SourceWatch:Policy

< About SourceWatch

Related: SourceWatch:Purpose, SourceWatch:Contributing

The SourceWatch community has some policies and guidelines that are generally accepted and considered important, or even essential, by the project's founders and its participants. These help us to work towards our goal. It is important to note that the particular implementation of at least some of these policies is still in a state of evolution, as SourceWatch grows and develops.

Generally accepted policies

Be fair. Propagandists engage in selective presentation of evidence. Articles written for the SourceWatch should strive for a higher standard, by summarizing all evidence and points of view on a subject accurately and thoroughly.

Don't infringe copyrights. SourceWatch is a free encyclopedia licenced under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. Submitting work without the copyright holder's permission threatens our objective to build a truly free encyclopedia that anyone can redistribute, and could lead to legal liability for the project. See SourceWatch copyrights for more information.

SourceWatch is an encyclopedia. The site should primarily be used for developing the encyclopedia. In particular, the facility to upload files should only be used for files used in articles, and discussions on talk pages should be directed at improving articles.

Respect other contributors. SourceWatch contributors may come from many different countries and cultures, and have widely different views. By treating others with respect we are able to cooperate effectively in building an encyclopedia. For some guidelines, see Etiquette.

Follow conventions. By following these conventions we are able to produce a more consistent and usable encyclopedia:

• • Editing policy
  • standard forms for page names: SourceWatch:Naming conventions
  • dealing with different things with the same name: SourceWatch:Disambiguation

How are these policies enforced?

You are a SourceWatch editor. SourceWatch lacks an editor-in-chief or a central, top-down mechanism whereby the day-to-day progress on the encyclopedia is monitored and approved. Instead, active participants monitor the recent changes page and make copyedits and corrections to the content and format problems they see.So the participants are both writers and editors.

In extreme and unusual cases, PR Watch staff will step in to ban a user who proves to be unusually disruptive. The PR Watch staff has also declared certain policies to be, essentially, official SourceWatch policies.

Personnel

The SourceWatch was designed by Center for Media and Democracy research director Sheldon Rampton. However, we are hoping that the actual content will come from volunteer scholars, journalists, students, activists, and generally-knowledgeable people from around the world who happen to show up at the website and feel inspired to donate some of their knowledge.

There is no editor-in-chief per se. However, the staff of PR Watch and other volunteers who have a proven track record of positive contributions act as informal sysops, monitoring recent changes with an eye to preventing and correcting vandalism, offensive contributions and deliberate disinformation.

How are these policies formulated?

SourceWatch policy is taken, by and large, from the policies of Wikipedia, which have been formulated by habit and consensus. Hence, the statements on this page and pages adjoining it are intended for the most part to be descriptive of existing community norms that have developed over time. Issues are still formulated and debated on talk pages and elsewhere. If you wish to contribute to developing or modifying Wikipedia policies, contact the PR Watch staff at editor@prwatch.org.

Specific guidelines to consider

In addition to the generally accepted policies listed above, additional suggested guidelines can be found at Wikipedia Policies and guidelines.

SourceWatch:Article guidelines

Acknowledgement: the content of many of the help pages in SourceWatch have been adapted from Wikipedia.