Infosphere:Rules

These are The Infosphere's rules. These rules are to be followed whenever editing articles or debating in discussions. This is also a description of what The Infosphere is not.

General rules

 * Avoid copyrighted data
 * While you may argue that the large usage of images from the show is a usage of copyrighted data, it is still within the rules of Fair Use. Videos and sound bites would be much more serious, which we avoid at all cost.
 * In addition, content created by sites or media which use a license that strictly forbids usage of it elsewhere or similar, avoid it. If it is important for an article, be very careful to describe where you got it from.  However, it should be noted that it is often that big an issue with textual content.


 * Avoid discussions of leaks and similar
 * It is undoubtedly that you will find a copy of one of the films or the episodes somewhere on the web for free, or maybe even before release. But don't bother telling us, it is possible we knew long before you did.  However, to avoid too many legal troubles and for good faith of the creators and network, we avoid mentioning it as well in articles, and this of course includes posting any links to where it can be found.  If the leaks have anything interesting (such as inconsistencies with the actual release), it may be worthy to mention.


 * The Infosphere is not a discussion forum
 * If you wish to refute a second-level bullet point on, for example, the Goofs section of an episode article, do not insert a third-level bullet point and, instead, reword the existing bullet point or discuss the contradicting opinions on the talk page.


 * The Infosphere is not a fan fiction
 * Regardless of your opinion on fan fiction, this is not the place. Our site specifically only deals with content happening on Futurama and items that can be confirmed within any official released content of Futurama, be it episodes, films, comics, video games or press releases and interviews, that is the way we get our information.  But don't supply information you are making up yourself, purely on thought and speculations.


 * Citing your sources
 * In addition to the rule above, we have some more lenient rules than Wikipedia regarding cite. You are not required to cite anything that can be confirmed on any official media of Futurama.  However, if it is not released, then a cite is required.  Usually, this can be interviews, press releases and perhaps sneak peaks and trailers.
 * However, there are cases where a source is not provided for the sake of "proving" what we are saying, but rather to supply the reader with a link to where such information may be dealt with, so that they may read about it in its full form.


 * Plagiarism
 * Our content is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported licence, which means our content is free content (for more details, see Copyright). However, not all content you stumble upon may be free, and generally, other people's content may require attribution (similar to our licence).  Adding such content is not advised, and will probably be removed upon discovery.
 * In addition to this, our content must also equally be respected to this licence.


 * Other wikis
 * The Infosphere is currently the biggest and (to our knowledge) the best Futurama related encyclopaedia and wiki available on the Internet. A status we are proud of.  However, we are not the only Futurama wiki out there.
 * Edits made by our contributors to another of these wikis is generally frowned upon, and we believe that it generally works against cause.

General editing rules

 * Not your personal playground
 * The Infosphere is an encyclopaedic attempt at storing all information about Futurama, and as such, this wiki has little to do with you. If you wish to test edits, however, Playground is our page for that purpose.


 * Don't change English variant for the sake of doing so
 * If an article is written in British English and you would prefer another form of English, don't change it. This is not to say that you cannot use any English available, just don't edit pages for the sake of changing their English variants.  These edits are useless and only introduce disputes.
 * See also here.

Talk rules

 * Be civil
 * The rule above all when discussing, is to be civil. Don't lose your temper for any reason, while we may not have had heated debates yet, it is not unlikely that we may have.  We are willing to hear your opinion, but ready to accept defeat, if your opponent supplies you with information you didn't think of or -- more innocently -- didn't know.


 * Don't change others' comments
 * Only in few cases are changing of other people's comments permitted, such as vandalism, inappropriate comments or other measures of spam. But in general, and especially in a civil discussion, a contributor should never edit another contributor's comment (even for spelling mistakes).