Rules
Important Note
All new information must link to an external page, and you cannot coin a term using the wiki article itself.(why?) If coined in a private site/channel that is not accessible by the public (such as Discord), screenshot the coining, upload it, and add it to the page.
Blockable Offenses
The time of blocks/bans depends on the severity of the offense. The following items may result in the block/ban of a wiki user:
- impersonate another user or individual
- make troll or satirical edits
- intentionally post false or misleading information
- post spam
- are queerphobic
- are ableist
- are racist
- are abusive
- redefine or alter terms and flags without coiner permission
- repeatedly disregard article guidelines despite receiving advice from a moderator/admin
Standard Wiki Style Editing
Majority of the wiki styling is based on the MLA formatting guides unless stated otherwise. The described formatting is not a requirement for edits to be approved. However, all pages should eventually meet these formatting requirements before they can be described as finalised. This is to maintain consistency between articles, and to provide a definitive answer when one asks how certain elements are formatted. It's also good practice in using formatting that is also used for writing research papers.
General Formatting
- all content should be written and read from a neutral perspective. Some controversial topics may be present but it should not be automatically taken as morally accepted by the author or reader. The wiki is designed to host information no matter what the user's stances are, and it is up to the author and reader on how they would like to process that information;
- all content should be written in a standard wiki formatting. This includes but is not limited to:
- written in formal American English;
- text taken from a source must be rewritten, paraphrased, or quoted (do not plagiarize) unless the editor has given explicit permission for verbatim copying;
- bold text must only be used for the first mention of the title/term, alternate spellings, important information, and warnings;
- italic text must only be used for the titles of books, movies, and other media (Titanic), non-English words (dasein), and words as words (the word bear is a noun);
- text must be readable by a speech-to-text program (no symbols, caps, typing quirks, etc.);
- one space/line between each paragraph only;
- add links to any other mentioned terms in your article, including interwiki sites;
- dates should follow either format: DD of MMM, YYYY or MONTH DD, YYYY;
- never write in first or second person unless quoting;
- numbers twelve and less should be spelled out (with the exception of dates), and numbers above 13 should be written with numerals;
- do not address the reader;
- do not add content that is generated by an artificial intelligence, including (but not limited to) content written by ChatGPT or Notion AI, or images created by Midjourney or Stable Diffusion.
- all information that is not common sense should have an external source/citation. See citing.
Lists
Lists are either integrated: (1) including, and/or (2) excluding numbers. Alternatively, lists are displayed vertically. Incomplete sentences may appear as:
- words
- that are without
- punctuation
Whereas a list of complete sentences may appear as:
- a set of words that include punctuation;
- no capitalisation at the beginning of the sentence;
- semicolons at the end of the sentence;
- a full stop to finalise the list.
Quotes
Short quotes should be placed in line with quotation marks. For example, Jeb wrote "an inline quote". This compares to a long quote that does not require quotation marks, and should use a block quote. For example, Jeb wrote:
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.
When omitting words or sentences from the quote that are irrelevant to the wiki topic, replace the content with ...
Ensure all quotes have citations.
Citing
Information and flags that are not common sense should be cited.(why?) If no resource exists or cannot be currently found, use superscript to add citationneeded , and add the page to the category Needing Citations.
When citing a website, use the Cite template. (To use a template, type in two open brackets {{ to open the template wizard, then input the name of the template.) Citations are based on the MLA format but many citations exclude other contributors and publisher, due to majority of this wiki's sources deriving from social media blogs and posts.
Base:
Author's Last Name, Author's First Name or Username. "Title of Page or Article in quotations". Title of Site or Container in Italics. Other Contributors, Version/Edition, Number, Publisher, Publication Date. Location/URL/DOI. Accessed if no publication date given. Archived if archived.
Cite Template Examples:
Purdue U Writing Lab. "MLA Formatting and Style Guide". The Purdue OWL, https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/mla_style/mla_formatting_and_style_guide/mla_formatting_and_style_guide.html. Accessed on 26 Dec, 2023.
Pronunciations using International Phonetic Alphabet
Note: This section is a draft and not enforced yet.
Where possible, terms and prefixes should be given an IPA pronunciation guide, using the orientation, gender, and sex templates. Only provide pronunciation for the main term, for example... on the page abro (orientation), only add pronunciation for the term abro, not abrosexual nor abroromantic, etc.
- English to IPA: https://tophonetics.com/
- IPA Reader: http://ipa-reader.xyz/
- Wikipedia's help page on English IPA: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA/English
LGBTQIA+ Wiki Style Editing
General Formatting
All content should follow these LGBTQIA+ editing rules additionally:
- genders and sexualities are not proper nouns, and therefore should not be capitalized;
- a hypothetical individual should be referred to as one or they, unless specific pronouns are relevant to the term's explanation (e.g. He/Him Lesbian);
- use the term individual, as this is more inclusive to alterhumans than the term person;
- do not add possible or recommended pronouns on gender pages;
- do not add a creator's notes section;
- do not include unnecessary information such as "this is a new term" or "this is valid".
- do not make edits that change the original definition of a term without the coiner's consent. If wanting to adjust an existing term, coin a new term/variation instead and ensure it is resourced.
Copyright and Ownership
See here for our standalone copyright page.
As the wiki is hosted by MyWikis it must also comply with their own copyright laws. See their DMCA policy here.
Creating Pages
1. Before creating, please research:
- is the term already coined elsewhere?
- is the term name appropriate (historical/cultural/informational labels are exempt)?
- if the term is not your own, does the coiner consent to sharing/posting of their terms?
2. Below is a list of articles that are generally prohibited:
- system/regressor/alterhuman/etc terms, unless they are queer related. Kinks and fetishes are not inherently part of the LGBT umbrella;
- paraphiliac terms, including pedophilia, zoophilia, incestual attraction, etc.;
- potentially harmful terminology unless it is correctly categorized and censored as such;
- overly specific terms. The point of the wiki is to promote sharing and usage. It is unlikely that a flag for purplespottedbreezecatgender will benefit others. These cases should be kept to one's own personal blog/space;
- overly specific combinations, unless it involves in depth explanation or history such as bi-lesbian or AFAB transfem. Otherwise, it is a given that demisexual lesbians exist and do not need their own term added;
- pronounset pages;
- attraction to specific objects or concepts (objectum);
- attraction to specific real or fictional individuals (e.g. Sonicsexual);
- genders based on real or fictional individuals, or their specific characteristics (e.g. BillGatesgender);
- genders based on unique songs (e.g. tangledupgender).
Title
- orientation page titles should be formatted as [Prefix] (orientation) such as Bi (orientation);
- do not include alternate terms or spellings in the title. If an alternate term exists, your article description should start with the most common name, followed by least common. If both names are equal in popularity, the name coined first should be written first. (e.g. Term, also known as Label...);
- coining an orientation page should always use its adjective form (eg: Asexual, NOT Asexuality);
- all separate words should be capitalized (e.g. Non-Binary, but NOT CatGender);
- do not use an en-dash or em-dash in the title. Use a hyphen when a dash is needed;
- the title should be relevant to the term (e.g. Beegender should be about Bees, not Cactus).
Orientations must use both the Template:Orientation and TemplateOrientation page as a basis.
Genders must use both the Template:Gender and TemplateGender page as a basis.
Categories
When adding a page to a category, the page should be placed in its lowest possible category(s). As an example, a -coric gender sits in the Aesthetigender category. But there's no reason for that -coric gender to also fit under the Xenogender category, because the Aesthetigender category already does. A page can have multiple lowest categories, such as Bingender which would be categorized under Masculine and Feminine genders, however it should not also fall directly under the Gender category.(why?)
Note that redirects have additional rules for categories, of which can be found in the Redirects category description.
Images
1. Uploaded images must:
- not be larger than 2000px wide or 2000px tall;
- be .png, .svg, or .jpg or .webp as long as the images lack visible compression artifacts. If the image contains artifacts and they cannot be resolved via conversion (such as a .png screenshot of an image with artifact compression), then place the image into the Artifact Compression category;
- be appropriately named. If it is a flag, format it as label.png. If it is an alternative flag, format it as Label2.png, LabelAlternate, Label_Creatorname.png, or Label_Alternate. Do not include the term flag in the title, as it's unnecessary information;
- be added to the appropriate Image category;
- have a summary that includes the source and creator in this format using the Image template. If the flag contains an image or too many colors to reasonably fit into a summary then describe the flag's appearance. If any information is missing, or you are not sure how to add the template, add the image to the Needing Credit or Colours. The Image template appears as such:
Source: [url, this is required] | Creator: [name] / Unknown | Hexadecimals: [hexadecimal codes in capitals] | Colors: [list of colors as per this tool] | Hues: [list of hues as per this tool]
Also see this user guide on uploading images.
It is known by admins that hexadecimals may differ based on the tool used to identify the colours. This may make it difficult to obtain exact matches when searching by hexadecimals, but the inclusion of colour names and hues aids to alleviate this issue.
2. Images displayed on pages must:
- either be placed within a gender/orientation template, added as a thumbnail in a position respective to its supporting text, in a gallery under the Flags and Symbols header as a frameless object;
- flags must be displayed at a maximum of 120px wide, info-graphs must be displayed at a maximum of 300px wide;
- must be cited under the Flags and Symbols header. Do not use citations within the gallery element as it tends to break how MediaWiki auto lists citations.
Harmful Content
Titles should not be censored. Any potentially triggering or harmful content though should be hidden in a collapsible header. See below for code:
<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
'''Content Warning: [content subject]'''
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">Potentially harmful content here</div></div>
Tables
1. Related Terms
Related Terms tables include the following columns:
- label - the name of the related term;
- relationship - the relationship between the current page and the related term;
- description - a short description of the related term;
- difference - a short summary of the difference between the current page and the related term.
Related Terms don't belong to the main term but are related (such as bigender being related to trigender). Unsure of what is related? (See what links here, under the More section in the sidebar). Related term relationships should remain as consistent as possible, using the following relationship types:
- similar - a version of the label that shares many qualities;
- opposite - a version of the label with opposing genders or concepts;
- counterpart - a version of the label with the same function but with different genders.
Taking genderfae (genderfluid but never a man or masculine) as a gender example:
- a similar term would be genderfaer (genderfluid but never a man);
- an opposite term would be genderfluid but never a non-man or non-masculine;
- a non fluid counterpart would be nomagender (all genders except man or masculine).
Take achillean (men loving men) as an orientation example:
- a similar term would be vincian (Men loving Men);
- An opposite term would be non-men loving non-men;
- A counterpart term would be sapphic (the woman counterpart is women loving women).
2. Subgenders/Subterms
Subgenders/Subterms tables include the following columns:
- label - the name of the subterm;
- prefix/suffix - the prefix or suffix of the subterm, usually including a hyphen to denote which segment is concatenated;
- flag - the subterm's flag image;
- description - a short description of the subterm;
- creator(s) - the name of the subterm's and flag's creators in respective order.
Subgenders and subterms are labels that belong to the main term/umbrella and don't require their own page. Subgenders are generally gendered labels (such as hypergender having hyperboy). Gender modalities may also include subgender terms (such as transgender having transboy).
3. Prefixes and Suffixes
Prefixes and Suffixes tables include the following columns:
- label - the name of the subterm;
- prefix/suffix - the prefix or suffix of the subterm, usually including a hyphen to denote which segment is concatenated;
- flag - the subterm's flag image;
- description - a short description of the subterm;
- creator(s) - the name of the subterm's and flag's creators in respective order.
Prefixes and Suffixes have the same name as the term plus a non-gendered prefix or suffix (such as agender having agenderflux).
Redirects
Redirects are created to either add an alternate alias/spelling/form of a title, or to add a way of finding and navigating to separate terms on pages. When redirecting to a certain part of a page, ensure you add the header to the redirect. For example, to redirect to the Prefixes and Suffixes table on the Bi (orientation) page, you should set the redirect target to Bi (orientation)#Prefixes and Suffixes.
Categorisation rules of redirects are explained in the Redirects category description.
Why
Why was my edit rejected?
Rejection reasons are provided on the recent-edits channel on our Discord, alongside your wiki username. It is accessible to the public so you do not have to be an enrolled server member to see the edits history.
Why do you require resources for articles?
Data integrity is a must, as well as proof of coining. Wiki articles can be edited by anyone, and false information can unfortunately be added. By providing an external resource, you are securing the coiner's definition, promoting the coiner, and providing a backup of the term. One popular case of data loss is the deletion of the LGBTQIA FANDOM wiki. It was up to the wiki editors to preserve as much information as possible in a very small amount of time, but information was lost nonetheless. Any pages that were created on FANDOM itself are lost forever (excluding archived pages). We do not want to fall to the same fate.
Why the specific categorization rules?
One of the main goals of the wiki is to help individuals find the right term. Imagine a label that only fits under the Gender category, piled in with other specific genders like Fingender, and Non-Binary. It becomes almost impossible to find. By restricting specific terms to specific categories, it avoids article crowding, meaning that more obscure and general labels are more easily found.
For an example, using the Wikipedia article Cricket. This page belongs to the Team Sports category. However if it were to inherit every other category above it, it would belong to Team Sports, Team Activities, Teams, Social Groups, Society, Humans, Hominina, Hominini, Homininae, Apes, so on, so on - you get the picture. It is unnecessary and messy. Categorizing Cricket simply as a Team Sport is fine as it is already implying that it is an Activity, Team based, a Social Group, etc. The same goes with something like a -coric gender, that is an Aesthetigender, Xenogender, and Gender, by nature.
Why was my page removed from the Kingender category?
As is the nature of alterhumanity, anything has the potential to be a kintype. Even an orientation itself could be considered a concept-kintype. If we went by this method, then every single page on the wiki would be added to the Kingender category. Thus, we reserve the category for kingender exclusives (Kingender, Catkingender, etc). If it is not exclusive, it should not be added to the category (Catgender, Cloudgender, etc).