User blog:Sci100/2014 - A Year of Change: Update 3

As you know, I released an important blog about four months ago concerning 2014, which I have dubbed "The Year of Change". This blog is to explain the changes that have happened and will happen, especially concerning the upcoming anniversary,  revisions and additions to our rules, and a look at our blacklist.

Changes that have Happened

 * 1) Community Guidelines, the Blog Policy, the Chat Policy, and the Upload Policy were updated.
 * 2) The Ultimate Guide to a New User was created.
 * 3) Featured Picture was officially closed down
 * 4) Featured Character was voted as the replacement for Featured Picture
 * 5) Page Creation Portal got admin support again.
 * 6) Visual Editor was tested for one week
 * 7) Template:Universe was expanded from the Main 52 to the Main 100.
 * 8) Category:Candidates for Deletion was emptied.
 * 9) Voting For Featured Character began on 2/1/14.
 * 10) The First Meeting of the Fanon Con Commitee occured on 2/8/14
 * 11) The Wiki's Navigation was updated.
 * 12) The Page Creation Portal was updated.
 * 13) Changes were Made to Fanon Con
 * 14) A Writing Contest was added
 * 15) Fanon Con became a weekend event, in different parts instead of one big blog.
 * 16) Creating a new welcome message
 * 17) A grand total of 559 Pages were categorized, including pages from Uncategorized Pages and Category:Pages requiring further categorization.
 * 18) A new “wiki holiday”, Ester Sunday, was created.

Upcoming Changes

 * The Second Meeting of the Fanon Con Commitee will take place on 5/17/14
 * International Week will occur on 5/11-5/17.
 * Retraining of Chat Moderators will be updated (unknown amount of time)
 * The Main Page will be Updated (unknown amount of time)
 * Making Wanted Pages (unknown amount of time).
 * And Possibly More....

Details on the Main Page and the Page Creation Portal
Currently, a new main page is being looked into. If you have suggestions about the main page, please contact my message wall, or comment on Ben 10 Fan Fiction/Prototype.

Ben 10 Fan Fiction: 5 Years
Nearly Five Years ago, a user named Duncan Crook created a wiki that would have made, many users, regrettably some horrible drama that I’m not going into because come on, that was two-three years ago people… and lots of stories told. Now in 2014, the fifth anniversary of this wiki is coming up, and since 5 is ½ of 10, I think it’s a pretty big deal (the biggest deal we’re going to have until we turn 10, which should be the biggest party bash ever ( Take note of this future administrators who will probably replace us all ). Yes, it’s only May but shouldn't we start planning NOW so we have everything done in time by November 21st, 2014? To plan this event, I’m starting a thread called “Planning the 5th Anniversary”. Here, users can suggest suggestions and ideas of what to do for the big 5th anniversary of the wiki.  Suggestions can last from now until August 31st, so we have plenty of time to come up with good ideas!

The Blacklist
"It's called 'The Blacklist,' that sounds exciting."

- Red Reddington aka James Spader in NBC’s The Blacklist

Lately, there have been certain words that have been questioned about why they are on the blacklist. So, perhaps it is time to take a look at one word, and actually question if we should blacklist it or not. We will be taking a vote on these words. From this point on until the end of the “Blacklist” section, I will be using blacklisted terms but only for the point of questioning if they should be on the list or not. I will also be following the Quotation Policy on the Chat Policy as well.
 * 1) “Idiot” – "An “idiot”, dolt, or dullard is an intellectually disabled person, or someone who acts in a self-defeating or significantly counterproductive way."

- Wikipedia

This term is used to suggest someone is a mentally disabled person. The term is commonly used like the following: “You’re a big fat ‘idiot’, you know that right?”  It is commonly used to insult a person. Some believe it isn't as bad as other words, some believe it is the same.

Voting ends on May 24th.

If you have any questions about certain words on the Blacklist, please contact my message wall.

Amendments and Additions
I've been looking at our rules that have been around since the beginning of the year, when I came up with a revised version. I've noticed some errors and some things that should be addressed, and so I am here to bring them to light and have you, the people, vote on them.

AMENDMENT I: Behavior Policy
Spam is unnecessary links, nonsense, and/or inappropriate pieces of text. Some examples include advertisements, links to porn/virus websites, nonsense/gibberish, an entire page of pointlessness, etc. Spam is all those things, and a user who spams will receive 3 warnings, and then a block. Note: CSI: Miami jokes and other memes (In Soviet Russia, Arrow to the knee, etc.) are not spam, unless users continue to post them one after another in the same row. About 8 of these in a row are considered spam.

AMENDMENT II: Personal Info Policy
This is the Internet. While we want to have a safe wiki, we have to keep in mind that even "safe sites" can have "bad people" on them. Because of this, we have a policy in place that stops you from giving out personal information. Giving out any personal information is not allowed at all on this wiki for safety reasons, protecting against identity thieves and other threats.

Personal Information as defined on BTFF is:
 * 1) Name
 * 2) Age*
 * 3) Address
 * 4) City Name
 * 5) Phone Number
 * 6) Cell Phone Number
 * 7) School Name/District Name
 * 8) State (only applies if you live in America)

Asking or Giving Personal Information will result in a three-day block if caught by an administrator. Personal Information is something that should not be given out.

* The only time this is allowed is if an administrator suspects a user of violating COPPA.

You are not allowed to link to Personal Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, MySpace,  or Instagram pages, since accounts may use real names. If you ask for Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, MySpace, or Instagram, you will receive 3 warnings and then a one day block. Any linking to these pages will result in a three-day block. Pinterest and Tumblr are only allowed to be used to look at pictures. Any linking to personal Pinterest and Tumblr websites will result in a three-day block. You are allowed to link to any and all Spring.me (formerly known as Formspring.me) and DeviantArt pages.

AMENDMENT III: Content Policy (Language Policy)
As stated in our “Speak English” section, this is an English Language wiki, meaning all content here is written in English, and users speak in English. However, online translators are not allowed (such as Google Translate) because online translators don’t have proper English and mess up, creating a messed up sentence that no one can understand.

AMENDMENT IV: Politics and Religion Policy
When dealing with religion (Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, etc.) for fan fictions, be especially careful. When writing fan fiction with religion, do not say anything negative about other religions as it may upset users. Please have a notice at the top stating that there are religious references/allusions, or that this episode is very religious based. Any hateful messages in the episode will result in the immediate 3 day block.

Amendment V: Chat Policy

 * As of April 5, 2013, this wiki has a policy that requires all users to make 25 total edits and 15 mainspace (normal articles such as series, episode, and character pages) edits before going on chat.
 * NOTE: You are not allowed to edit the same page over and over again/edit pages made by others without their permission to obtain edits. Administrators are in charge of deciding when a user has made enough edits or not.
 * Staff, VSTF, and trusted administrators and bureaucrats from different wikis are exempt from this rule. For example: Blaziken from Ben 10 Planet is exempt from the policy as he is a trusted bureaucrat on his wiki.
 * You must have Ben 10 knowledge, otherwise you are suspected to be just a random user for chat at Ben 10 Fan Fiction.

ADDITION I: Quotation Policy (New!)
If you received a strike or kick for using a blacklisted word, you may ask why you were kicked for saying said word. However, you must use quotation marks (for example: “) around the blacklisted word so we know you're asking why. If you do this, then you will not receive a strike. However, this only applies if you were previously warned and/or kicked, and you're just asking why it’s against the rules.

If you however purposely continue to do this just to keep using the word, then you will be blocked for one day. Blocks will extend in length with continual use.

ADDITION II: Category Policy (New!)
ALL Pages are  required  to be categorized. The cannot be used to fulfill this requirement. Users will not receive warnings if they every once in a while forget to add categories to pages, or add no categories to five new pages in a row. But if they continue to create pages without categories, a warning will be given. A total of four warnings may be given before a one-day block is given.

For these seven changes or additions to the policies, we're not going to use multiple Opposes or Supports. Instead, you will use to list the amendments and additions you agree with, and  to list the amendments and additions you disagree with. So, here is an example:

Voting ends on May 24th.

International Week :(
I have bad news about International Week. After the proposal was pushed off until this month, now the actual week will also have to be pushed off till June 15th - June 21st because of one sad fact: Final Exams.

Alien Fest will still occur as will Fanon Con on schedule, but International Week will have to be pushed off so everyone can enjoy it.

Survey
After a few months, I'd like for you all to take another survey of mine.

User:Sci100/2014 - Year of Change Survey

Please take the time to do this survey.

Personal Thanks
There are plently of people who make a difference every day to the Wiki. These are just some of the users who I've noticed have made a big difference on the wiki, and have contributed making 2014 .. A Year of Change:
 * Tammar, Brandon, DF, Echo, Dark and Toon - for adding categories to 559 pages.
 * Ahmad, for questioning certain words on the Blacklist.
 * Everyone who voted support for International Week.

Keep up the great work guys! Thank you for reading this blog.