User:Dab1001/DiscordSourcePolicyProposal

This page is an official Halopedia policy Please read through the policy below to familiarize yourself with our common practices and rules. If you have any questions, suggestions, or complaints, please post them on the talk page.

This page details Halopedia's policy for archiving and citing information originating from instant-messaging applications such as Discord. For Halopedia's general policy and guidelines regarding references, see the citation policy.

When can such sources be used?

References from instant-messaging applications can be incredibly difficult for readers to independently verify, and so are considered the least desirable type of citation. As such, they should only be used if absolutely necessary - that is, if there is no alternative source that could be cited for the information in question; the information has never been revealed elsewhere.

Consequently, Halopedia enforces a set of strict requirements on any source of this type that is to be used on the wiki. If these requirements are not met, the source (and corresponding information) is liable to be removed from the wiki without warning.

Specifically, these requirements are:

1. The information the source provides must not be available elsewhere in a form that is preferable to source.
2. The messages being cited must have been posted in a channel/server that has been approved by the Halopedia staff as trustworthy. For Discord, this currently means any servers that are contained in Halopedia's trusted server list.
3. The information must have been freely given in a completely public conversation - if the messages in question were not posted in a channel that is accessible to the general public without a fee or a particular rank, then they cannot be cited. Private messages cannot be cited.
4. The person giving the information must be provably trustworthy, beyond any doubt. Typically, this means they must be a confirmed employee of 343 Industries or another entity that has contributed to the Halo franchise in a significant way. Anonymous people cannot be cited.
5. There must be no doubt of the validity of the information - if there is any uncertainty about whether the person was joking, or whether they were sure about the information they were giving, it cannot be cited.
6. If the person giving the information requested that it not be cited or otherwise retracted their statements, it may not be cited.
7. Information regarding canon or lore must have been stated as categorical fact, not as "blue text" information or authorial intent, as such information does not hold any canonical weight, and can be changed or nullified in future.
8. The information must have been given freely and willingly, without other users having to badger or bother the person giving it.

How are sources of this form archived?

Provided that the source meets all of the above criteria, it is eligible to be cited. To do so, Halopedia needs its own copy of the source that is non-volatile - that is, a version of it that is guaranteed not to disappear if the host channel, server or service is removed, or if the messages are for some reason deleted (although note that if the messages were deleted with the intention of preventing them from being cited, then the citation is void and cannot be used). To that end, all sources of this form that are cited must be archived on Halopedia.

Only a member of Halopedia's staff team is permitted to archive an instant messaging conversation for use as a source. Consequently, if you intend to cite a source of this type that has not yet been archived, you must contact a member of the Halopedia team to archive it for you. This is to ensure that readers can still trust the wiki's information, and prevent users from sourcing fabricated conversations.

An archive of a conversation must be located in Halopedia's Archive namespace, and it must consist of the following:

• Full details of where, when and why the conversation took place - what server and channel it took place in, what date it took place on, what the context was, etc.
• Full details of which Halopedia staff member archived the conversation, when they did so, and (if applicable) at whose request.
• A brief explanation of who the person being cited is, and how their identity was verified.
• An exact transcript of the conversation, including the first and last messages that are relevant to the source, and every message in between.
• Timestamps for each message in the transcript, accurate to the most precise time measurement available.
• A screenshot or group of screenshots showing the full conversation on its native platform.
• If available, a link directly to the first message in the relevant section of the conversation.

Furthermore, all pages containing these archives must be protected from editing by all but Halopedia staff members, and all files used in these archives must be similarly protected.

How are archived sources cited?

Simply link to Halopedia's archived version of the source in the citation, and fill out the reference as you normally would.

What should I do to modify existing sources of this form?

If you believe that there has been an error in an archival, that an archived conversation was not legitimate, or if you were cited in this manner and would like the citation removed, please contact a member of Halopedia staff, who will be able to edit or remove the archive as needed.

Otherwise, archives of these sources are not to be modified at all - it is vital that they remain exact and untampered with, to preserve the information precisely as it was given.

Actual references to these archived sources on mainspace pages may be moved or tweaked as needed, by any user, provided it still obeys the citation policy.

What happens if a new, better source becomes available?

If a new source for a piece of information sourced from an instant messaging conversation becomes available and is in a format that is more desirable to cite, then every instance of the existing citation should be removed and replaced with the new source. If an archive of a conversation is no longer sourced by any page whatsoever, it can be deleted at the discretion of the Halopedia staff team.