Half-Life Wiki:User treatment policy

This is a policy to guide users to be civil amongst others.

Treating other users properly
Sure, all of us play the Half-life games. We all hear words used by the game characters and other players via online play that can be offensive, like "fuck", "damn", "nigger", "bitch", "gay", "shit", and the whole nine yards.

Though it may be acceptable among some in online play and when hanging out with your friends, doing such is not acceptable here. If a user insults or cusses at another, that constitutes as a personal attack, and has a high chance of resulting in a block.

While jokes made by users are usually in good fun, jokes that can be considered offensive should be avoided. If a user continues to say disrespectful jokes after several warnings, he or she will be subject to a block.

Blocking
Not all insults have the same magnitude. If you tell somebody that they suck, it is nothing like calling them a "gay-ass bitch". The more minimal things, like "noob", "suck" and such, would only result in a warning, or a small block. Though, more inappropriate words and/or racial slurs can result up to a month or two if it is insulting enough.

Don't feed the trolls
A troll is, according to Wikipedia's definition, "someone who posts controversial and usually irrelevant or off-topic messages in an online community, [...] with the intention of baiting other users into an emotional response or to generally disrupt normal on-topic discussion." The Half-Life Wiki has its fair share of trolls and vandals, just like other wiki communities.

It is understandable to not like editors who purposefully disrupt the wiki. However, from unregistered users to trusted bureaucrats, no one has the right to personally attack vandals or trolls. No matter how much damage the unconstructive edits or flame wars may have caused, all that is necessary is to block the user and move on. Attacking such trolls or vandals is fruitless and counterproductive; doing so will usually encourage them to come back for more.

Don't be a dick
When participating in community discussions or conversing with other users, never go out of your way to intentionally irritate or attack other users. Doing such can be considered a personal attack, depending on the circumstances. Purposefully inciting conflict and thus causing a flame war is counterproductive and might result in being blocked. In addition, when making a point in a community discussion, do not illustrate your point in such a manner that is detrimental to the wiki. Make your point, but never go overboard in doing so.

Don't bite the newcomers
Users new to or inexperienced at editing on wikis or just this wiki are often unfamiliar with how policies, guidelines, and other important aspects of the wiki function. Regardless of the quality of the contributions, it is important to remember to assume good faith with new members. As Wikipedia says, "nothing scares potentially valuable contributors away faster than hostility." Remember, at one point, we were all first-time editors.

Exceptions
There can always be exceptions. If telling someone "Oh, so-and-so yelled at Bobby-Joe and called him gay!", the person telling the other would not get in trouble.

If a user uses cusses at another in a friendly manner, like saying "That is so fucking funny!", they would not be punished, however overuse of swear words used in similar contexts is still unadvised.

This policy may not be overridden by HL:IAR.