Thelemapedia:Dispute Resolution

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Revision as of 13:34, 20 Sep 2004

Thelemapedia is a community, which means that we have to work together in writing the encyclopedia . Articles often have more than one user working on them, and sometimes users will disagree about how the article should be written. If you have a disagreement over an article, try to reach a truce and stop editing until you can resolve the issue. Please do not engage in edit wars with other users; this is not a helpful method of dispute resolution and does nothing to improve Thelemapedia. Instead, follow the process outlined here to resolve disagreements and prevent them from turning into serious disputes.

Note: These steps are designed for resolving disagreements between two or more parties. Vandalism and flagrant violations of common courtesy by repeat offenders may be handled using expedited procedures, potentially resulting in the offender being banned from Thelemapedia. In most situations, however, alleged misconduct by an individual user should be handled using the principles outlined here. This does not mean that users who point out the misconduct are part of the dispute; they simply represent the Thelemapedia community generally.

Table of contents

1 Avoidance

2 First resort: talk to the other parties involved

3 Further dispute resolution

3.1 Discuss with third parties
3.2 Mediation

4 Last resort: Arbitration

5 Where to go from here

Avoidance

The best way to resolve a dispute is to avoid it in the first place.

Be respectful to others and their points of view (for some guidelines, see Wikiquette). Writing the perfect article and following the NPOV policy will help you write "defensively", such that few will object.

When someone makes an edit you consider biased or inaccurate, improve the edit, rather than reverting it. Provide a good edit summary when making significant changes that other users might object to. If you encounter rude or inappropriate behavior, resist the temptation to respond in kind.

First resort: talk to the other parties involved

The first resort in resolving almost any conflict is to discuss the issue on a talk page. Either contact the other party on that user's talk page, or use the talk page associated with the article in question. Never carry on a dispute on the article page itself. When discussing an issue, stay cool and don't mount personal attacks. Take the other person's perspective into account and try to reach a compromise. Assume that the other person is acting in good faith unless you have clear evidence to the contrary.

Further dispute resolution

If talking to the other parties involved fails, you should try one of these methods to resolve the dispute. Which ones you choose and in what order will depend on the nature of the dispute, and the preferences of people involved.

Discuss with third parties

Thelemapedia works by building consensus. To develop a consensus on a disputed topic, you may need to expose the issue to a larger audience. You can do this by requesting community comment on the issue. For disputes over the content of an article, if you have not agreed to a truce before this point, you should do so now. This allows others to fairly consider the issue without the confusion of ongoing edits, which are likely to aggravate the dispute. If an edit war persists and a truce is not feasible, request that the page be protected to allow the process to move forward.

Mediation

Request mediation of the dispute. Mediation is a voluntary process in which a neutral person works with the parties to a dispute. The mediator helps guide the parties into reaching an agreement that can be acceptable to everyone. When requesting formal mediation, be prepared to show that you tried to resolve the dispute using the steps listed above.

You can request mediation by contacting the Thelemapedia Dispute Resolution Committee (mailto:dispute@thelemapedia.org).

Last resort: Arbitration

If you have taken all other reasonable steps to resolve the dispute, request Arbitration. Be prepared to show that you tried to resolve the dispute by other means. Arbitration differs from Mediation in that the Dispute Resolution Committee will consider the case and issue a decision, instead of merely assisting the parties in reaching an agreement. If the issue is decided by Arbitration, you will be expected to abide by the result. If the case involves serious user misconduct, Arbitration may result in a number of serious consequences.

You can request arbitration by contacting the Thelemapedia Dispute Resolution Committee (mailto:dispute@thelemapedia.org).

Where to go from here

Where to start Read this if you are having trouble with getting started
Really Simple Tutorial A friendly guide to all the basics
Editorial Policy Basic policies regarding content and behavior on Thelemapedia
How to Contribute A quick start primer for adding content to Thelemapedia
Wiki Markup Full list of all the formatting code, including text, images, sections, and links
Article Basics Find out how to write a great article
Common Sources How to cite sources (including short libers), and a list of common books in reference format
Projects Page List of needed articles organized by general topic
What Thelemapedia is not
Thelemapedia Power Structure Who's in charge
Characters How to use Greek and Hebrew letters in your article
Using Images How to upload and use images in your Thelemapedia articles
Dispute Resolution What to do when the fighting breaks out
List of boilerplate templates Automatic text messages, like the "stub" line
Comprehensive Wikipedia Help Pages (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:Contents) Everything there is to know about using a wiki

Retrieved from "http://thelemapedia.org/index.php/Thelemapedia:Dispute_Resolution"

 You can request arbitration by contacting the [mailto:dispute@thelemapedia.org Thelemapedia Dispute Resolution Committee].
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