Content Policy

The Content Policy outlines limits on the content that WikiTide is willing to host. Wiki creators are expected to know this policy and apply it to new requests. Wiki administrators are also expected to know this policy and are responsible for ensuring that their wikis do not fall outside the bounds of these rules. If administrators repeatedly ignore or do nothing about violations of this policy, the wiki in question will be closed. This policy is mainly directed to wiki leadership but ordinary editors should also make sure to also follow this policy and any local content policies that may exist on the wikis on which they edit.

NOTE: Additional topic and genre-specific restrictions on requests can be found here.


 * 1. The primary purpose of a wiki cannot be for commercial activity.

WikiTide is not a free hosting service for spam and search engine optimization ("SEO"), either. However, you can have limited fundraiser-type sales or provide an informational site supporting a commercial activity (for instance, a wiki describing characters from a commercial work of fiction).

Using a third-party advertising network to display advertising is prohibited on WikiTide.


 * 2. WikiTide does not host any content that is illegal in the United States.

This includes but is not limited to sales of various forms of contraband (ivory, fissionable material, roofies, controlled substances), incitement to violence or hatred, or underage nudity. While we expect wiki administrators to help police this, WikiTide reserves the right to delete illegal content without prior notice. Generally, content will be removed by Stewards or Global Sysops if not done so by local administrators but in more severe cases, content may be removed by Site Reliability Engineers under the Terms of Use.

Under United States Copyright Law (Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998), WikiTide must remove material reported as infringing copyright by the copyright holder, but editors or administrators may file a counter-notice if they believe the content is not, in fact, infringement. To file a Takedown Request, please contact SRE by emailing sre[at]wikitide[dot]com.


 * 3. WikiTide does not host wikis which spread unsubstantiated insults, hate or rumors, or promote violence or harassment against a person or group of people.

Content on wikis must be fairly balanced, meaningful or substantiated by independent referencing. Wikis which have a clearly identifiable comedic or satire value are exempt from needing to substantiate claims as these provide a meaningful value in terms of relevant content.

However, exceptions for comedy/satire do not cover language which promotes violence or hatred against people or groups of people based on factors such as race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, religious affiliation, age, disability, or other marginalized groups. Derogatory language based on these factors is not allowed except when relevant to documenting an event, e.g. controversy about the inclusion of derogatory terms in a book.


 * 4. WikiTide does not host wikis that operate on the basis of an anarchy system (i.e. no leadership and no rules).

This policy requires local administrators to help enforce it, so a wiki where there is no local leadership willing to enforce this policy and which declares to have no rules is not compatible with this policy.


 * 5. WikiTide does not host wikis where the community has developed in such a way as to be characterized as toxic.

This may include wikis where there have been repeated personal attacks, harassment of users, 'doxing', hate speech and other Global Conduct Policy violations and where local administrators have ignored, enabled, and/or done little to stop this. Stewards and/or Global Sysops will attempt to remediate the issue first where possible with local administrators and the community.


 * 6. WikiTide does not host wikis whose primary purpose is sexual content.

Whether content is of a sexual nature will be determined by reference to all the circumstances and descriptions. Content includes written content, real images and animated or fictional images.

Wikis which focus on fetishes that are sexual in nature are not allowed. This includes written, real images and animated/fictional material.

An exception to this rule is that wikis whose primary purpose is sexual in nature but seeks to inform or has academic value. For example, a wiki dedicated to "LGBTQ+ History" likely covers topics that are sexual in nature but is an exception because it seeks to inform users about the history of a particular group.


 * 7. WikiTide does not host wikis with the sole purpose of deceiving, defrauding, or misleading people.

Wikis which willfully engage in deceiving, defrauding, or misleading people are prohibited. Wikis are prohibited from engaging in disinformation, misrepresenting information purposefully to deceive and defraud, or from concealing their origin in order to mislead users on their intentions. Wikis may not engage in impersonating any person or organization. Misleading claims on health which have the potential to cause serious harm to people or public health are prohibited. This is not an exhaustive list of practices deemed deceptive but helps illustrate what sorts of behaviors are.

Wikis which make it clear that their intention is not to deceive (which may include fantasy world, role-playing, etc.) would not fall into a violation of this policy.


 * 8. WikiTide does not host wikis whose main purpose is to act as a file sharing service.

Wikis whose main purpose is to act as a file hosting or sharing service are prohibited. Because WikiTide has finite resources, files on wikis should be used to upbuild the wiki. This does not affect 'Commons'-type wikis that serve multiple wikis on WikiTide that are part of a group or network.


 * 9. A wiki must not create problems which make it difficult for other wikis.

Things which have a tendency to draw unwelcome attention to the wiki farm, such as hate speech, routine denial of service attacks, excessively violent content, references to self-harm, or places in which illegal activity is discussed can create conditions that penalize other wikis, either in SEO, domain blacklisting, downtime, trust in the wiki farm, or excessive Steward or Global Sysop time usage, especially in terms of policing content.

If we believe that your wiki proposal will hinder other wikis, we may decline your request. Additionally, we may suspend your wiki if these problems occur later, though this is very rare.


 * 10. Direct forks of WikiTide wikis where no attempts at mediations are made are not allowed.

A direct fork of another WikiTide wiki where little to no attempts have been made to mediate situations on the existing wiki or existing community are prohibited. If mediation has been attempted and failed, contact a Steward who will be able to support the community through any follow up processes deemed necessary including but not limited to acceptance of a fork wiki as an exemption to this clause.


 * Direct forks and forks where a substantial amount of content is copied from a Wikimedia Foundation hosted project are also not allowed.

Because WikiTide runs on a finite amount of space, direct forks (forks which seek to recreate and emulate a Wikimedia project by copying all of their content from there) and forks where a substantial amount of content is copied from a Wikimedia project are prohibited. If you believe you have a valid reason to fork a Wikimedia project (such as to save a project which is closing), please contact a Steward who will be able to grant an exemption to this policy depending on the circumstances.


 * Wikis with the same or a substantially similar topic to another existing WikiTide wiki are prohibited.

Wikis which share the same topic or have a very similar topic to another WikiTide wiki are prohibited. If a wiki is found to be sharing the same topic, it may be closed. If you have a valid reason to make a wiki of a similar or of the same topic, contact a Steward who will evaluate your case and grant an exemption if needed. Note that this not affect wikis which focus specifically on subtopics of a bigger topic.

If a wiki in violation of this clause is slated to be closed, Stewards will provide ample notice before closing the project and will provide an XML dump of the wiki. Stewards will evaluate each wiki on a case-by-case basis and may grant exemptions where the projects both have enough substantive content to make closing impractical and unwise, along with other grounds per Steward discretion.


 * 11. A wiki's scope (as defined in the initial wiki request) must not be radically and completely changed without obtaining approval from Stewards.

Users who radically change the scope of their wiki without approval may be restricted from requesting other wikis.

A wiki whose scope has been radically and completely changed may be closed by a Steward. Stewards will attempt to remediate the issue first but if the new scope of a wiki violates this policy, it may be closed.


 * 12. WikiTide may delete unused and empty wikis in accordance with the Dormancy Policy.

See Dormancy Policy for more details. If necessary, you can ask for an exemption from that policy on the Stewards' noticeboard.


 * WikiTide is permitted to redistribute your content.

By hosting your wiki on WikiTide, you grant a limited, worldwide license to redistribute content from your wiki to the users you permit to access your site and to WikiTide personnel. This is to ensure that WikiTide can provide service. Creative Commons licenses, which are commonly used on our wikis, grant more rights. For more detail on content licenses, see Changing your wiki license.


 * Wiki creators may assess requests on standards not covered in this list

Wiki-hosting is an evolving process, if certain genres or topics of wiki prove consistently problematic, additional limitations may be placed on new requests beyond those listed in this document. This sort of deviation could take the form of topic bans insitituted by community approval.

A full list of additional restrictions currently in effect can be found here.


 * Public wikis are encouraged to develop their own content policy.

This page is a bare minimum of what WikiTide will accept on our network. Most wikis will want to keep their content focused on a particular topic, and may want to limit "off-topic" discussion to varying degrees. For this reason, most wikis will want content policies more restrictive than what is presented here.

If WikiTide suspends public access to your wiki for any reason, we will preserve your content whenever legally and technically possible.


 * Where there is concern that a wiki is unable to meet its obligations in enforcing the Content Policy or other global policies, a wiki may be placed under a conservatorship.

Local administrators may petition Stewards to place their wiki under a conservatorship. Under a conservatorship, Stewards (and Global Sysops, unless otherwise requested not to by Stewards) would assume joint administrative control of a wiki alongside local administrators and Stewards would seek to help the community develop in a healthy manner that allows for the community to flourish and for the local community to effectively self-govern and for leadership to enforce all global policies. Stewards would temporarily fully assume a local role of bureaucrat (and Global Sysops, administrator) or equivalent and would consult the local community and administrators on proposed changes to local policy, practices, and convention, in order to help the wiki. Stewards and Global Sysops would not be above local policy and would follow all local community-endorsed policies, as would any local bureaucrat or administrator. While there is no set timeframe for a conservatorship to end, it will be the goal of Stewards for it to end as soon as possible. Stewards will determine when a local conservatorship should conclude or they may be petitioned by local administrators or the community on the Stewards' noticeboard. Conservatorships for other circumstances may be considered on a case-by-case basis.

Under special and mostly extraordinary circumstances, Stewards may place a wiki in a conservatorship if they believe that local leadership is unable to address global policy enforcement concerns adequately and where previous remediation efforts involving the local administrators have failed (this includes where local administrators are chronically inactive and where reaching out to them has failed). While under these circumstances, Stewards will attempt to work alongside local administrators but if they refuse to cooperate positively or engage in self-sabotage of the wiki, Stewards may disregard them in wiki administrative affairs.

In extreme cases of uncooperative, overly hostile, and/or sabotaging behavior, Stewards (following consensus amongst them) may demote a local administrator from any extended local permission they hold. Stewards will only do this in extreme circumstances where other remediation efforts involving the local administrator in question have failed and where demotion is a necessity to ensure project stability.

Violations of this policy

 * There are two types of violations of this policy that can be observed:
 * Individual violations: A single page or a few pages may violate this policy. In that case, the issue can easily be resolved by removing the violating content and if necessary warning the user(s) who added it and taking further measures if they continue adding violating content. The wiki as a whole cannot be said to be violating this policy.
 * General (or systemic) violations: If the entire scope of a wiki or a large amount of pages violate this policy, it is considered that the entire wiki is in violation of the policy. In this case, local administrators must attempt to resolve the systemic issues and remove the violating content. If this is not done so within a reasonable period, Stewards may close the wiki for violating this policy.

Effective date of this policy:
 * 21 June, 2023.