SmashWiki:Forum policy

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.

Forums on SmashWiki are places where editors can discuss things with other editors in a friendly, social environment. The goal of forums is to help build positive relationships between editors and to help prevent users from becoming bored of the wiki. However, to help ensure that forums work as intended, there are rules that posters should follow.

Standards for forums

In general, new forums should be related to some aspect of the Smash Bros. series or SmashWiki, but there are a few other qualities that should be taken into consideration before starting a new forum:

• Is the thread inclusive of the community as a whole? For example, forums that are made as an "inside joke" between a few editors should not be created.
• If you are making a thread discussing an opinion, have you provided significant reasoning to support your idea? Opening statements should be thoughtful and conducive to discussion; if you are going to start a forum about why chain grabbing should be banned in tournaments, you must provide reasoning why you believe this way, so that others can build onto the conversation with logical posts.

If a potential thread fails to meet these requirements, it should not be posted; such forums that are posted will likely be closed or deleted, and the creator of the forum may be warned, or in the worst case, temporarily blocked.

In the same vein, people commenting on forums should also maintain a high standard for their posts, ensuring that the post has logical content and is not simple thoughtlessness. A reasonable level of off-topicness is permitted, but in general try not to derail the discussion too much.

Etiquette

Always try and be respectful while posting in the forums. Though people can in some circumstances get away with being harsh, this should be avoided whenever possible. If you really feel the need to flame, make sure you have a very good reason for doing so; if in doubt, don't flame. Trolling and baiting are also actions that will usually not be tolerated. As always, be mindful of other policies on the site-- though standards may be relaxed a little for the forums, site-wide rules such as no personal attacks still apply.

A list of site admins can be found here. These users are responsible for moderating content on the forums; if you see something inappropriate occurring, leave a notice on the admin noticeboard for them to resolve.

Things to avoid

• Avoid making duplicate topics. This will most likely result in the topic being closed or deleted.
• Do not spam the forums. Please keep in mind that edits to the forums still show up in Special:RecentChanges, which can distract users trying to edit the mainspace or watch for vandalism. Please be courteous and use Show Preview when necessary.
• All posts should be written in English, and posters should at least attempt to proofread their posts before saving them. Typos and minor mistakes are not an issue, but when the quality of the language used is so poor, the meaning of the post is compromised, which is detrimental to the forums.
• Do not treat SmashWiki like a full-time forum (as per SW:NOT). If your intent is to join a Smash Bros. forum and not to improve the wiki, then please go to SmashBoards.