Bloons Wiki:Blocking Guidelines

Blocking, also known as banning, is an administrative action that prevents an IP account or registered user from editing on the wiki. The duration of blocks may vary, depending on the severity of the offense committed. These guidelines should be used as the general standards for determining block durations, but administrators should use their own discretion on a case-by-case basis.

Also remember that, regardless of the individual in question, blocks should apply to everyone equally.

It must be noted that blocks are not to be discussed by the community. Administrators will decide on whether or not a block is necessary.



Vandalism
Vandalism is the most common reason for blocks on the wiki, and is defined as any edits made out of bad faith. This includes adding inappropriate or nonsensical words to articles, blanking pages, creating spam pages, deliberately changing correct information, and uploading inappropriate, pornographic, or spam images. Users who commit vandalism should be warned first, and then blocked for at least three days if the non-constructive edits continue. Repeat offenders may be blocked for two weeks, one month, and then one year, for the second, third, and fourth infractions, respectively. Vandalism is generally carried out by unregistered contributors. Due to the fickle nature of IP addresses, unregistered contributors should never be blocked for more than a year. Vandalism of other wikis in this wiki's name will also result in a block here, even if the user was not blocked on the wiki he/she vandalised.

Repeated Vandalism may also be reported to Wikia's VSTF Team, who may decide further action is warranted.

Personal attacks
Personal attacks of any kind are not permitted on the wiki, as stated on the Policy Page. Inciting or participating in flame wars is also considered a violation of this rule. A stern warning should be given prior to a block. If the attacks continue, the user may be blocked for at least one week if the user committed multiple personal attacks. Users who are blocked on the basis of personal attacks for more than five times may be subject to becoming indefinitely blocked. Due to the varying severity that personal attacks can have, administrators should use their own discretion when selecting a block duration.

Vulgarity
Profanity, whether censored or not, or any kind of inappropriate language is not allowed on the wiki.

Extreme vulgarity such as racism, homophobia, or any other kind of hate speech should be dealt with much more severely.

Bear in mind that the wiki also has an in-built filter that attempts to block out instances of inappropriate language. If you get blocked because of the abuse filter, it is likely you've been writing a word (or a phrase) that isn't allowed on the wiki. If you get blocked by the abuse filter and you think this was a false positive, please contact an active admin, and they may reverse the block if it indeed was a false positive.

Copyright infringement
Users who upload leaked or copyrighted files to the wiki should be warned about doing so. The admin should explain to the user what was wrong about their actions and tell them to not make the same mistake. Continuing to upload these types of files after being warned will result in at least a one month block.

What is liable to copyright infringement in the case of Bloons Wiki?
 * Leaking new content that isn't officially credited by Ninja Kiwi themselves – Fairly obvious that leaking unreleased content before the game company does so is straight up rude and obnoxious for both the game company and its game fans, not to mention it's illegal. You may provide hints to what may possibly be upcoming, but don't straight up leak new content; leaking new content straight up is a complete no-no.
 * Directly uploading OST – Due to the length of OST (original soundtracks), uploading them directly onto the wiki is not allowed, although simply linking them to the official soundtrack links (e.g. on Spotify or any streaming service where the original author has authorized their work on said website) is completely fine. Tim Haywood, the creator of most of the Bloons TD series music (specifically Bloons TD 5, Bloons Monkey City, Bloons Super Monkey 2, Bloons TD 6, and all future games beyond then) specifically told Ninja Kiwi not to give permission for Bloons Wiki to upload their music here.
 * Uploading extracted content without a valid purpose – Some files extracted from game files are useful for the purpose of bringing completeness for the wiki, but every single possible game file does not warrant being uploaded. If you believe a certain file will have significant purpose for the Bloons or Bloons TD community, feel free to upload it, but otherwise you should not upload the file. Chances are, a user who is simply spam-uploading game files with no defined reasoning does not intend to utilize fair use. It is an admin's discretion to decide whether the extracted game files content is approved or not. As an admin, if you're not sure whether the file(s) in question are approvable, discuss about the files with the community.

Inappropriate username
Usernames that impersonate or strongly resemble another user, contain profanity or obscene language, or falsely portray one as being a third-party representative or organization (e.g. User:InfinityWardStaff), may be blocked indefinitely with no warning.

Spam
Spamming links to external sites or advertising of any kind is prohibited under most circumstances. Users are free to discuss or promote things in their own blog posts or other casual discussions, but they cannot come to the wiki for the sole purpose of advertising. Users or unregistered contributors who appear to be using the wiki purely for the sake of promoting unrelated things should be warned. Further offenses should result in fairly long blocks.

Users should also refrain from straying too far the original topic in forum discussions. Discussion should be mostly related to the Bloons and Bloons TD series, or at least relating to Ninja Kiwi, as these types of discussions generally have more purpose on the wiki compared to a topic such as talking about how good your mother cooks. Off-topic posts with little constructive community purpose are subject to removal and the user given a warning or a short block.

Necroposting
Necroposting is the act of posting in discussions that have not been edited or not received new replies for over 60 days. There's no point bringing back a discussion that is old and stale; just make a new discussion if you want to continue the discussion. Users who do such acts should be warned first. After multiple warnings of necroposting, a short block should be issued. Further necroposting after the short block may lead to a block one month or longer.