Metro Wiki:Policy

The Metro Wiki has lots of content on it and has had numerous editors since its creation in 2010. Due to the plethora of editors creating and refining a large amount of content, and the lack of bots on this wiki, there is more deviation in formatting from page to page than we would like. Refer to this page as a set of standard rules and editing guidelines for the Metro Wiki.

Remember that ignorance regarding these rules is not a valid excuse for breaking them. We might go easy on you if you break the guidelines by accident at first, but repeated violations will result in being banned from the Metro Wiki. Probably forever.

For general help with Fandom's editing tools (they are more or less the same across all the wikias), go HERE.

Scope
''The Metro 2033 wiki aims to be the most complete database, online or otherwise, in regards to the work of Dmitry Glukhovsky and 4A Games in relation to the Metro Series; and by conjunction, their fictitious vision of Post-Apocalyptic Moscow and the Moscow Metro. As editors of the Metro 2033 Wiki, we are devoted to the accurate representation and description of the peoples, places, and things depicted within the novels and video games of the Metro Series, with as little in the way of preferential treatment of the works as we can. We are here to educate, transcribe, and describe the aspects and experiences of this beautiful series, from which we have all derived enjoyment. This is who we are, this is what we aim to achieve.''

General Wiki Policies
If you are unfamiliar with Fandom's global policies then it would be best to view those first. There are very few policies which apply across all Wikia. These can be found on the Central Wikia at Wikia:Category:Policy. However, much of that is common sense. The focus should always be the local Wikia rules (like the guidelines you are reading now) first and foremost, as they differ from one project to another.

Obviously, do not be an asshole. Treat others with the same respect you would like to be treated with. Assume good faith, unless someone has shown repeated bad behaviour and/or breaks the wiki policies all the time (in that case, report them to us and we will deal with it). Absolutely never discriminate or bully other users due to their ethnicity, sex, gender, orientation, ability, etc. Play nice!

Proofreading
Perhaps the most important, but also often forgotten about, rule is proofreading. Before clicking that save/publish button, please remember to check all your contributions for mistakes. It is a very simple task that does not take up much of your time and might save others from having to correct typos.

Spelling
We use British English spelling rather than American English (so if you see "favourite" instead of "favorite", "organise" in place of "organize", etc. then please do not change it). This is for the simple reason that the Metro series started out in Europe, thus it makes sense that European (British) English spelling rules are used here and we respect that. Those who repeatedly and purposefully go around changing the spelling on the Wiki articles to American variants will be treated as trolls and blocked.

Of course, this applies only to articles - never to discussions, blog posts, talk pages, user profiles, and so on. In conversations, you are more than welcome to use whatever spellings are normally used where you live or whichever way of spelling you were taught. Also, in cases such as the "Armory" level of the first game we retain the original spelling and do not change it to "Armoury", as that is how it was written in the game (as is usually the case in the games industry, products normally receive only an American English version). Another example of when you should retain an American English spelling is if appears like that in the original source you are directly quoting from.

At the Metro Wiki, we used to have no set rule on spelling - American English tended to dominate as many of our pioneering admins were based in North America, but it was mixed in with bits of British English here and there. Over the years more and more European users joined (some of whom became admins), many prefer to use British English or simply have been taught that way. Due to this and the franchise's Eastern European origins as per above, it was decided to use British (therefore European) English as the norm. Please respect that.

Finally, please refrain from shortening phrases like "do not" into "don't". This is acceptable in discussions and conversations, including your personal pages, but creates an informal tone when used on the wiki that we prefer to avoid.

Perspective Statements
A first person statement is a comment or question posed in the form of the first person, the narrator or voice speaking from personal accounts. First person is identified by always including the use of "I" in sentences. First person is unprofessional, as it sounds like a blog not a wiki page, and does not leave any room for the reader to form an opinion for themselves or draw on their own experiences. These always should be corrected on sight in articles (unless they are direct quotes) - but are perfectly acceptable, and are even the norm, on profile pages and in talk pages, forums, and blogs.

A second person statement is based on the narrator or voice speaking to the reader or audience, characterised with "you" statements and questions. "You" statements are acceptable, but are not encouraged, as they also leave an informal perspective on an article. Second person statements are acceptable in Walkthroughs and Trivia as they are traditionally not in a formal voice, anywhere else should be edited to third person.

Instead, articles should be written in third person. Third person, like this article, addresses the whole audience, regardless of who they are (gender included) by avoiding specific words such as "I", "you", and "he" (if referring to the player). It uses words that can be understood in a universal perspective. Third person articles identify who they are talking about before using words such as he or she. Refer to the following sentences for an example of each perspective: 1st: I killed a nosalis with my shotgun right before I fell off the rail car. 2nd: You killed a nosalis with your shotgun right before you fall out of a rail car. 3rd: Artyom killed a nosalis with his shotgun right before he fell off the rail car.

Tense
The writing of article tense, as in point of view in time an article should be written in, does not matter. The standard of writing is in present tense however when dealing with a dead character, event, or item that no longer exists as up to the end of the most current and well-known canon, past tense is commonly used. Tense does not matter, however, in a larger picture as it usually does not detract from the quality of an article. Refer to Boris and Pavel for pages about deceased characters. They are written in different tenses but are both good articles.

"Artyom / Player Disparity"
One of our newest policies is to enforce the difference between statements which specifically identify the player and Artyom as one. What may seem as common sense, may need some clarification. Artyom is a fictitious character in a post-apocalyptic subway. The player is a person who is playing a video game in which Artyom is the player avatar. Thus: nosalises do not tear at the player's face, they tear at Artyom's. When editing, please keep this in mind!

Spacing
Spaces or enters should be used to separate information such as in this article, but the article should overall remain compact so this should be used sparingly to separate larger sections of texts into separate paragraphs.

Use of Emphasis
Using bold or italics is a common practice to emphasize information. Use it freely but do keep it in moderation. The name of the article if mentioned at the beginning (as it should typically be) should be in bold. When italicising titles of media, please remember that we only italicise the names of books - NOT the games. This is for the reader to be able to easily differentiate between Metro 2033 (the novel) and Metro 2033 (the video game) without having to do guesswork or check links.

Images
Image sizes do not matter, do what looks best when placing them on a page and there should not be any problem. The standard for most articles is usually 250, 255, or 300 pixels (note: not the glitchy default 250px) so this is a good base.

Titles
Titles or articles should follow standard titling format. Main points / words / ideas capitalised, minor words like "of" and "the" should not be. The first mention of the title in the article can either keep this titling sequence once or not at all, simply writing it in bold is the norm however. Article titles in general are fully capitalised, however exceptions may exist.

Capitalisation
Or, over-capitalisation of articles is a moderately large problem. Names of people and stations should be capitalised, species and titles like "the surface" and "the player" should not be. Races such as "nosalises" generally, should not be - though "Dark Ones" should. Weapons are optional, conform to the article. The specific case of the word "metro" varies. It is commonly capitalised in the novel, identifying it as a (though never outright) named location and proper noun. However "metro" is not usually capitalised in formal English, and "Metro" capitalised can also pertain to the Metro series. Moreover, the content of our wiki deals with more than just the Moscow Metro, for example the Warsaw Metro or the Novosibirsk Metro. Due to all this, it is best to not capitalise the word and just be specific. Artyom and Ulman were fending off mutants from Hole Station. They both shot many nosalises in the head with their Duplets.

Referencing and Source Noting
Referencing is nice, but is rarely used on Wikia. All the time and effort could be better put to use for making the actual article information worthwhile, not citing primary sources.

Linking
Linking is strongly encouraged, especially to other pages in this wiki. However, please do not over-link either. If a page mentions a linkable subject more than once simply make the first mention of such have the link, not all the instances. Hunter is a ranger. I think Hunter is real cool guy. He shoots Dark Ones and is not afraid of anything.

Categorisation
Categorising articles and pages is a must and is very helpful for the organisation of the wiki. Ensuring the correct categories are in place is good practice and and enables users to quickly and easily navigate similar articles. High level categories are OK to use on pages, for example the character page for Artyom falls under many various categories such as the installments he appears in (Metro 2033 Novel, Metro 2033 Game, Metro Last Light, Metro Exodus) as well as his status as a character in the series and a member of the Rangers.

Superfluous categorisation is not needed on this wiki, for example information that is stated within the infobox (such as birth, death, status, gender, physical information) - these very specific categories are overkill and clutter the page's categories.

Trivia and Fanwank
If there is ever some wrong information to be put in an article, it is going to be found in Trivia, and probably by an anonymous user. Wikipedia's third definition of fanwank is as follows: Fanwank (verb and noun, with derived nouns fanwanker, fanwankery, and adjectives fanwanky, fanwankish), a portmanteau of "fandom" and "wank" (i.e. 'masturbate'), may refer to: * Excessive display of fandom, especially obsessing over fictional details in an  out-of-universe context like a casual conversation. Therefore, if two franchises by part of the same people happen to share a certain faction name, even though nothing else points to the fact that the two parties are remotely related (which wouldn't even make sense in a cross-universe perspective), repeatedly stating that they are the same[1][2]|undefined is a good way to get yourself banned.

If someone thinks a scene in the Metro series, and one in some other franchise, are similar - the evidence needed for a fan to post a correlation between two works and have it not be removed must be empirical and non-speculative. Essentially, proven and undeniable. If the edit doesn't provide fact (such as a casual mention from the developers from Twitter), the edit is considered invalid and cannot remain. It is for this reason, that even a capitalisation of "The Zone" in Metro 2033 is not a reference, and is not a trivia entry.

Fan Art
Fan Art is occasionally accepted on the Wiki, but only in rare instances. Firstly, all art must strictly relate to the subject and themes of the Metro Universe, no cross-over images with other franchises (including overly-explicit, immature or pornographic pictures) are allowed on this Wiki. Secondly, all fan art you post must have the author's permission to be posted, there are legal problems that we do not want to get into otherwise. To the third degree, art has a much better chance on remaining on a page if the subject matter is both impossible to obtain an official image of (such as most novel information) and is of a high quality. If art passes all the above qualifications, then there is little reason for it to not belong on a page, unless it detracts from the overall level of information being conveyed. That said, there is no need to upload fan art at all for topics that already have plenty of official images for them.

Leaked Information
Here at the Metro 2033 Wiki, we have an important policy that restricts the publishing of leaked information about future games. Leaked information that is added to articles will be deleted and the user who added such information will face a ban from editing at the wiki. Leaked information includes unofficial announcements from websites stating either false or unconfirmed information about a game / novel, leaked pictures that haven't been released from the developer team, and rumors.

Videos and Self-Promotion
"I've made a really cool video essay or playthrough for one of the Metro games, can I upload it to the Metro Wiki or leave a link here?" - the answer is, almost always, absolutely not. We rarely allow some content from admins, such as Komo's walkthroughs and edits or Bamul's video essays and podcasts to be used on relevant articles of the Metro Wiki. We do NOT permit other users to upload or link to their content on this website. This is for the simple reason that we cannot go through the works of every person wanting to promote their YouTube channel here to check who has the best content, we do not have the time to check if all this fanmade stuff is appropriate for our project, we do not want to play favourites, and so on.

In fact, in 2021/2022 we had an incident wherein a certain user used the absence of moderators as an opportunity to spam his content all over the Metro Wiki; eventually he even had the gall to start calling his videos "official wikia walkthroughs"... Naturally, he had never obtained nor even asked for permission to do this from any of the administrators. And, of course, all his videos contained links that allowed viewers to donate money. Not only was this behaviour extremely scummy, it also broke another rule of the Metro Wiki: no self-promotion without prior consent from the admins. The result: removal of all his content from the wiki and a permanent ban. Don't be that guy.

The Golden Rule
Back before all but one of our admins were editing, there was another set of admins from when the wiki first started. Of all their contributions, one of their most underplayed, but longest lasting, was their brutal banning policy. This has gone untouched for years, and still stands today. To reiterate:

'''Vandalism is not tolerated on this wiki. There will be no warnings, any vandals will be banned for a determined period of time.'''

We at the Metro Wiki used to almost never ban for anything other than vandalism. That said, we were then and still are a relatively small wiki, run by a few unpaid regulars, who have better things to do with our time than clean up the mess left by others. Most offences, especially from anons, will receive a ban of 1 year (or more, if we're in a bad mood), with greatly reduced chance of appeal and greater chance of full-ban if the vandalism spans multiple pages. In fact, if you are here simply to make life miserable for others or spam nonsensical links, then you can expect a permaban.

Appeals
Our admins are human, and are willing to hear any ban appeals from users or anons - should they feel the ban was unjustified. Simply accessing your personal message wall and leaving a well-put message appealing a ban is enough for us to start discussion. We will be fair and honest, just as we are now in that if you are going so far as to appeal, you probably did not do much wrong in the first place and there is something to discuss. Exploiting this system, however, is enough to get yourself fully banned, for whatever ridiculous number of years we figure should be sufficient. Some of us are partial to 1263 and 9001 years, whereas others prefer infinity.

But wait, "why can I not post on my wall anymore? Why am I unable to edit anonymously without logging in? I cannot even send messages!". Well, you must have really screwed up to get yourself in that pickle and clearly do not deserve a second chance. On the small chance that there has been some huge misunderstanding and you will never make the same mistakes again, you can try to ask another user to plead your case to the admins. However, if you are not doing this in good faith and abuse the system then you will not only get yourself banned again but possibly place another person's account at risk too.

Help!
So you have read all of the above, yet something remains unclear? You have an urgent need to ask a moderator or admin some questions? First, please make sure that your query really cannot be answered by our policy nor by Fandom's global rules. If that is truly the case, contact one of our mods or admins - preferably someone who has recently been active on the Metro Wiki - directly via the message wall. If they are still taking part in the project then they will help you as soon as they are able. If they cannot assist you then they will pass your issue onto another admin or escalate it to Fandom staff.

If you are being harassed by another user or you believe someone is breaking Metro Wiki rules then please reach out to us ASAP; do NOT engage a bully or try to deal with a troll/vandal directly. We take all accusations of abuse (be it against other users or via the breaking of our guidelines) seriously and will try to help you as best we can. Please be patient and do not feed the trolls.

Спасибо
If you have made it this far and actually read through all our rules, then congratulations and thank you. You are exactly the kind of editor we want at the Metro Wiki and your contributions will surely impress us.

Спасибо, товарищ сталкер!