Harry Potter Wiki:Blocking policy

Blocking is the means by which an administrator prevents a user account or IP address/range from editing the Harry Potter Wiki. Blocks are preventive rather than punitive measures used to prevent damage by dealing with vandalism and enforcing Harry Potter Wiki policies. Block duration may vary, depending on the severity and longevity of vandalism, but in most instances a block can be lifted if the editor agrees to stop the damaging behavior.

All users may post block requests at the Harry Potter Wiki:Requests for administrator attention, on the talk pages of the various HPW Adminstrators, or on the IRC channel.

Because of the dynamic nature of IPs, and the related risk of collateral damage, most blocks should be in the range of 24 hours to 1 month, with exceptions noted below. Only in very rare cases should non-proxy IPs be blocked for more than three months.

When considering blocking, it is important to remember the axiom "Never attribute to malice what can be attributed to stupidity" &mdash; article blanking or addition of fanon may be just a well-meant attempt to remove inaccurate information or expand the encyclopedia. Always assume good faith, but remember that the rules apply to everyone equally.

Grounds for blocking

 * 1) Vandalism – Vandalism is defined as any bad-faith edit made with the intent to lower the quality of the wiki or disrupt the functioning of the community. In most cases, users should be warned prior to blocking, though final discretion is left to the administrators.
 * 2) Spam – Posting irrelevant spam links in articles, or creating articles which are entirely spam is grounds for an infinite block (for registered users) or a shorter-term IP block.
 * 3) Move vandalism – Page move vandalism (moving an article to a nonsensical or inappropriate title) is grounds for immediate indefinite bans.
 * 4) Inappropriate account naming – Creating an inappropriate account name - be it in terms of user impersonation/insult, or general rudeness/obscenity is also grounds for a no-warning infinite block.
 * 5) Disruption – Users who disrupt the wiki (be it via changing other people's comments, making misleading edits, or harassing other users) may also be blocked.
 * 6) Copyright violations – Users who continually post copyrighted material despite being warned should be blocked so as to prevent further violations.
 * 7) Blanking pages – users should typically be warned prior to being blocked for page blanking, except in extreme cases where the blanking is obviously being done with malicious intent - i.e. 4 articles blanked in one minute.
 * 8) Fanon – users adding fanon should almost always be warned prior to blocking.
 * 9) Personal attacks  – Users attacking other editors personally (in regards to anything) should be given one warning prior to a cool-off ban. The length of the ban is dependent on the severity of personal attacks.

Block length guidelines
With the exceptions noted above, blocks should usually progress according to the following table. Final discretion is left to the blocking administrator on a case-by-case basis.

Fanon blocking policy
With regards to the addition of Fanon into the Harry Potter Wiki, a separate blocking policy applies. The first incident of adding Fanon will be a met with a warning. Fanon should be applied to the User's talk page. The template includes a link to the Harry Potter Fanon Wiki. On a user's second breach of the Fanon policy, a 24 hour block will be enacted. A third breach will result in a week-long block, and a fourth breach will result in a permanent block.