User:DeeM28/Meta general guideline draft

Meta is the central wiki for the Miraheze wiki farm. It is used for many different procedures which pertain to Miraheze as a whole (i.e. requesting wikis, requesting global permissions, help pages, noticeboards, etc.). While there are not many written policies for Meta this does not mean that it there is a state of anarchy. Some may say that Meta is governed by "common sense" however this notion is quite vague and can be misleading is common sense is a relative concept. Meta is governed by Miraheze's global policies but also has some local conventions which have developed over time. These conventions are not to be seen as absolute rules but it they are generally accepted by the Meta community. Below is a list of some important conventions on Meta. Some (or most) are heavily inspired by Wikipedia policies or guidelines.


 * Do not bite the newcomers: New members are vital to the success of Meta (and Miraheze). It is expected that newcomers are not be familiar with the way that things are done here which can including this very page which is why users should be understanding and be willing to help them. For further reading see WP:BITE


 * Do not jump in too quickly: If you are new to Meta take your time to understand what Meta is for and how things work around here. It is likely going to take a little time to adapt to Meta for someone new so you should be patient and observe how things work before jumping in. This also applies to requesting rights. Many users unfortunately request rights too early instead of being patient and effectively learning how things work. Even if this is maybe not the intention it will be seen b others as hat collecting (see further here)


 * Assume good faith: People should assume good faith and that a user is trying to help instead of assuming that people want to disrupt the project. It is unfair to the user in question to assume that they are acting maliciously without giving them a chance. It is obvious that in cases of blatant vandalism there is no need to assume good faith. Further reading can be done here


 * Editing other users' user pages is generally not to be done: Userpages are personal and are a way for a user to tell the community more about themselves, their interests, what languages they speak and anything else they find relevant. Generally there is no reason for someone else to edit another persons userpage but there can be exceptions, for example if the user says something offensive or claims to hold a permission that they do not. Discretion should be used but editing another user's userpage is not to be done lightly.