Tardis:Blocking policy
- You may be looking for a guide to what you should do if you have been blocked.
Blocking is the means by which an Administrator prevents a user account or IP address/range from editing the Tardis Wiki. Blocks are preventive rather than punitive measures used to prevent damage by dealing with vandalism and enforcing Tardis Wiki policies. Block duration may vary, depending on the severity and longevity of vandalism, but in most instances, a block can be lifted if the editor agrees to stop the damaging behaviour.
All users may post block requests on an admin's talk page. However, users should employ discretion in doing so. Users who seem to be trying to get another user into trouble may find themselves blocked.
When considering blocking, it is important to remember the axiom "Never attribute to malice what can be attributed to error"; article blanking or addition of fanon may be just a well-meant attempt to remove inaccurate information or expand the encyclopaedia. Always assume good faith, but remember that the rules apply to everyone equally.
Grounds for blocking
The following is a comprehensive, though not necessarily exhaustive, list of reasons why a user might get blocked here at Tardis:
- 'Bad-faith' edits made with the intent to lower the quality of the wiki or disrupt the functioning of the community. In most cases, users should be warned prior to blocking, though final discretion is left to the administrators.
- Spam edits — these are made by a user's posting irrelevant spam links in articles, or creating articles which are entirely spam. This is grounds for an infinite block (for registered users) or a shorter-term IP block.
- Move vandalism; when an article is moved to a nonsensical or inappropriate title, this is grounds for immediate indefinite bans.
- Other types of vandalism.
- Inappropriate account naming. Creating an inappropriate account name - be it in terms of user impersonation/insult, or general rudeness/obscenity is also grounds for a no-warning infinite block.
- Plagiarism; Users who continually add plagiarised material despite being warned will be blocked to prevent further violations.
- Fanon or fan fiction — users adding fanon or fan fiction should be warned and directed to wikis such as Doctor Who Fanon Wiki or Doctor Who Expanded or websites such as FanFiction.net.
- Personal attacks - Users attacking other editors personally -- in regards to anything -- isn't tolerated here. Those who do so can be given a specific warning prior to a ban. But, as seen at Tardis:Bad uses for user pages and Tardis:Discussion policy, they don't have to be personally warned. Indeed, every talk and discussion space at Tardis already warns people against attacks, by virtue of MediaWiki:Talkpagetext and other messages. It's up to the judgement of the blocking administrator to determine the length of the ban, which can vary greatly, depending upon the severity of personal attacks and other factors.
- Edit wars - This is when editors who disagree about the content of a page repeatedly override each other's contributions. In some situations users may be blocked for upwards of 2 hours to allow tempers to cool and for discussion to be started on the article's talk page.
- Sockpuppetry to avoid a ban is not permitted.
- inappropriate behaviour whilst already blocked.
Block length guidelines
With the exceptions noted above, any administrator may block any user that they determine is a detriment to the project. Final discretion is left to the blocking administrator on a case-by-case basis.
You may be blocked here for what you've done elsewhere at other wikis
We reserve the right to block you simply because of your behaviour, either past or present, elsewhere such as at other independent wikis. There are many reasons why we might want to do this:
- You could be involved in a "rolling" attack on other independent wikis, in which you vandalise a series of wikis
- You could have demonstrated a pattern of behaviour at another site that is plainly in violation of our rules
- We might simply want to support the administrative staff of other wikis
- Your fight with another user on another wiki might be threatening to "spill over" onto our site
Of course, blocking on another site does not automatically mean that we will block you here. Sometimes administrators on other sites act with haste or malice. We'll have to review each situation on a case-by-case basis.
