ROPP Policy: Sources

ROPP tries to ensure that the information we have on the wiki is sourced. For a lot of people this might be a new concept, so this policy will include explanations and examples.

Summary

• We add sources to improve the reliability of the content we provide
• We source data where possible in the Harvard reference format as it is widely known.
• Webpage sources should be mirrored where possible to prevent links from decaying
• Adding unreferenced content is fine, but if it's incorrect, don't be upset if it's removed by another editor.

Sources

Do I have to cite stuff?

No, you can add content in and not worry about having to cite it if you just want to expand out an article, but if you want to help us more, citing just means it'll be easier to rely on information that's in the wiki, and also, you'll get a feeling of being a big smarty pants. Don't feel bad however, if you add content and people remove it because it's incorrect -- that's what we're here to do - improve the quality of the information we provide.

What do you mean by "sources"?

Sources are things like websites, books, newspapers, periodicals and so on. These are the things we want to include when we're adding new information into the wiki. We add this information into the wiki so information we provide here can be considered reliable, and the best way of doing that is by citing sources.

What sources are allowed?

Anything, except the sources listed below.

What sources are not allowed?

We generally don't want to have a source if it's just making a statement about something rather than providing information (e.g. "Jim suxx0rz", "eAthena is da best" or "lol fu Gravity"):

• Good example - We don't have a lot of info about a feature, but one blog mentions it, and explains how it works, which seems to make sense based on other info we have.
• Bad example - We included a RO blog that says "iRO Suxx0rz and Wishy iz da queen!!11". While we may have opinions about statements in blogs, this info isn't stuff we care about. Remove opinions, and focus on information only. If you want to express your opinion on how bad something is, use a talk page, or go to discord and let's all have a laugh.

Mirroring

Please make sure that when you cite a webpage, use http://www.archive.is to mirror that page and then cite the archive.is link rather than the page directly. When you mirror a page and you think it's valuable or will be reused a lot, add it to ROPP: Mirrored Pages.