VRCWiki:Disciplinary policy

The Official VRChat Wiki is a space featuring a combination of both official and community content. Those who wish to contribute are welcome to do so, but first should be aware of and understand the Rules and Guidelines and other policies. Failure to do so can result in disciplinary action.

While there's generally an assumption of good faith, nonetheless there must be a certain degree of rule and order to prevent vandalism and bad faith actors from harming the site. It is the job of the Wiki Maintainers and Wiki Administrators to enforce those rules in an fair and responsible way. Below are some examples of offenses and disciplinary actions, but is not a comprehensive list, and common sense should still be employed. When in doubt, ask a Wiki Maintainer.

General offenses

The following is a short list of broadly defined potential offenses.

Ignorant actions

When an action such as an edit or page creation breaks a rule out of ignorance, but good faith intent can be reasonably assumed, the first step should be to revert the action and include a simple warning as to why it was reverted, including the relevant rule or discussion consensus. If the behavior continues, the user should be addressed directly and requested to acknowledge the issue and familiarize themselves with the rules. Continued ignorance of the rules can result in further disciplinary action.

Vandalism

Vandalism occurs when a page is intentionally and maliciously edited so as to cause trouble for users and/or other editors. This can include adding nonsense or harmful content, deleting content without just cause, creating useless pages, and more. To be vandalism the action must be reasonably believed to have been made in bad faith, and the consequences include documented warning, removal of permissions, and outright banning, depending on the scope and recurrence.

Edit warring

An edit war occurs when two people disagree on the contents of a page, and continuously revert or override each others' changes back and forth. Users should seek to resolve their disagreements in discussion pages and abide by any applicable rules and policies. If a compromise can't be reached, seek out input from others, and consider mediation as well. If edit warring does occur, both users should be given a simple warning, and further incidents can result in documented warnings, removal of permissions, and eventually banning.

Conflict provocation

Discussing and resolving conflicting views is often a natural part of the wiki process, but there comes a time when matters have already been discussed at length, and they need to be laid down to focus on other issues and to progress forward with a decision. In situations where a matter has been agreed upon at large to be settled and tired, or in situations where unwarranted conflict is otherwise generated, sanctions may be placed on a user against bringing up or engaging in such topics.

Abuse of privileges

Certain user groups such as Wiki Maintainers are granted special permissions, and trusted to use them responsibly and fairly. Abuse of these permissions as determined by fellow Wiki Maintainers and VRChat Staff can result in the offending user being removed from said user group.

Legal/TOS violations

Violations of applicable laws or the VRChat TOS will be reported to VRChat Staff, who will take the appropriate action against the offending user and their account.

Disciplinary actions

The following is a list of potential disciplinary actions that can be taken.

Simple warning

Simple warnings are ones that exists as a comment on a reversion/deletion action. It's effectively an informal record specific to the page, detailing why a change was made. This is generally done in response to first offense ignorant actions.

Documented warning

Documented warnings are explicit edits to the offending user's talk page, informing them of the offense and warning them to abide by the rules.

Removal of permissions

When warnings have failed, or for obvious cases of bad faith activity such as vandalism, removal of permissions is applied to limit the offending user's ability to cause damage. The most notable of these is to remove the ability for a user to create/edit, but can also include removal of special user group permissions such as for Wiki Maintainers. The duration of the punishment should be proportional to the intent and damage caused, and trustworthiness to not commit the offenses again.

Banning

For particularly extreme cases, especially those involving legal/TOS violations, banning can be employed by VRChat Staff, which will likely result in additional consequences beyond the wiki.

Appeals

For disciplinary action less than banning, an appeal can be made wherein Wiki Maintainers can collectively review the situation and either uphold it or reverse it. In the event it is upheld, an appeal can still be made to VRChat Staff by using this form. Their final decision takes precedence.