Board Thread:Official News and Announcements/@comment-26874253-20180225215909

'''Hi everyone! Thanks for taking a few minutes to give these very important rules a read! '''

'''Please note that wiki rules are always subject to change, and new ones can be added, so please check back and review the rules often! Breaking the rules can result in warnings and possibly bans if serious enough, so it is always a good idea to stay on top of the rules! '''

==Etiquette==

'''*Persons under age 13 should not create accounts, to abide with Wikia rules. This is why we request that all users list their age on their profiles and/or driver pages. If discovered to not have been done already, users will be asked to do so. Failure to comply may result in a strike. '''

'''*Please be nice and respectful to other users.Remember, there is a real person receiving your messages, so don’t type anything that could hurt someone’s feelings. '''

*Please try to avoid using any swears or rude words.

*You are not allowed to edit other people’s pages without the consent of the authors unless otherwise stated.

'''*We do not tolerate discrimination of any kind, including racism against all races, sexism against all genders, and bias against any sexualities, no exceptions. Although OCs are allowed to have these types of traits in their characters, be sensitive about how you go about it regardless, and it should only be the characters who act like this, never their users under any circumstances. '''

==Content==

'''*Keep everything PG-13. All extreme NSFW characters, fanfictions and art will be questioned. '''

'''*Violence and gore, despite having somewhat of a place in Monster High, should still preferably begin with disclaimers. '''

===Art===

'''* Any art posted must be created by you or has been given explicit permission from the creator(s). Such artworks will need to be properly credited to them.'''

*Pictures made using dress up games and dollmakers are not allowed.

*Tracing and recoloring from other people’s artwork is not allowed.

*Bases are allowed but only with the following conditions:

-The base was created by you or you’ve been given permission by the creator of the base.

'''-Sufficent effort is put into the piece. Rough recoloring doesn’t qualify.'''

===Characters==

* Monsters from classic literature, classic movies, mythology, folklore and cryptozoology are allowed.

* Superheroes, super villains, serial killers and the like are not allowed as they are technically human.

* Crossovers are no longer allowed.

* Original alien/elemetal species are allowed.

===Other===

* Fan-made locations such as schools and shops are allowed to have their own pages.

==Chat Room Rules==

'''*Please keep all chats PG-13! If you have anything to discuss with someone that would exceed this rating, please do so privately, and only if appropriate. '''

'''*Welcome a new user when they enter a chat! We always want people to feel like they belong and can make friends. :) '''

'''*Try not to talk over other people. That can make people feel unwelcome or like what they are trying to share is not as important as what you are saying. '''

'''*Please don’t spam with excessive or unneccessary posts. '''

==Three Strikes Policy==

'''*If a user breaks rules seriously and persistently enough, this can result in a ban. The first two bans will be temporary, meaning that after a certain period of time, the user will be allowed to return to their account. The length of these bans will depend on the severity of the respective offences. However, if the user breaks a rule for a third time, this action will result in a permanent ban. This means that the user will not be able to return to their account and will not be allowed back to the wiki. Any subsequent accounts made by an already banned person will also be permanently banned on discovery. '''

==Categorization==

Original Character
---The "​Original Character​" category will keep the character pages separate from others, such as “Fanfiction”, "Fanfiction Diaries​", " TV Specials", " Movies", " Doll Lines", etc. 

​Gender
---Thanks to the very specific categories of "Males", "Females", and "​Nonbinary​", as well as a few select others, we will no longer need categories such as “girls", "ghouls", "mansters", "boys", "originalcharacterboys", "originalcharactersgirls", and other similar categories.

​Orientation
---You may categorize a character's sexuality ("Heterosexual", ​"​Homosexual​", ​"Bisexual​", etc) as well as romantic orientation if you choose to (​"Aromantic​", "​Panromantic", ​"​Demiromantic​", etc) 

Status
'''---If the character is not a student (i.e. "Parent​", ​"Teacher", "Pet​", etc), use these types of categories to let us know what they are. If they are staff and teach at an OC school, please list them as "OC School ​Staff​". '''

​OC schools
'''---If the character is not a student at Monster High, but is instead a student at another school (i.e. Olympus Academy​), be sure to categorize the character as a student from that school's personal categories. '''

​Personal
---If the character’s page has personal categories, be sure to keep these, as it allows the user to keep track of their characters and pages (i.e. Jade-the-Tiger’s OCs)

Adoptable
'''---If the character is listed for adoption, they should be placed under the “Adoptable” category. '''

​Species/Origin
'''---Ensure that the character is categorized by its parentage (i.e. "Vampire", "Ghost", "Demigod", etc.). If the character is in a “Vampire” category, we do not need to have categories like “Vampires”, “Vampire OCs”, etc.'''

'''---If the character is a hybrid, use the category for each of their two species as well as the "Hybrid​" category. '''

'''---If the character is a demigod, they may have the category of who their parent is (i.e. "Hades​") and may also have a category for their mythology origin (i.e. "Greek Mythology​"), which also applies to mythological monsters. Legends should be handled similarly, denoting the geographical origin of the legend and the parent. If the OC is not from a myth or legend but still has a named parent (i.e. "King Kong"), then feel free to do the same. '''

'''---These rules will similarly apply to other OCs whose parentage originates from a different medium, so please use categories such as “Cryptozoology”, “Literature”, or “Film”. If the character is an allowed-crossover, please classy them with “Crossover” as well.'''

---An OC may also be classified by their nationality, which may or may not be completely disparate from their parental origin, so “Greek”, “North American”, or “German” for example.  