Japari Library:Editing Policies
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Japari Library's Editing Policies are rules and regulations that are used to help ensure Japari Library is kept in order and remains a neutral, informative resource. Policies are held to higher standards than the Manual of Style, and violations are also held to higher standards. A violation of these policies is not an instant ban, but temporary restrictions or a visit from a moderator or administrator may occur if these policies are broken. Repeated violations of the policies results in further action, and any particularly egregious or disruptive violations may result in an instant ban from editing on Japari Library, at the discretion of moderators and admins.
Pillars
Japari Library abides by the five pillars of Wikipedia, as well as one additional pillar. These are explained in more detail on Wikipedia, but in summary:
Japari Library is an encyclopedia
This means it is not an opinion piece, soapbox, a place to advertise, or a place to dump useful links. It is also not a dictionary, though we may define terms related to the Kemono Friends franchise, and it is also not a newspaper or primary source for new information. While we may include news on our front page's news section, we are not journalists and new developments should still adhere to the encyclopedic style. It does, however, feature mirrors of some primary source documents, such as the textual content of the Nexon Game, as part of our own personal mission. This is one way in which we differ from Wikipedia.
Japari Library is neutral
Articles on Japari Library should refrain from promoting any particular viewpoint or conclusion. This can present itself in many ways; for example, if we mention that the conclusion of a research study claimed something to be true, but don't mention how this is controversial or may be debated, this breaks neutrality.
Japari Library is for everyone
Anyone can use Japari Library, and anyone can edit our articles. Anything you write can - and likely will - be edited, revised, adjusted, and possibly even deleted during the editing process. When you publish an article on Japari Library, you relinquish personal ownership of the article, and understand that it ceases to become solely your work from that point on. Articles are written by a multitude of authors who all have different things to add, and this is a good thing.
Respect other editors
Respecting other editors is incredibly important. Japari Library is not a clique, and anyone's opinions, input, and suggestions must be taken seriously. For obvious reasons, do not attack other users, engage in edit wars or flaming, or assume bad faith. All of these things can not only discourage new editors but can create the implication that Japari Library is run solely by its regular editors and may make someone afraid to step on the toes of senior contributors.
Japari Library's rules are fluid
All of these policies, as well as the advice in the Manual of Style, are not always best. In the event that a guideline or policy would prevent you from making Japari Library better, you can ignore it. Please keep in mind that this is not a free pass to ignore the contents of these pages. Furthermore, keep in mind that respecting others is still important, and any violations of those policies will require a very good explanation. Instead of worrying about if your writing adheres to every rule and regulation, be bold and do your best to improve the wiki without fear. Speak openly about suggestions for improvements, even if they may be rejected. And remember that fixing a mistake yourself is easier and faster than reporting it to someone else and waiting for them to take care of it.
Japari Library is about Kemono Friends
This pillar is our own. Unlike Wikipedia, which is a general encyclopedia, we are focused on Kemono Friends. This gives us freedom to have looser notability guidelines. Is the topic directly related to Kemono Friends in some way? Then it is likely notable enough for an article! Wikipedia may find an article about a Pile of Rocks or a Sandstar Volcano to be inappropriate based on its notability guidelines, but for our purposes, they help to fulfill our mission of being a Kemono Friends encyclopedia. However, this also means we should not go too far outside of our scope. We don't need an article explaining what an animal is or the very concept of anime or moe anthropomorphism. Though they are related to Kemono Friends, we have no need to explain these in full. The closest we come is the In real life sections for Friend articles, which provide important background about an animal or idea, and may allow our readers to better appreciate the Friend itself.
Content Policies
Plagiarism
Content on Japari Library must be original. While it may be easier to copy and paste an article from an outside source such as Wikipedia or a news site, this is plagiarism and is heavily frowned upon. All plagiarized content will be removed as soon as it is discovered to be so, and there will be no exceptions. Writing in your own words may take more time, but the end result is free from all legal issues that could place Japari Library in danger.
Copyrighted images
Images on Japari Library should fall under an appropriate Creative Commons license. This means images should either be free, public domain, or fall under fair use for education in the case of copyrighted materials.
Conduct Policies
Article ownership
No one "owns" an article on Japari Library - the authors, the editors, not even the subject of the article itself, with the exception of copyrighted content included in Japari Library that fall under fair use (often educational fair use), in which case the owner is the legal rightsholder. This means that if someone edits or adjusts your article, you do not have some form of standing or possession of the article that gives you the right to act as a de facto moderator for the article. If you have a personal investment in an article and someone makes a change that you personally disagree with, consider raising it on the article's talk page before reverting the edit, and assume good faith. User talk pages are intended for discussions of a user's conduct, achievements, or to resolve disputes between two editors - they should never be used when the subject of dispute is the content of a public article. On the other hand, if a specific article is important to you, consider adding it to your watchlist so you can keep track of edits made to the article.
Regarding translations, many feel strong ownership of their translations, as it is not merely a form of writing but also an interpretative art. Before adjusting pre-existing translations, consider mentioning it on the talk page ahead of time. Doing so may cause the original author of the translation to weigh in and explain their reasoning. Ideally, the process should result in a consensus between all involved parties that either the translation can be improved or that the existing translation is most appropriate. However, if the author of the translation becomes defensive, aggressive, or even attempts to claim seniority or greater fluency as a justification for disagreeing, this is a violation of our article ownership policy. All translations that exist on Japari Library have the capacity to be improved through editor input. Furthermore, for fixes to grammar, there should be no need for an editor - experience with the source language or otherwise - to ask for permission to revise a translation.
The only exception is if a translation - either the original or the suggested alternative - was made by machine. In these cases, we always favor the hand-made translation, especially for Japanese. Japanese is an incredibly context-dependent language, to the point that the phrases "He fell asleep", "I feel sleepy", and "He's sleeping now" are all expressed through the word "sleep". Machines are incapable of understanding the context, even if they can create an excellent facsimile. For this reason, translations made by DeepL, Google Translate, or some other machine translation software are not considered suitable for Japari Library, and there is considered to be no author to the translation.