Introducing the Admin Code of Conduct
Hello all!
It has been a while since I last posted here - I hope you have all been well!
As part of my work here at Fandom, I have spent the past few months looking deep into our platform policies & guidelines. (Hint: we have a lot!) I have been looking at what we cover, what we don’t cover, & how we can protect users from bad actors & bad experiences.
One point we needed more coverage on was our expectations toward wiki admins. We have (checks list) blogs, guidelines, Discord interactions, etc. - Fandom’s expectations of users who hold admin rights on a wiki (or multiple wikis) are wildly all over the place.
The Trust & Safety team has been working to try to solve this tangle, & we are taking our first step by releasing a new policy called theAdmin Code of Conduct.
Where This is Coming From[]
Fandom has a long history of a lot of policies & guidelines, & that is okay - there are a lot of wikis on a lot of different topics that cater to a lot of different people. When this is not okay is when there are so many policies & guidelines that users don’t know what to rely on for guidance on how to interact with the platform, readers, & other users.
We’re launching an initiative to clean up & consolidate policies & guidelines to make it easier for everyone to understand what is okay or not. (I’ve nicknamed this Project Evergreen!) This also may include adding new clauses to policies for things that may have been understood but never really clarified, like the recent clause addition to theCommunity Creation Policy regarding mature content on wikis aimed toward children.
This Admin Code of Conduct is our next step. The team pulled together advice & experience from staff, industry experts, &Fandom Stars to create a policy, aimed at putting together a code for how admins conduct themselves as wiki community facilitators. (Thank you, Stars, for letting me ask questions about your experience as admins!)
(Note: While this policy is geared toward admins as they have the most rights on a wiki, the Code is a good guideline for every user on how to act on the platform.)
Kicking Off[]
I wanted everyone to know that we are not dropping this policy off then walking away. The most important thing about any platform policy is to understand its spirit, or what it is meant to cover when the words themselves may be vague.
On Thursday, April 17, we will be holding an AMA in theFandom Discord where staff (including me!) will be around to answer questions about the Admin Code of Conduct. (Check the #announcements channel in the Discord to see the time & date in your local time zone.)
Going forward, we will also be holding voluntary workshops where we will go over the Code, talk about what the clauses mean & how they may affect different situations, & what can happen when there is a policy violation. These will be periodic Zoom meetings where you can RSVP to join. Again, voluntary! However, we’d love to have everyone join to help get a better understanding of the policy. I don’t want to get too into the weeds, but keep your eyes open for announcements about these workshops in the future. Soon(™)!
As always, please feel free to reach out to ourSupport team with questions, as well.
Thank you all for reading this far!
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