FiM Wiki policies |
---|
- See also Help:List of ponies and Help:Placeholder names
This page details the procedure for listing placeholder names that do not appear in official material or reliable third-party sources. This is the most complex policy on the FiM Wiki, please read it carefully.
Introduction
What are placeholder names and why are they on the FiM Wiki
The FiM Wiki deals primarily with official material about the show and its merchandising. Placeholder names are names that are used on the wiki for characters that are unnamed in official material. They are not fanon, canon, or otherwise significant in any way except as placeholder names used for identification on the wiki.
Official material
Official material supersedes all other material for use on the wiki. Material that appears on the show, such as character names or titles of episodes, supersedes all other official material. Material by Hasbro, which is the corporation that owns all the rights to the show and its characters, supersedes all other official material except for the television show itself. Official material by the crew is next. The wiki then turns to reliable third-party sources or other primary sources under certain conditions.
About the ranking
Equestria Daily, interview with Lauren Faust, 2011-09-16:
- EqD: [H]ow did the chain of production run from Hasbro through you to Jayson and the other leaders?
- Lauren Faust, developer: Rob Renzetti was a big contributor, and, of course, Ridd, Jayson and Wootie. Rob and I handled all of the story development and scripts down in Los Angeles. Once they were done and approved by Hasbro and The Hub, we’d get them recorded, and hand them off to Jayson and Wootie to begin the production work. Jayson would supervise his team in Vancouver and send me the work at each phase (design, color, storyboard, animatic, animation rough cut) for direction and/or revisions and then make sure my revisions were put in place. Each of these phases would then go to Hasbro and The Hub for any further adjustments.
Fictional Frontiers, interview with Jayson Thiessen, 2011-11-14:
- Jayson Thiessen, director: I think that's what Hasbro and the Hub has done really well is allow us to see our visions through to the best that we can. Of course, there's mandates from a brand perspective and whatnot, but working within those boundaries, we can tell our story.
Allspark, topic 83134, 2011-11-05:
- Murry: Studio B has already gone on record in the past to say Hasbro has no say over the shows canon and just does their own thing while occasionaly asking for something to be included in the show.
- Nayuki, layout artist: Not true. The show obviously still belongs to Hasbro, so they've got the final say on anything.
Thread number 23666309 on the Hyperindex, 2011-02-20:
- Flashinthepan, layout artist: [E]very single design needs to be approved, all the way up.
Obsolete placeholder name policy
The previous placeholder name policy was as follows: "Please only add placeholder names; don't remove names unless they're superseded by official names or unless they use inappropriate language." This led to the proliferation of names until they were unmanageable and caused much confusion for wiki contributors. The new policy was determined by discussion and consensus by the wiki's contributors.
Voting
The new placeholder name policy is centered around voting. Unfortunately, Fandom's polling enhancement is not robust enough to handle this voting, which complicates matters. The robust voting system of reddit was chosen as a replacement. reddit's system is much better suited to deal with complex polls through the reddit submission and commenting system. The process of voting is detailed below.
Placeholder name policy
Placeholder names on the list of ponies page
- Placeholder names are determined by voting on reddit's My Little Pony Friendship is Magic community or the single-purpose list of ponies community.
- Voting takes place only on "self-posts" started by moderators, which will specify a character from FiM Wiki's list of ponies using one or more images and a description of its appearances in the series, without editorializing the description.
Moderators
All administrators of the wiki are automatically moderators of the subreddit. Any administrator who has created a new poll in the three months prior can appoint additional moderators; their rights can lapse if they are misused or less than two new polls for an unnamed pony per month are created.
Moderators' responsibilities include the following:
- Monitoring and responding to mod mail.
- Re-opening polls older than six months when requested.
- Checking their polls every few days until a name wins a clear plurality.
- Checking their polls periodically until they close.
- Keeping their polls up-to-date by fixing links to renamed images or updating the poll description if a pony has received an official name.
- Keeping the wiki up-to-date by linking to polls on the list of ponies and changing names on the List when necessary.
- Removing inappropriate nominations.
- Removing duplicate nominations.
- Helping nominators and voters understand the rules.
Qualification criteria
- Placeholder names that do not adhere to the wiki's guidelines, and specifically the Fandom Terms of Use, are disqualified. This includes profanity, derogatory terms and content that contains or alludes to inappropriate material.
- Names and placeholder names of other characters are disqualified.
- Comments marked as edited are disqualified.
- Excessive campaigning for a nomination disqualifies the nomination.
- Nominations with more than one name are disqualified.
Nominating and voting
- Anyone may nominate a placeholder name and vote on any nominated placeholder name. Moderators may nominate names on their own polls, but only with a different account.
- A nomination is made by posting a top-level comment that solely contains the nominated name.
Selecting the top qualifying nomination
- Out of the qualifying nominations, the qualifying nomination with a clear plurality ("top qualifying nomination") is set on the list of ponies page as the only placeholder name for that character. The moderator who made the submission decides what qualifies as a "clear" plurality, by themselves or through deliberation. If a character has more than one submission about it, the qualifying nomination with the highest score out of all the nominations will be set on the list of ponies.
Incorporation into the FiM Wiki list of ponies
- After the top qualifying nomination is set as a placeholder name on the list of ponies page, it will remain for a minimum of four weeks, regardless of whether the placeholder name is still the top qualifying nomination or whether the top qualifying nomination has been deleted or disqualified.
- The placeholder name may be replaced if the character is named in official material.
- After the four-week period, if there is a different qualifying nomination with a clear plurality, the placeholder name is changed to the new top qualifying nomination.
- Placeholder names on the list of ponies must always link to the moderator's self-post where they are voted on.
Diagram
|
⬇ |
|
⬇ |
|
⬇ |
|
⤷⤴ |
Placeholder names on the rest of the FiM Wiki
- The rest of the wiki should adhere to the list of ponies page. File names, page titles, anchors, quotes, transcripts and all other information on the wiki should be consistent with the placeholder names.
- Articles titled with placeholder names must begin with "<placeholder name> is the placeholder name of". When such a page uses {{Infobox character}}, it should use the parameter
|name="fillthisinwiththecharacter'sname"
. - Ponies with placeholder names should have their name surrounded by quotation marks when it's present on articles. This indicates that the name isn't official while keeping that name on the article.
Existing placeholder names
- Existing placeholder names may remain until voted on, but no new names should be added without a vote.