Wikipedia:Update/1/Conduct policy changes during June 2009

• Wikipedia:Civility
  • Added to lead section: pointer to code-of-conduct
  • In WP:CIV#Dispute resolution, removed pointer to the mediation cabal

• Wikipedia:Consensus
  • In the lead section, changed "Consensus is part of a range of policies on how editors work with others" to "Consensus is wikipedias fundamental model for decision making, and determines how editors work with others"
  • Also in the lead section, added "While on-wiki text is considered to be the canonical consensus, creative use of other means of reaching consensus is permitted and encouraged."
  • In WP:CON#Process, changed "legal and ethical restrictions" to "legal restrictions"
  • Added to WP:CON#Exceptions: [Some exceptions supersede consensus decisions on a page] "or wiki."
  • In the same section, changed [local debate on a WikiProject does not override the larger consensus] "behind a policy or guideline." to "of the community, as documented in for instance policies or guidelines."
  • Same section, changed "These represent the consensus decisions achievable among all Wikimedia projects, and affect all of them." to "These represent the consensus among all Wikimedia projects, and affect all of them. Because there's such a large community subscribing to them, they are rather hard to change."

• Wikipedia:Dispute resolution
  • Added to WP:DISPUTE#Focus on content: "If your reasoning is complex, add a section to the talk page of the article to explain it and refer to that section in the edit summary."
  • Added to WP:DISPUTE#Ask for help at a relevant noticeboard: "Content noticeboard - for other content issues that do not fit in the above or are of more general nature."
  • Added to WP:DISPUTE#Informal mediation: "The Mediation Cabal also assists in settling disputes without turning to formal mediation, and is a good place to learn dispute resolution techniques."

• Wikipedia:Edit war
  • The entire page was changed substantially from the May 31 version

• Wikipedia:Editing policy
  • New section: WP:EP#Adding information to Wikipedia
  • Added to WP:EP#Try to fix problems: preserve information: "In biographies of living people, there may be good reasons to disregard the imperative to preserve information. There is a tension between WP:PRESERVE and WP:BURDEN, and editors should consider whether the information is harmful. WP:PRESERVE deals with content, but not necessarily with subjects or topics. If an article is not notable, WP:PRESERVE may not mean "keep the article". It may mean "move sourced and encyclopedic content to another article" instead."

• Wikipedia:Ignore all rules
  • Added to WP:IAR#See also: Wikipedia is not a bureaucracy

• Wikipedia:No legal threats
  • In WP:THREAT#What is not a legal threat, added contact email link to the information team

• Wikipedia:Ownership of articles
  • In lead section, removed: "All Wikipedia contributions are licenced under the GNU Free Documentation License, giving readers the rights to copy, redistribute and modify a work."
  • In WP:OWN#Overview, changed "If you don't want your material to be edited mercilessly or redistributed for profit by others, do not submit it." to "If you do not want your writing to be edited and redistributed at will, then do not submit it here."
  • Changed WP:OWN#Ownership examples to WP:OWN#'Ownership' examples, and changed one subheading
  • Changed WP:OWN#On Revert to WP:OWN#On revert

• Wikipedia:Policies and guidelines
  • Added to lead section: "If negotiable elements of a policy are unclear or do not conform to actual practice, then consensus should be found in order to change the policy to reflect that practice. This is an ongoing task, as policy at WP evolves."

• Wikipedia:Sock puppetry
  • In WP:SOCK#Identification and handling of suspected sock puppets, changed [The only definitive proof that an account is a sock puppet is an actual admission.] "Anything short of such may provide mere circumstantial evidence that may be used as grounds for suspicion generally when multiple signs are present." to "Since such admissions are unusual, most determinations of sockpuppetry are based on various combinations of circumstantial evidence."

• Wikipedia:Username policy
  • In WP:U#Company/group names, changed "Use of Wikipedia for promotion of a company or group is not permitted, and accounts that do this will be blocked. Use of a company or group name as a username is not explicitly prohibited, but it is not recommended, and depending on the circumstances may be seen as a problem. Similarly, editing with a possible conflict of interest, such as editing an article about your employer, is not prohibited, but anyone wishing to do so is advised to read the Business' FAQ." to "Explicit use of a company or group name as a username will result in your username being blocked. Use of Wikipedia for promotion of a company or group is not permitted and accounts that do this will be blocked. Accounts that add promotional material or demonstrate a conflict of interest can be reported to the conflict of interest noticeboard or to administrator intervention against vandalism, where further action may be taken. Editing an article about your employer is not prohibited, but anyone wishing to do so is advised to read the Business' FAQ."
  • In WP:U#Inappropriate usernames, added: [Domain names and e-mail addresses are likewise prohibited] "for new users (a few pre-prohibition accounts remain in use)."
  • In the same section, changed "Promotional usernames are used to promote a group or company on Wikipedia." to "Promotional usernames are advertisements for a company or group."
  • Added to WP:U#See also: Wikipedia:Wikipedia is anonymous
  • Added Category:Wikipedia enforcement policies

• Wikipedia:Vandalism
  • Added to WP:VAN#How to spot vandalism: "Edits tagged by the abuse filter may also contain vandalism. However, many tagged edits are legitimate, so they should not be blindly reverted."