User:Mshonle/Policy
A directly enumerated WikiBooks policy
[edit | edit source]Immediate Exclusions
[edit | edit source]Any WikiBook must follow rules similar to the Google AdSense/Wikicities prohibited content policy. WikiBooks has extended and consolidated these prohibitions and should be considered separate.
The following is prohibited from WikiBooks:
- Excessive profanity
- Violence, racial intolerance, or advocation against any individual, group, or organization
- Hacking/cracking content with specific cracking details/exploits or scripts. Any computer security auditing instructional resource must not venture into the territory of how to perform a specific crack. However, it can discuss principles behind cracking techniques and how to guard against them
- Illicit drugs and drug paraphernalia
- Pornography, adult, or mature content
- Gambling or casino-related content; except for resources that describe the sports abstractly without any participation in actual games or betting
- Any other content that promotes illegal activity or infringes on the legal rights of others, including (but not limited to) content condoning harassment, intimidation, espionage, terrorism
- Any sales, promotion or advertising of materials whatsoever, spamming, pop-ups, pop-unders or exit windows that interfere with site navigation, change user preferences, or are for downloads, including excessive, repetitive, or irrelevant keywords in the content or code of web pages
Any material that qualifies under any of these headings are subject to speedy deletion, which does not require a vote or consensus discussion. An administrator can delete these materials immediately upon discovery or via the suggestion of a non-administrator.
Other Exclusions
[edit | edit source]The following works are not allowed on WikiBooks:
- Any work that would be categorized as fictional
- Any work that would be considered original research or otherwise unverifiable
- Projects seeking to build communities or political campaigns
- Any entertainment guides or hobby guides that are based on created works of fiction
- Any fan guides or actor/director/producer/writer/etc FAQs
- Personal journals or narratives
- References that are only lists facts, dates, persons, charts, etc that lack instructional value
- Any work that is better suited for a WikiMedia sister project is best directed there [The List...].
Qualifications:
- Examples in otherwise non-fictional textbooks can use fictional characters to demonstrate principles. For example, an economics text book can consider hypothetical transactions between Alice and Bob; but there should be no plot elements or character development beyond what is necessary for the example itself.
- However, even didactic works of fiction are excluded. That is, even the most educational of all works of fiction cannot qualify as a WikiBook
- The exposition, order of presentation, and examples used in an otherwise non-original works may be original. For example, if you have a unique way of describing how a known algorithm works then that unique description won't be considered original research.
- The WikiBooks community itself, however, should be built and supported!
- While video games are themselves works of fiction older games such as chess and Go should not be considered works of fiction, even both games are themselves creations based on folk interpretations of war
- Biographies on notable individuals may be allowed, but they must provide references to all sources used and have no annecdotes based on personal or indirect contact with the individual. The individual must be notable enough so that WikiBooks would not be in danger of libel or tort action.
Inclusions
[edit | edit source]The following ares are suitable topics for WikiBooks:
- Any topic that is taught as a serious course, from kindergarten up to and including the university level, is included, provided that the writing itself is written from a neutral point of view (NPOV) and does not violate the immediate exclusions set forth. Cookbooks qualify because there are legitimate cooking courses.
- How-to guides (provided they are not in the domain of prohibited content or are based on specific works of fiction) can be created, but they should demonstrate many opportunities for education and learning about the "classroom of the world". NPOV culture guides are permitted, but travel guides are not allowed.
- Guides that introduce, explore, and teach hobbies and/or vocations, provided the guides do not conflict with the prohibitions or exclusions stated previously.
Standards of Quality
[edit | edit source]- All books must have a clear direction and be on a topic signifigant enough to warrant the scope of a book.
- Books must be on topics where it is concievable that another collaborator can contribute to the project.
- Content that is too small, "mini-books," or "bookless-chapters" must be merged into larger works.
- Books cannot be collections of miscellaneous topics: Anything discussed must have come common theme warranting it to all belong in the same book.