Dora the Explorer Wiki:Rules on This Wiki

Here are some rules to follow on this wiki. If you have recently joined, it is recommended that you review these rules at least once.

General

1. No spamming or trolling on the wiki.
2. Posting unofficial links to streams, buffers, or downloads of any of the episodes (i.e. YouTube, KissCartoon, Dailymotion, etc.) is a violation of the Wikia Terms of Use, and is a serious offense. Repeated offenses will lead to blockage or possible closure of your account.
3. No unnecessary or inappropriate files or pages. This includes content that violates Wikia's terms of use.
4. All content must relate to Dora the Explorer and its spinoffs in some way.
5. Do not use profanity, even if it is censored.
6. Threatening, bullying, or any form of harassment towards another is not tolerated. Doing so will result in a block and a report to FANDOM Staff if necessary. Heckling someone for liking the show or being above the target demographic is also considered harassment.
7. As per terms of use and the COPPA, you must be 13 years or older to join. If you say that you are under 13 or another user has heard about it on another wiki, you will be reported to FANDOM Staff, and your account may be disabled. Any user who is underage or claims to be underage will not be blocked or banned since all underage users will be dealt with by FANDOM Staff, not by the administrators.
8. Do not vandalize. Vandalizing is editing a page to include false or silly information, or making the entire page blank.
9. Please do not revert/undo an administrator's edit without a valid reason.
10. Do not duplicate pages that have already been created.
11. If an administrator tells you to stop doing something, please stop doing it.
12. Due to vandalism and immaturity from anonymous IP users in the past, as well as anonymous users tending to be underage, you must be logged in to an official FANDOM account to edit, comment, or send messages on this wiki. Starting an account is easy and can be helpful with keeping track of your edits, and it is also more secure.
13. Do not make useless/unnecessary categories. Categories like "(Color) characters", "(Animal) episodes", etc. accomplish nothing.
14. Do not impersonate other users by using multiple accounts. This is known as sock puppetry, and is a serious offense. Users that are caught doing this will have all of their accounts blocked indefinitely. However, multiple accounts are allowed as long as they are not used for deceit, and should clearly state which user originally owns them.
15. Do not abuse edits for the sole purpose of getting achievement badges. Badges are meant to be a reward for legitimate work.
16. Please refrain from mentioning subjects relating to politics or any kind of religion.
17. Please do not put extremely personal things about your life in posts such as depression, deaths, or anything else that could embarrass or cause issues for you in the longrun.
18. Do not start edit wars or talk about edit warring.

Editing

1. Remember to use punctuation. Run on sentences are displeasing to read; try to break such sentences down using punctuation. Use them properly, though - not just for the sake of breaking a sentence down. Also remember that when listing multiple things in a sentence, that each element should have a serial comma at the end (for example, "Dora, Boots, and Diego" would be used over "Dora, Boots and Diego").
2. Avoid using contractions (for example, use "does not" instead of "doesn't"). These words are used in informal contexts; we strive to make these articles academic and formal.
3. Know the difference between "its" and "it's". "It's" is a contraction of "it is" or "it has". As this is a contraction, it is unlikely to be used outside of transcripts. "Its" is the possessive form, as in, "Dora and Boots help an animal get back to its mother."
4. Be sure that your changes make sense and flow with the article smoothly, especially when working with complex code. One tiny error in coding can mess up an entire page. Always use the "Preview" button before publishing, to ensure the page looks the way you intended it to.
5. Do not edit just for the sake of editing. Perfecting the structure of sentences and paragraphs and correcting spelling and punctuation errors is one thing, but do not edit pages just to change one word into a another word which means the same thing, however many times it is used on that page.
6. All content must be objective and in a neutral light. Do not use opinion words, unless you are giving a review, quoting a character, writing a transcript (only in the vocal part or if a written thing says an opinion word), or giving a written thing that has an opinion word in it.
7. Making every word capitalized (Such As Writing This On A Page) or repeatedly using unacceptable grammar will need to be corrected and may result in a warning.
8. Only link an article the first time it appears per section. For example, in the "Plot" section of an episode article, "Dora" might appear dozens of times - only the first time she is mentioned should be a link to her article.
9. Always use third person point of view in the articles (i.e. "the viewer" or "one" instead of "I", "me", "we", "you", or the like.).
10. Since Dora the Explorer, along with its spinoffs, is an American television series, please use American English only. Spanish can be used, but only if the episode's title is in Spanish or if a Spanish word is taught in an episode.
11. The text in a page should not be too complex or too simple.
12. Do not create placeholders. This includes adding a header or creating an article with "coming soon" or "TBA", creating blank articles, or articles with one (obvious) sentence of information.
13. Do not create blank pages (eg. making "Lost and Found/Gallery" without doing anything). This usually happens when a user is unsure what to do, so please ask an admin for assistance first.

Commenting and Forums

1. Do not roleplay. Roleplaying is when one pretends to be a fictional character, whether he/she is from the show, another series, or made up.
2. Stay on topic. Sometimes you stray and go off topic, and that's fine. But don't deliberately start talking about your love for a certain episode in Dora's comment section for instance.
3. Commenting in mass is considered spam. (eg. making 20 comments in less than 10 minutes)
4. If someone is speaking to an administrator, please do not interrupt them.
5. Do not spread false information about users or the show on the forums. This will be taken seriously, and so will the actions.
6. Avoid necroposting. Once a discussion has gone about a month without new posts, do not post on it again, unless there is a legitimate reason for doing so. In most cases, though, it would be safer to either start a new discussion, or say nothing. A necropost may be deleted without warning, and the offender given a warning at the discretion of the administrator.

Userpage and Message Walls

1. You must not post insulting or intimidating comments about other users on your user page. You also must not add an "Enemies", "Hate list" or similar section to your userpage. It is offensive and can start a flame war. If you do so, you are asked by an admin to remove these edits. If not, he/she will remove it wthout further input.
2. You cannot edit other people's profiles, unless it is yours.
3. Do not leave insulting messages on users' walls. If you have a dispute or another discussion, please keep it appropriate and civil.
4. Do not make message wall posts lengthy. Discussions like these belong to fourms.
5. You should not create new posts on your own Message Wall unless necessary (e.g. announcing inactivity, testing templates, signatures or bugs).
6. Message walls are reserved for interaction between two members only. Unless you absolutely need to, please don't interrupt a conversation.

Photos and Videos

1. Avoid posting potato captures (not meaning the picture showing potatoes from any media and real potatoes) taken with a camera such as a TV or a Computer as they tend to be low quality. If there is such photo on the wiki, mark the file with {{LowQuality}} and have someone post a better version over the potato capture.
2. All images must relate to Dora the Explorer and its spinoffs in some way.
3. Name all images properly. Do not name an image "jehdvbhegd*YWbnsbb.jpg", "Snapshot0004.png", "hqdefault.jpg", "Capture 005.PNG" or simliar. Such filenames like these will be renamed. Name your image something like this "Dora_and_Boots.png" or similar.
4. When you add images to an article, be sure they are of high quality (e.g., not pixelated). The .png format is preferred, as it has the highest quality, but .jpg is also acceptable.
5. Do not upload very small images.
6. Try to not overload galleries, such as a character or an episode gallery, with lots of images. If a gallery, especially a character gallery, becomes image-heavy, it should be split into sub-galleries separated by seasons. Miscellaneous images will be left on the main gallery.
7. Each image in a given gallery must be unique, i.e. no similar images with slight differences.
8. For your safety and privacy, we ask that you please don't upload a picture of yourself to the wiki. If you've already done this in the past and want it removed, please don't hesitate to ask one of our admins to delete it.
   1. Note: This guideline only relates to uploading pictures of yourself here. You are not violating our guidelines if you already had a preexisting picture of yourself as your overall profile picture.
9. Images that barely feature a given character are not acceptable in character galleries.
10. Images that feature a Dora the Explorer parody are not acceptable in character galleries.

Administration

1. No creating admin/bureaucrat demotion consensus threads and adding votes without admin privileges. These are admin only discussions and should not be done by a regular user.
2. Have a say and have administrator qualities to become an admin. You may ask for administrator rights, but do not beg. If you just show that you are a responsible and trustworthy user dedicated to improving the wiki, chances are, you'll eventually have the position.
3. Demote admins if they have abused their power or are inactive.
4. Administrators should always include a relevant block reason in the logs when blocking a user. Never include insulting or spiteful comments in the block reason, unless quoting from the blocked user. (i.e. calling a blocked user an insulting name.)
5. An admin is considered inactive after not editing for a year. In this case, he/she will be demoted. If you join and want your admin status back, ask first, and you'll have admin powers back.
6. When a user may have broken a rule for the first time, they should always be given a second chance.
7. Do not block other admins unless it is for an emergency reason, such as an account hack. Bureaucrats have the ability to unblock themselves in the unlikely event of a "hostile takeover" attempt by an admin. Admins who attempt this will immediately have their powers revoked and will be blocked from the wiki permanently.

Failure to comply with these rules will result a warning or a ban!