for convenient editing to move older material to archives linked from the main page.

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This principle does not have an associated penalty. It is generally considered defunct, as the arbitration committee does not judge content of articles.

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Deleting content from the user namespace or adding deletion tags to content in the User namespace without the affected user's permission is discouraged.

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Punishments depend on the policy violated. This principle is mostly defunct; instead principles relating to the individual policies are usually passed.

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In instances where policy is ambiguous the solution is more discussion, not struggle through revert wars, assumption of bad faith or personal attacks.

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of the article. Adding large amounts of material to talk pages which does not relate to the article in the fashion above is considered inappropriate.

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The current community practice with respect to public accounts is to block such accounts on sight indefinitely due to potential security risks et al.

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Knowledge (XXG) users who demonstrate over a period of time that they are unable or unwilling to conform to Knowledge (XXG) policy may be banned.

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In order for a proposed Knowledge (XXG) policy to be considered binding it is desirable that the proposal be widely publicized and discussed and

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This rule should not be construed as an entitlement or inalienable right to three reverts, nor does it endorse reverts as an editing technique.

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version by means of discussion, negotiation, and/or voting. (b) This is a crucial part of Knowledge (XXG) as an open-content encylopedia. See

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and disruption through creation of an unfriendly editing environment, and keeps with our long-standing tradition of being open and welcoming.

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The English language Knowledge (XXG) site is an international site which welcomes and expects participation by editors from all countries.

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Arbitration rulings on the English Knowledge (XXG) are binding on contributors to the project and violations will be regarded seriously.

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An encyclopedia article is a summary of accepted knowledge regarding its subject, not a complete exposition of all possible details.

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Certain customary practices used on Knowledge (XXG) are not written down, but can be ascertained by communication with other users.

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or suspension or revocation of adminship. If revoked, the user may have a temporary or permanent limitation placed on reapplying.

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Creation by a Knowledge (XXG) user of more than a few accounts is not acceptable and may be grounds for negative sanctions. See

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A Knowledge (XXG) user is not permitted to portray themselves as another user in editing any page, especially not during a vote.

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When disputing the accuracy or neutrality of an article, users are always expected to give a reason on the article's talk page.

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When disputing the accuracy or neutrality of an article, users are always expected to give a reason on the article's talk page.

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Determining whether a user left under controversial circumstances is, in most cases, to be left up to bureaucrats' discretion.

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In our decisions we should avoid requiring permanently blocking proxy/caching servers that belong to an ISP if possible. (See

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No penalty has explicitly been issued for violation of this principle; penalties are usually subsumed by wider general bans.

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and goes against established Knowledge (XXG) policies, as well as the spirit of Knowledge (XXG) and the will of its editors.

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Knowledge (XXG) users are expected to behave reasonably in their dealings with other users and to observe the principles of

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Aggressive use of Knowledge (XXG) forums to mobilize support for point of view editing results in exacerbation of conflict.

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All Administrators are expected to abide by rulings and decrees from Jimbo Wales, the Board, and the Arbitration Committee.

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Users can be banned and unbanned by the Wikimedia Board, by Jimbo Wales personally, and by the Arbitration Committee.

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substitute for adequate research regarding details of actual positions and actions which can speak for themselves.

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Admins may, at their judgement, block IP addresses that vandalise Knowledge (XXG) for up to one month at a time (

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A Knowledge (XXG) user may create an account under an alias. A few additional accounts may also be created.

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relationship with other editors with courtesy, and must avoid responding in kind when personally attacked.

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which contemplates that all significant viewpoints regarding a matter shall be appropriately represented.

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Knowledge (XXG) users are welcome to edit anonymously, but are encouraged to register and edit under a

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process are designed to assist consensus-building when normal talk page communication has not worked.

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Disregard for rulings of the Arbitration Committee will result in a temporary ban of up to one year.

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proposing a change in Knowledge (XXG) policy requesting discussion and feedback from other users.

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Users who are generally agreed to be a "reincarnation" of a banned user can be summarily blocked.

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are applied in which reverting is restricted and violators can be blocked for specified periods.

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This principle does not have an associated penalty, beyond the loss of advanced permissions.

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Contributors are expected to obey Knowledge (XXG) policies, including the three revert rule.

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Changing the comments and recommendations of other people in a Knowledge (XXG) poll such as

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Users that are provoked with personal attacks are generally warned not to respond in kind.

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Users who are provoked with personal attacks are generally warned not to respond in kind.

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Knowledge (XXG) is not a venue for publishing of otherwise unpublished original research.

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Knowledge (XXG) users are expected to abide by rulings made by the Arbitration Committee.

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Personal attacks are not excused or justified by offers of demonstration of their truth.

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Arbitration rulings are binding on editors; violations will be regarded seriously.

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Knowledge (XXG) is not the place for publishing original work or development of

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Knowledge (XXG) editors must avoid responding in kind when personally attacked.

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When reverting, users are expected to give their reasons in the edit summaries.

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A user may say whatever he/she wants on his/her user page within reason (e.g.

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In cases where compromise cannot be reached, users are expected to follow the

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Editing in a manner so as to intentionally provoke other editors is a form of

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should not be used to evade legitimate bans or arbitration committee rulings.

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Unexplained deletions of portions of controversial articles are unacceptable.

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and anonymous editor accounts may not be used to evade the three-revert rule.

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It is best for all concerned that those who are in a legal dispute with the

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Accounts designed to impersonate other contributors are not permitted (see

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an article more than three times in any 24-hour period, except in cases of

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policies, respectively), and must never be used to "win" a content dispute.

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Removal of references from articles is generally considered inappropriate.

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Accounts with publicly known passwords are blocked indefinitely on sight.

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of the information in their edits, especially on controversial articles.

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As described above, accounts designed to impersonate may be immediately

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to resolve the issue by emailing an admin(s), or by posting to wikien-l.

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Where necessary, contributors must be willing to "write for the enemy".

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are trusted members of the community and are expected to follow all of

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Those who believe they have been blocked in error are instructed on

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Knowledge (XXG):Policies_and_guidelines#How_are_policies_decided.3F

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Users that abuse measures of introducing new cases may be declared

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and discuss their differences rationally rather than reverting

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Knowledge (XXG) is not a vehicle for original research. (See

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Assume good faith in the absence of evidence to the contrary

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up to one year (which may in effect be an indefinite ban.)

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One of the tools used to effect bans against people is to

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accounts, while not generally forbidden, is discouraged.

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respect for the other party and their point of view, see

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All contributions should be written from the NPOV. (See

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in conjunction with penalties issued for POV editing.

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reverts (where versions differ not at all) as well as

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users may not make legal threats and continue to edit

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