Thelemapedia:Editorial Policy
From Thelemapedia
Thelemapedia is a collaborative Wiki (http://meta.wikipedia.org/) project with a central purpose:
- To create the best and most comprehensive source of knowledge relating to Thelema and magick.
Thelemapedia is an open source project and all entries are protected by the GNU Free Documentation License (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html). Contributors retain copyright ownership of their work, but by adding it to Thelemapedia the work becomes "open source."
From the GNU site:
- The purpose of this License is to make a manual, textbook, or other functional and useful document "free" in the sense of freedom: to assure everyone the effective freedom to copy and redistribute it, with or without modifying it, either commercially or noncommercially. Secondarily, this License preserves for the author and publisher a way to get credit for their work, while not being considered responsible for modifications made by others. [...] This License is a kind of "copyleft", which means that derivative works of the document must themselves be free in the same sense. [1] (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)
Essentially, this allows people to copy the work elsewhere, as long as it continues to be under the GNU license. This leads to the first two Prime Directives:
Prime Directive #1: Only post material that you own, that is in the public domain, or that is used within the framework of "fair use (http://fairuse.stanford.edu/Copyright_and_Fair_Use_Overview/chapter9/9-a.html)" and properly cited.
Prime Directive #2: On Thelemapedia, everyone has the right to edit your entries.
Because of the volatile nature of many in the Thelemic community, we have instituted:
Prime Directive #3: Content wars are completely forbidden.
Entering into a content war is a fast way to getting banned from contributing to Thelemapedia. This is an encyclopedia, not a platform for individual agendas. If a serious disagreement about content occurs, you may make a Mediation request.
Thelemapedia is edited by the community. This means that issues such as factual accuracy, content, grammar, spelling, formatting, and completeness are left to the members to monitor and correct.
| Table of contents |
Primary Editorial Principles
Whenever editorial decisions have to be made on Thelemapedia, they will be based on the following primary principles:
- Articles should be sympathetic with the principles, culture, practices, and beliefs of Thelema whenever possible.
- Articles should promote clarity, accuracy, and the will to inform without distortion or fabrication.
- Articles should reflect knowledge that is generally accepted in the Thelemic community, drawing from expert sources or common knowledge.
Official Editorial Policies
The following items are official Thelemapedia policy.
Content
- Thelemapedia is an encyclopedia. That is the extent of its scope. It is not a soapbox, journal, dictionary, discussion forum, site mirror, or link repository (see What Thelemapedia is not for more information).
- Articles should be reflections of existing knowledge. That is the nature of an encyclopedia. As such, entries should be based either on material written by acknowledged experts (preferrably in print, but on the Web can be acceptable) or a part of accepted common knowledge. While excellent articles will contain some analysis of data, generally speaking, articles should NOT advocate personal beliefs or report on subjective experience (unless in an historical context, eg. Reception of Liber Legis).
- Crowley comes first. Because Thelema is such a huge topic with countless interpretations and types of adherents, Thelemapedia has chosen to make its primary focus the works and philosophy of Aleister Crowley. Whenever there is a conflict or ambiguity regarding content between various beliefs or ideas, those of Crowley should take precedence. Naturally, this will not be applicable in all places, especially when dealing with a subject with which he had no opinion or knowledge. Another example might be an article which itself contains an inherently non-Crowley POV. After Crowley should come expert writers who are highly sympathetic with Crowley, such as Israel Regardie, Jack Parsons, or Sabazius. This policy should NOT be interpreted as "Crowley is the only source"...he is simply the first.
- Articles must be written in the third person. No article should contain phrases like, "I believe..." or "I have found that...". Although Thelemapedia articles have a pro-Thelema bias, the style of writing should be generally neutral. Think of them as short high school research papers.
- Avoid profanity. This is not so much about offending others as it is about content. Profanity tends to be an expression of personal opinion, rather than fact or general consensus.
- Make omissions explicit. While articles should be written as completely as possible, if something is left out, it should be stated. Two suggestions: leave an HTML "comment" (<!--your comment-->) in the page or make a note on the discussion page for that entry.
Behavior
- Respect others. Although entries should be made from a "Thelemic" point of view, this is not a platform for attacking people, tarnishing reputations, or insulting groups, religions, or ideas that do not conform to your own (e.g. we will not tolerate generic bashing of Christians or Wiccans, or "real OTO" fights). This principle is vigorously enforced. Persistent attacks will result in a ban.
- Learn good etiquette. For a complete discussion, we strongly recommend reading the Wikipedia Etiquette Page (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikiquette). Those who are persistantly aggressive, abusive, insulting, uncooperative with fellow editors, or create a negative or hostile environment will eventually be banned.
- Avoid reverting and deleting. Amend, edit, and discuss. Repeated instances of reverting can lead to disciplinary action.
- Do not sign your articles. But DO sign your posts on discussion pages by typing three or four tildes ~~~~.
- This is an O.T.O.-friendly site.
- Thelemapedia is hosted by Scarlet Woman Lodge, an O.T.O. body, and so naturally we discourage O.T.O.-bashing (or the bashing of any order). Making statements that openly question the legitimacy of O.T.O. (including the E.G.C.) as revived by Grady McMurtry, defame or slander O.T.O. leaders past or present, or otherwise make false claims against the Order without incontrovertible evidence within the public domain will be met with disciplinary action. The exception to this rule is in the case of an anti-O.T.O. context, such as articles about Orders that consider O.T.O. to be illegitimate (which nevertheless need to be written from a neutral POV).
- Do not discuss items under seal. Because the world of Thelema includes initiatory orders, do not openly post information revealed within initiations or under oath, even if you feel you are justified to do so. However, with proper tact, you may discuss something that is considered secret if it is done completely out of context. Do so with great caution.
- Do not link to sites which defame, slander, or reveal (or purport to reveal) the secrets of the O.T.O. as described in the above two items.
- Create Stubs responsibly. A stub is a new entry that has very little by way of content. Please make stubs only when there is a good reason, such as a topic that you feel strongly should exist, but you are not prepared to write yourself. When you do, be sure to write {{stub}} at the top of the edit box.
- Try not to delete useful content. Just because something is written poorly doesn't mean it lacks a purpose. Consider what a sentence or paragraph tries to say. Clarify it instead of throwing it away. If the topic seems not to belong where it stands, consider moving the wayward material to another page, or creating a new page; otherwise, it's usually best to move it to the article's "Talk" page, which can be accessed using the "Discuss this page" button. Whoever wrote the text must have thought it valuable, so it's polite to preserve it somewhere.
Stewardship
Although Thelemapedia is largely maintained by its editor membership, there are those who are responsible for the general integrity of the site as a whole. Such members are called Stewards. Editorially, they have no more authority than any other site member, and are equally bound to Thelemapedia editorial policies. At the same time, they do have special security privileges which they use to enforce policy when necessary. For example, they have the ability to protect and delete pages, block and ban users, and delete obvious vandalism. More than that, they are available for dispute mediation and as a source of assistance, essentially providing guidance and leadership within the Thelemapedia community.
See the Stewardship page for information on duties and privileges. Any editor may apply for Stewardship.
Stewards reserve the right to:
- Accept new memberships, deny new memberships, ban users, and delete accounts without explanation. Banning and eliminating accounts are done only as a last resort.
- Protect articles from changes.
- Control all aspects of the functionality of Thelemapedia, including (but not limited to) navigation, the categorization system, and namespaces.
- Rule on editorial content requirements that are global.
- Change, eliminate, or add to existing Thelempedia policies.
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
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