The BIONICLE Wiki:Site Rules

These are the Site Rules and Policies of Bioniclepedia. You are expected to have read them before beginning to edit. Following them will not be hard; this is just to warn you what will happen if these rules are violated.

Rating System
On Bioniclepedia we use a Rating System, where you must copy a rating template onto your userpage. An administrator will give or take points given on your behavior; you start at 0 and can go up to 20 or down to -20. Punishments will often involve rating subtractions, and blocking. Gaining points is much more difficult, but also much more rewarding: and administrator will increase the rating of users who have contributed a lot to the wiki. The more points you have, the more respected and trusted you will be in the community.

As a side note, only admins can change ratings. Do not try to change ratings or give yourself more than 0 points when copying your rating template to your page. If you have a problem with someone's rating, please contact Panakalego.

Rules and Punishments
Below are things that are not tolerated on Bioniclepedia, and what the consequences are for going against these rules.

Vandalism
Vandalism (using offensive language or being hostile in general, replacing or renaming pages, removing or rewriting pages with false information, etc.) is obviously prohibited on Bioniclepedia. Minor vandalism, such as adding false information (it will be easy to tell if you are just misinformed, and if so you will not be punished), will result in a warning, and if necessary, point reduction. Major vandalism will result in at least a 2-point reduction, and perhaps blocking if necessary.

Spoiler Policy
Whenever new story material is released, there is a certain period of time in which you cannot submit spoilers without spoiler tags (used like this: ), and in the case of books and movies, there is a ban period in which no spoilers may be posted at all. Penalty for failing to use spoiler tags is a 1-point reduction for each offense. Penalty for posting book/movie spoilers before the end of the ban period will result in a 2-point reduction for each offense. Below are the guidelines for when spoilers are okay to submit:

In the case of comics and serials, spoilers may be posted as soon as the comic arrives or the serial chapter is posted, but the spoiler tags must be used until the next comic or serial chapter. In the case of the last chapter in the serial, spoilers are allowed without a tag after one week.

As for books and movies, spoilers may not be posted at all until two weeks after BZP announces the book/movie is avaliable. After the two-week ban period is up, spoiler tags must be used for a month.

On the other hand, leaked names and images are never allowed at all. Submitting leaked information to this site will result in an a minor ban at the least.

Images
You may only upload images that have to do with Bionicle to this website. Personal images, such as pictures of MOCs or something not related to Bionicle at all, are not allowed. However, as long as they are appropriate, these images can be allowed given that they have a Personal Image Stamp. Without a Personal Image Stamp, an image will be deleted 72 hours after the user is warned that it needs one. Also, if a personal image is not linked to on any pages, it will be deleted anyway.

Tense
All articles on Bioniclepedia except those about "real things" (Bionicle books, movies, etc.) should be written in past tense ("The Toa were heroes", not "The Toa are heroes"), from the point of view that the Bionicle storyline happened a long time ago. Disobeying the tense policy, unless done so intentionally, will not result in a punishment, only a warning.

Fan Fiction, False Info, and Theories
Fan fiction is not allowed on Bioniclepedia--the Custom Bionicle Wiki is where fan fiction belongs. Punishment for submitting fan fiction is a warning, and for repeated offenses will result in minor banning.

And theories, popular or not, are not permitted either. If something is widely believed, it may be worth a mention in the Trivia section, but it should never be stated as truth unless Greg or another official source supports it.

Adminship
Main article: Lego Bionicle:Administrators

Adminstrators like the "Toa" of Bioniclepedia: They use their powers to keep Bioniclepedia a clean and safe site to visit. But if an administrator should abuse their power for personal gain, or vandalise, they will be demoted ASAP, and shall be banned. The duration of the ban will vary, depending on how much damage the admin had done.

Also, all Bioniclepedia members are expected to show respect to any and all administrators. Intentionally insulting an admin will result in a one-day ban at least. And will increase depending on the seriousness of the insult.

Banned Members
Banishment happens when a member causes intentional harm to the wiki. And the length of the ban will vary, depending on the degree of that member's violation of the rules. Banned members are usually still allowed to edit their own talk page, as long as they don't use profane words, or insult any users.

And when a user is blocked, please do not post thing like "I'm glad he's gone" or "I hated him". When a user is banned, they have received just punishnment for breaking the rules, and don't need to see other users insult them while they're banned.

Deletion
Sometimes articles will need to be deleted, either because the article is spam, vandalism, or it has no need to be here. If you see an article that you believe should not exist, simply type   on the top of the article. But if an article absolutely must be deleted as soon as possible; type   on the top of the page. If the article contains swearing, spoilers, or anything that might be offensive, please blank it and type   on the page.

An administrator will look at any articles for deletion as much as possible.

Other Websites
Sometimes websites will need to be looked at by an administrator before you are allowed to link to it. Unless it is an offical owned by Lego.

BIONICLE Fansites and Forums
We do allow linking to MaskofDestiny.com, but currently we will not allow linking to any other BIONICLE fansites or forums.

We also do not allow linking to any Forums unless they have been approved by the administrators, or if they are hosted by Wikia.

Promoting other Bionicle Wikis
We will only allow mention of other BIONICLE wikis as long as they are hosted by Wikia (or if they've been aproved by the Bioniclepedia administration). Copying information from any other Bionicle wiki and adding it here is prohibited, and vise versa, and may result in a weeklong ban.

YouTube
We do not currently allow linking to YouTube, although posting a YouTube video here is okay.