Thomas the Tank Engine Wikia:Rules

Welcome to the Thomas the Tank Engine Wikia! This Wikia strives to be rated G (U). So please, no matter if you're registered or unregistered, follow these rules:

General Rules

 * 1) No cussing, swearing, obscene language, or profanity of any sort. (Even if it's abbreviated!)
 * 2) No spamming.
 * 3) No "mature references", for want of a better word.
 * 4) No dissing anyone. (Including yourself.)
 * 5) No saying "Thomas is for babies" or anything like that.
 * 6) Do not edit just for the sake of editing. Just because you have more edits than another user, that doesn't mean you are more important than they are.
 * 7) Only edit your own user page, not anyone else's. (Unless you get permission from the other user first.)
 * 8) Sarcastic attitudes, unless properly executed, are not accepted. (An example of badly executed sarcasm: "Don't know me? Than too bad. I'm not worth looking up.")
 * 9) Don't mini-mod. If you see a user breaking a rule, don't tell him, tell an admin and they will take care of it.
 * 10) And absolutely no vandalism!
 * 11) This could be considered a "catch all" rule, but for the sake of it will be included separately: Be kind and respect all other users. Especially admins who have the authority to block anyone who gets out of line.

Image Rules

 * 1) Do NOT take other users' images without asking their permission first.
 * 2) All images must relate to the Thomas series in some way.
 * 3) When you upload images do NOT leave spaces between the words.
 * 4) Make sure that what you name the image makes sense. In other words, do not name an image "jbf2354438fbcjw*Y78283eR%$&R&%.jpg", "Picture 004.JPG", "Capture 005.png" or similar. Name it after the article and what number image it is, for example, "TrustThomas32.jpg" or similar.
 * 5) Do not add a "width" to any gallery.
 * 6) Do not upload really small images.
 * 7) Make sure that the image you want to upload isn't already. In other words don't upload duplicates. If you upload a duplicate image because yours is better quality than the old one, tell an admin the reason and the admin will keep the one he deems to be better and delete the other.
 * 8) Do not upload edited pics.
 * 9) Do not upload pics with watermarks or any similar features unless you get permission from an admin first. Such features imposed by HiT, however, are allowed.
 * 10) When uploading more than one image to a page, please try to edit the page you're uploading them to one time only. In other words, add all of the pics you want to upload and then save the page. This will save us admins some time when going through the recent changes.
 * 11) When an episode has a different title in the US, use the UK title. For example, name an image "MissingTrucks12.jpg" not "MissingCars12.jpg". This does not apply to "Title card" images.
 * 12) When uploading pictures from magazines and books, please make sure to remove any of the text from the story.

Video Rules

 * 1) When you upload videos please name them in this way: "Henry to the Rescue - American narration" or "Thomas and Gordon - British narration". For episodes with more than one narrator per territory name them as such: "Thomas gets Tricked - Ringo Starr American narration" or "Thomas gets Tricked - George Carlin American narration".
 * 2) When uploading videos of music videos, just name it after the song. For example: "Never, Never, Never Give Up", "Let's Have a Race", etc. When there are different versions of the same song, see an admin for help or use your best judgement.
 * 3) Don't upload duplicate videos.
 * 4) Do not upload videos with watermarks or any similar features.
 * 5) Do not upload "YouTube Poops" or any other type of fan video. The only videos allowed here are official episodes and music videos. (i.e. Not edited in any way.)
 * 6) Use the American title for US narrations and the British one for UK/AUS narrations. For example, name an episode "Edward Helps Out - American narration" not "Edward and Gordon - American narration".

Talk Page Rules

 * 1) No content except vandalism, broken links, and profanity may be removed from any user talk page. Off topic posts may be removed from article talk pages.
 * 2) While not mandatory, we are asking users to not change their signatures to only words. Signatures are required on talk pages to identify messages. And, if a user's signature doesn't link to their user page or user talk page, it makes it difficult to tell who left which post.
 * 3) While not really a "rule", we ask that all members please remember to sign all comments with four tildes ( ~ ).
 * 4) Article talk pages, like the template header at the top states, are there for discussing changes to the article, not for a discussion about the topic in question.
 * 5) Don't rewrite other user's messages.
 * 6) Don't answer messages left for other users.

Blog Rules

 * 1) All blog posts must pertain to Thomas.
 * 2) Nothing overly personal or pointless should even be considered worthy of a blog post. (Pointless subjects include but are not limited to: Games, number of edits one has, spam from other websites, certain types of polls, announcing an acquisition to your collection, etc.)
 * 3) Blog posts can have a certain degree of freedom from Blog Rule 1 if they're a series of train related stories.
 * 4) Blog comments must keep on topic as the blog post dictates.
 * 5) Comments left on blogs must be longer than one word and must say more than just "I like this", "This is cool", etc.
 * 6) The Wikia wasn't created to be a blogging site, so keep blogging to a minimum.

Chat Rules
These are not yet rules!
 * 1) Keep it clean! Anyone who posts something bashing others will be banned from chat.
 * 2) If anyone says anything inappropriate in the chat, please report them to an admin on the Wikia. You must provide proof to back up your claim (screen capture, etc.) as we don't want to block users unnecessarily.
 * 3) Please keep the chat for important and public matters. If you have something private to talk about with another user, schedule a time with the person and use the PM (Private Message) system.
 * 4) The chat is not for games of any sort. This includes playing them or using the chat as a place to discuss what you and your friends are doing in a video game. It is, however, OK to bring up this subject in a private chat.
 * 5) Do not post random rubbish. As stated above, only use the chat for things that are important.
 * 6) All posts must have to do with the current conversation, or it must start a legitimate topic.
 * 7) Please limit the amount of non-Thomas/train topics.
 * 8) Before posting a message, think if it's appropriate for a 3 year old child. If it is not, don't post it. (This Wikia is based on a children's show after all! You never know when a child might pop onto the chat.)
 * 9) Please be aware that not only admins, but ChatMods have authority in the chat box. If a ChatMod asks you to leave a certain subject, please do as told. ChatMods can also kickban misbehaving users out of the chatbox.

Failure to abide by any of these rules may result in blockage. Thank you. Your admins Thomasfan, ZEM, SteamTeam, Goldenbear, Victory93, and NOM, and ChatMods Oliverandtoad13, Toby7, and SkarloeyRailway.

Admin Rules
As well as the above rules, admins have other obligations to help keep the Wikia fair and clean at the same time. These include, but are not limited to:


 * 1) All admins are required to contact/warn "offending" members before blocking them. This will give the member time to voice their reasons for his/her actions. But so that order is kept, there will only be three warnings ("strikes") before the member in question is blocked for however long the admin in charge of the case sees fit. DISCLAIMER : This rule does not apply to users who spam, vandalize, swear, offend other users, users who are exceptionally rude, or unregistered users.
 * 2) All active admins have to agree upon a rule and it's phrasing before it can be added. This way, all of the admins can add in their own ideas and no one can make the rules work to their personal advantage.
 * 3) Before a user is granted admin status, all active admins have to agree upon the candidate.
 * 4) There must be a minimum of two admin's consent to make a change to the rules.
 * 5) An admin is considered inactive after being away from the Wikia for three months.

Guidelines
Although not rules, these guidelines will help explain how and why certain aspects of the Wikia work.

Establishing Roles
As you noticed, after a list of characters on the episode page, some are followed by either, "(does not speak)", "(cameo)", "(mentioned)", or "(not seen)". In the past, there has been some confusion as to what this means. A cameo appearance is a minor appearance where a character doesn't speak nor is it referred to. A non-speaking role is where a character appears and is referred to by name by either the narrator or another character. When a character doesn't physically appear, but is mentioned by a character or the narrator, that is classified as a mentioned role. The "not seen" tag is most often used for books. This is when a character speaks, but isn't seen in any of the illustrations. A speaking role is, obviously, when a character actually speaks. In the CGI television series, anything that requires a voice actor is generally viewed as a speaking role, however there are some exceptions to this rule (Alicia Botti's role in James in the Dark for example). If any other confusions occur, please notify an admin or leave a message to the relevant talk pages.

Edit Summaries
Providing an edit summary is not essential, but it does make an admin's job easier to review your changes. Some things you may think are right which an admin does not, so use the edit summary to explain why you changed an article. If an edit is reverted multiple times by an admin, don't keep adding it back as that could earn you one or more "strikes". What you should do is explain, in detail, the changes on the relevant talk pages.

The Stub Template
If a page is just a few lines of text and some images, then it's a stub. If the page has five or more lines of text, images, and another template, then it's NOT a stub.

Categories
All pages need categories, but not every category goes on every page. As an example the "Railway" categories don't go on pages dedicated to locations. Also, "Image" categories only go on image pages.