Halopedia:What Halopedia is

This page is an official Halopedia policy Please read through the policy below to familiarize yourself with our common practices and rules. If you have any questions, suggestions, or complaints, please post them on the talk page.

Halopedia is first and foremost an online encyclopedia which documents all things related to Halo. However, as a means to that end, it also hosts a community of Halo fans interested in helping build the wiki. Several social features such as forums, talk pages, message walls and the Discord can be found around the wiki to facilitate discussions between users and promote a spirit of mutual respect and unserstanding.

This page sets out a list of important aspects and qualities of Halopedia, in the hope of discouraging people from using Halopedia for incorrect purposes, or treating it as something it is not.

What Halopedia is

Halopedia is free

Halopedia is (and will always be) free for anyone to read and to edit, provided they have internet access. The site's aim is to provide all Halo fans with an accurate and reliable source of information on the Halo franchise, and it would betray this vision to lock any part of the wiki behind a pay-wall. As a result, Halopedia will strive to ensure that its content will always be available for anyone to access and edit, free of charge.

Halopedia is neutral

Although the same might not be true of its users, Halopedia itself is neutral in all debates relating to the Halo franchise. It does not take sides in any conflicts between different users or groups in the Halo community, because its purpose is simply to document the franchise as an unbiased observer. This attitude is reflected in its articles, which should not convey opinions, only facts.

Furthermore, Halopedia's articles should be neutral from an in-universe perspective as well. Articles should not glorify individual factions or people, nor should they vilify others. Taking a side in the fictional conflicts of the Halo universe would only damage the wiki's ability to properly document them, and hence result in a less accurate account of events for readers.

Note that this stance does not govern how users communicate in the social sections of Halopedia. Discussion of all topics relating to Halo is encouraged through those channels, to promote mutual understanding and civility between fans of differing opinions.

Halopedia is uncensored

While Halopedia itself is written in a formal and informative style, the Halo franchise often deals with subjects that are sensitive in nature, and could be interpreted as offensive, inappropriate or otherwise disturbing. Some examples of such topics would be genocide, rape and prostitution, each of which has been mentioned in the franchise before. Halopedia does not censor information on these topics, as it would compromise the wiki's ability to fully document the franchise.

Additionally, expletives, which are often used in the Halo games, are not censored on the wiki, and are permitted in use on Halopedia's many social featues (provided it isn't excessive). For example, the quote "My ass! Well, you can forget about the adjustments to your A2-scope." would not be altered to read "My a**!" on the wiki.

Halopedia is fan-made

The Halo franchise is a trademarked property of the Microsoft Corporation. Meanwhile, Halopedia is completely fan-made and is not in any way affiliated with Microsoft, 343 Industries, Bungie or any of the many studios who have contributed to the franchise. Halopedia does not claim ownership of the copyrighted content hosted on the wiki.

As a result of this, Halopedia has no authority in how the Halo games are created or run. Hence, any requests that we change features of the game, or grant ranks and items (such as Achilles, the Haunted Helmet, Recon or the Flaming Helmet) will be treated as spam.

Halopedia is completely legal

Main article: Copyright Policy

Halopedia is completely within the law in its operation. Halopedia, or more accurately its contributors, assert that all content uploaded to the site falls within purview of Fair Use, under US law. All videos uploaded to the Halopedia YouTube channel follow Microsoft's Game Content Usage Rules, which permits the use of game footage in such videos.

In short, there is no reason to worry about incurring legal ramifications by reading or contributing to the wiki. Halopedia operates within the law; it has never run into legal problems and likely never will.

What Halopedia is not

Halopedia is not a fanfiction site

Halopedia is designed for the incorporation of canon from the Halo universe. Its users and administrators work hard to ensure that every article contains information that has been officially recognized to exist in the Halo world. Many people on the site are working on fanfiction of their own, but fanfiction items themselves do not have a place among Halopedia's articles. You are free to add a link on your user page to your own Halo fanfiction on other sites such as Halo Fanon, but non-notable fan-made material added to Halopedia will be deleted.

Halopedia is not a speculative forum

The intrigue behind the Halo series is its mystery; there is a great deal of the storyline that has not been revealed to the world. 343 Industries continues making products that add more details to that storyline. Because of this, many fans have their own theories and speculation as to the nature or actions of certain characters or storylines. However, Halopedia articles are designed to display information, not speculation. If you have a theory about something related to the Halo universe, the best place to put it would be Halopedia's Forums. Speculation in articles should be left to a minimum, as it can make articles confusing and is counterproductive to Halopedia's purpose as a reliable compendium of canonical material.

Halopedia is not an indiscriminate collection of information

The content of Halopedia is based entirely of items that have been mentioned in the Halo universe. Though there are many potential items that could be included in Halopedia, they are not added because this may clash with future developed storylines.

An example of this is Uranus. Uranus is a world in the modern solar system that has not yet been mentioned in Halo. Its presence has never been implied or directly stated, yet we all know it to exist. Uranus does not have an article for two reasons; the first is that there is no information on Uranus that is related to Halo, so the article would be pointlessly short and have few links to Halo related items. Second, future storylines could reveal any number of fates for Uranus between modern times and the time in which Halo takes place. It could have been destroyed, or even populated. There is simply no way to know the fate of modern things in the Halo universe. Those things will never be known for sure until they are mentioned.

Halopedia is not a history book

Many things seen in the Halo universe are depicted as homage to the past. Ships, planets, and even people have been named after past events. But that does not mean that these events deserve an article in Halopedia. An example of this is the UNSC Trafalgar. The ship itself is named likely in homage to the Battle of Trafalgar, but the battle itself has little to do with the Halo universe other than the namesake. Therefore, the Battle of Trafalgar does not warrant an article on Halopedia simply because it has possibly been the source of the name of a Halo related object.

Halopedia is not a social network

Halopedia is a reference wiki for all things related to Halo. It is an interesting project and is always growing. Please remember that users are here to contribute and get information, not to socialize. Therefore, please keep all comments on the articles' talk pages strictly on the topic of the article. Halopedia's Forums are specifically meant for more open discussion about various subjects in the Halo universe, such as personal opinions and theories. If you wish to talk to another user outside of Halopedia, please use the wiki's messaging system, their user talk page, or e-mail.

Halopedia is not Wikipedia

Halopedia is not Wikipedia or any other wiki site. Halopedia is an independent wiki and it follows its own set of guidelines as outlined in the Help:Contents section. Halopedia sometimes takes ideas from larger and more developed wikis, but Halopedia policy is always the highest authority on this website.

Halopedia is not a democracy

Like virtually all wikis, Halopedia is not a democracy. Most of our popular issues (Such as Featured Articles) are put up to a user vote, but important decisions are made based on discussion; not consensus or voting. The reasoning for this is that legitimate concerns cannot be ignored in light of important decisions, and one opinion is not necessarily equal to another; particularly when experience plays into the decision. These details must be ironed out in discussion before a decision is made.

Halopedia is not a soapbox

Halopedia is not a website for individual opinions on any subject. Halopedia's articles are to be completely neutral on every subject, conveying all information available, and nothing more. Any creation of articles or editing of existing articles to reflect individual opinions or ideas on subject matter that consist of personal opinions on a topic will be immediately reverted or deleted. Opinions can be expressed on user pages, talk pages, or forums, but not articles.

Halopedia is not a clan recruitment center

The overwhelming majority of Halopedia users play the Halo games online. Many of them are members of individual clans in those games. However, there is no clan recruitment on Halopedia. Outside of individual user pages, references, comparisons, or invitations to join Halo clans are forbidden, particularly on articles, talk pages, or any other space where they do not belong.

Halopedia is not censored

While Halopedia should be written in a style that is friendly and formal, it may at times display subject material that can be interpreted as offensive. Provided that this information is factual and consistent with the Halo universe, it should not be censored. An example is the quote "My ass! Well, you can forget about the adjustments to your A2-scope," which should not be altered to read "My a**!" Additionally, offensive or triggering subjects depicted in Halo such as rape or prostitution should be written out.

Halopedia is not Bungie or 343 Industries

While Halo is a Microsoft-owned franchise, Halopedia is not affiliated with Bungie, Microsoft, 343 Industries or other official parties of the Halo franchise. "Submissions" by people requesting or demanding that we make additions or changes, or demands for Recon, will be treated as spam.