Battlestar Wiki:News Policy

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This page is an official policy of Battlestar Wiki.
This policy is considered by the community and its leadership to be the status quo of Battlestar Wiki and is not to be countermanded or ignored, though changes to it can be discussed on the appropriate talk page. This policy was implemented on 14 June 2007.

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This policy deals with how Battlestar Wiki deals with news or rumors that it, or its members, uncover.

Policy

Battlestar Wiki's mandate is to collect, categorize, and disseminate information regarding the aired episodes, books, comics, and other officially-licensed Battlestar stories into a reference medium. During this process, and due to the openness of the wiki, we may encounter people who tell us a piece of news that no one else knows about. Sometimes we are asked not to release such information until certain events come to pass, or we are given the go-ahead from our news source(s).

However, since contributors are more than likely not journalists and the Wiki is not a news reporting site, we do not have the ability or the network needed to corroborate such information, as to determine its authenticity. Nor do we contain the experience or training of journalists, which is tantamount to properly presenting and breaking a story.

It is therefore in our interest, as well as the interest of the greater Battlestar Galactica fandom, that the people responsible for coming across previously unreleased news or rumors to partner with a news site that deals with Battlestar Galactica news and rumors.

Partnerships

Essentially, how this partnering process works is that the person(s) involved in discovering the story would submit a tip to the director of a news site of their choice. From there, the director of the site would determine the validity of the claim by corroborating with their sources. Should the news or rumor item lead to a story publishable on the site, the site would then credit us (or the person) for tipping them off.

If you encounter a news item, relay it to the administrators first

Battlestar Wiki has two items where news on the shows, their cast or crew, or media can be published: the News portal (which allows a brief bullet item that will appear on the Main Page), and the Community Portal.

Because not all "news" is genuine, authentic, or sourced, it is strongly recommended that contributors (including administrators) post the item FIRST on the administrator's noticeboard as a query to other administrators. This way, other administrators (who are tasked with enforcing the wiki's citation and sourcing policies) can determine if the item is authentic before the item is posted to the Wiki or relayed to a news partner. This might take time, but time is important for verification.

One example of why verification is crucial happened in the month of May 2007, when cast members Edward James Olmos and Katee Sackhoff told a web news source that Season 4 would be the last season of the Re-imagined Series. However, hours later, series co-executive producer David Eick released a statement that retracted the cast statements, indicating no such decision has been made. While Eick and Ron Moore eventually confirmed the cast's information several days later, it noted the importance of verifying sources.

It is important not to believe that news bits must be immediately posted on the wiki; no matter what the source, Battlestar Wiki prefers news of notable caliber to be sourced not only from cast, crew or popular news source, but to be confirmed by the highest series executives or network executives available. Battlestar Wiki is not a news forum or chat forum for such information, and "first posting" is never a mandate.

Posting news tips elsewhere on the internet and Wiki representation

Currently, only Joe Beaudoin holds status to officially represent Battlestar Wiki in official postings elsewhere on the internet, per the wiki's official representation policy.

Wiki contributors are welcome to submit a news tip on your own elsewhere on the internet, but contributors MAY NOT mention Battlestar Wiki in their posts or messages, nor may contributors have anything in your message (links, banners, or other graphics) that imply any associations with or endorsements of Battlestar Wiki.

Contributors that misrepresent Battlestar Wiki are subject to short-term blocks of their account, or a permanent ban from editing Battlestar Wiki.

Policy

Partnerships

If you encounter a news item, relay it to the administrators first

Posting news tips elsewhere on the internet and Wiki representation

See also