---
title: Policies and guidelines
contributors:
  - Usmaan
---

The goal of the DOD wiki is to be an objective source of information
related to evolving democracy. The wiki needs a set of policies and
guidelines so its content is valuable for its readers. Wikipedia has a
[large number of detailed
policies](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:List_of_policies_and_guidelines)
without which its content would quickly degrade in terms of quality and
usefulness. It is therefore imperative to have a set of policies and
guidelines that should be followed.

The DOD wiki's policies should be customized to suit the needs of its
readers. This page will list some initial policies some of which are
partly derived from Wikipedia's own pages on the topic.

1.  The DOD wiki aims to be an encyclopedia of information related to
    democracy
2.  Information should be unbiased and from a neutral point of view
3.  Content should be non-promotional in nature
4.  Avoid conflict of interest (See [Wikipedia's
    policy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Conflict_of_interest)
    on this topic for more detail)
5.  The DOD wiki is not a soapbox, a battleground, or a vehicle for
    propaganda, advertising and showcasing (see the [Wikipedia
    page](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:What_Wikipedia_is_not#Wikipedia_is_not_a_soapbox_or_means_of_promotion)
    for more details). Since politics is often related to some of these
    terms, additional detail on this specific policy is necessary and
    will be provided later
6.  No promotion of fringe theories. If a topic is controversial in
    nature, effort should be made to present all points of view so the
    reader can make up their own mind. Again, neutral point of view
    applies. If there is a question about neutrality, we can go by the
    majority opinion of peer-reviewed science if it is available for
    that topic
7.  Opinion pieces should be avoided but may be ok if they are labelled
    as such or if they are kept under user space (see the Wikipedia page
    on [how to create a user
    page](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:How_to_use_your_user_space)).
    Priority for content should be given to topics that need attention
    first
8.  Notability: On the DOD Wiki, notability is a test used by editors to
    decide whether a given topic warrants its own article
9.  This wiki is free content that anyone can use, edit, and distribute

## Links

Wikipedia:  

- [List of policies and
  guidelines](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:List_of_policies_and_guidelines)
- [Neutral point of
  view](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Neutral_point_of_view)
