Forum:Blog policy proposal, redux

Despite recently voting on a policy to remove the blogs from the wiki, Wikia has denied us the right to remove these blogs since they are being used. I find this counter-productive to our work here, and believe they are being used for the wrong thing. Since Wikia refuses to remove the feature, I am proposing to enforce a strict blog policy in its place to give us the desired effect. Yes, it will mean a little extra work for us Administrators to police the blogs, but I feel it will be worth it to maintain the quality of the site.

I believe it is time to institute a policy regulating their use and content so that they will not be detrimental to the wiki. Blogs cannot be a contributor's main focus. We are an encyclopedia, and the betterment of that goal should be our primary objective. We are not a social networking site. We are not a forum. The large amount of blog posts cluttering the RC list is beginning to became annoying.

This proposal puts forward the following proposal to control blog content:


 * 1) Blogs must be on-topic – This means they must discuss something related to the site, whether it be new material coming out that will impact our articles and what changes will need to be made, announcing changes to the site structure or content, organising a project for improving the site or an article, or discussing potential changes in policy.
 * 2) No fan fiction – This is a canonical wiki, and not the place for fan fiction. It serves little purpose to ban its inclusion in the main wiki, but allow it to blossom in the blogs. There are many Harry Potter fan fiction sites across the Internet, and even a Harry Potter Fanon Wiki. Users will be redirected to these sites. In the case of abuse, the user can be banned under administrative authority.
 * 3) Keep it civil – Civility is expected to be maintained in all blog posts and comments. Blogs are not to be used to make a point or make personal attacks against users.
 * 4) No objectionable material – Please remember that this is a wiki that children and parents are likely to read. No foul language, or content of a sexual nature.
 * 5) Your blog is not your primary contribution to this wiki – Users who edit their blogs excessively will be subject to sanction. Excessive blog editing, in this case, is defined as over 15% of a user's total edits are in the Blog domain. The majority of a user's edits should be in the more useful (Main space)/Template/Category domains. Users who have an excessive number of their edits in the blog namespace will be warned and potentially blocked at the administrators discretion.
 * 6) Blogs do not replace forums – Blogs should not be used to ask for help or other site questions that would be more appropriate in one of the Forums, such as the help desk. These blogs will be moved to the appropriate forum before being deleted. Similarly, blogs do not replace article talk pages in being used to talk about changes to a specific article.

Blog posts failing the above rules will be deleted and the user warned and/or blocked at the administrator's discretion. All blog posts must be categorized into Category:Blog posts.

Actions: If the proposal passes, then all relevant user blogs will be deleted in accordance with the policy. The deletion will be held off for one week after the vote to allow users to retrieve their work from the blog. A page will be set up to report misuse of the blogs to the administration.

Voting: Voting will comply with HPW voting policies: Only autoconfirmed registered users with greater than 20 mainspace article edits, whose first edit was more than one month prior to the date of this proposal (15th June, 2010) are allowed to vote. the vote will remain open for two weeks, unless a snowball vote occurs, in which case it can be closed early by an administrator.

For adopting proposal

 * 1) Cavalier One Gryffindorcrest.jpg( Wizarding Wireless Network ) 09:25, June 15, 2010 (UTC)