User blog:Endeavory/Community Projects Guidelines

''Hey everybody! It's me, your old pal/frenemy/fairy godmother Jazz. Before I get into the guidelines for Community Projects (a dry subject by necessity) I'd like to remind everybody that I'm holding a contest to find the saddest OCs, so go nominate!''

Community Projects is off and running, with wonderful contributions to the category and a ton of awesome enthusiasm from awesome people. Not picking favourites, but I'd like to do a couple of quick shout-outs to Walking Dictionary and Skittz for really helping cement the concept and working so hard on the whole thing. They are magnificent people.

If you're a little unfamiliar with what's going on, basically we've established a category tag called "Community Projects" for OC's that can be edited by any and all users. Like a more traditional Wikipedia page, the information about the characters can grow and be expanded as you -- a beloved member of the community -- see fit. Some pages have been added to a great deal, while others are still waiting for more love. Whether your specialty is art, concept, storytelling or design, you can probably find some way to contribute to a Community Project. There's also the Castlestuck page, which is tons of fun and a great read for any Homestuck fans lurking in our midst.

When an OC becomes a Community Project, they're going into a state similar to being in the public domain. People can use those OC's in fanart, fanfiction or RP sessions as they like, since by being open to contribution by everyone means they are now open to use by everyone. This can, obviously, become a slippery slope and makes things a little anarchical if we aren't diligent about quality.

'''What OC's are good options to become Community Projects? Can we make Community Projects from scratch?'''

You can always check the Candidates for Deletion tag for characters that jump out at you as something that can be repaired. Newly added Disney OC's or weak OC's are also good choices, but please be sure to ask if the creator would rather maintain ownership and simply have private help from either you or a member of the Repair Squad and Adopt a Newbie programs.

Make sure you're clear that there are lots of options for OC help, and try not to make anybody feel fenced in to saying yes. Not only are Community Projects a great way for the community to get together and have some fun with creative exercises, they're also a good way for newbies to see how people more experienced with character creation go about making decisions and improvements. Let users know all the benefits of Community Projects, and always be respectful of their wishes. (Even if you disagree!)

If you'd like to create a community OC from scratch, go right ahead! Just come up with some basic details, tag the page accordingly, and watch the community in action!

How can I ask a creator for permission to turn their OC into a Community Project?

The best way to ask when you see something that you think would make a great CP, is to find the creator and leave a polite request on their message wall. Or you can make the request in the comments/talk section of the character page. Securing permission is very important for a few reasons, not the least of which being that everything created here, though fan works with no intention of commercial use, is somebody's intellectual property. For the sake of credit, it's recommended that the top of CP pages always include a small not attributing initial creation to the user who first set up the page.

If the user has abandoned the Wiki, or no longer wishes to be part of the community, they might not answer your request. Unless they've given notice of absence via blog post or updates on their driver page or profile, they have five days to respond before you can declare them an inactive user and tag their OC.

I donated an OC to Community Projects and now I want it back, what do I do?

Luckily, because of the public domain aspect of CP's, this isn't a big problem. Simply use them in any artistic endeavors you wish to, since you are entitled to do so. If you would like to revert the OC back to sole ownership, ask yourself why. In order to reclaim them, you'll have to relinquish all art and page changes made by other users, essentially reverting them to their original state.

How can I contribute to CP pages?

However you want! The only rules here are that you be mindful of the feelings of other contributors, and clear about your intentions should a difficult issue arise. Don't delete other people's work whole-cloth, and if you have to make a very large change to someone else's contribution, be clear about why you wish to do so. If you notice formatting errors, feel free to rectify them. If some phrasing looks awkward to you, or you find a grammatical faux pas, then by all means jump in.

Our community is made up of many wonderful members from around the world who may not have English as their primary language, but contribute some of the best and most creative ideas to CP pages. As long as you're preserving the idea and spirit behind the idea, fiddle around with phrasing and presentation all you want.

I hope this has encouraged new people to take part in Community Projects! It only gets more fun with more people! I'll update this FAQ if there's ever any need, and if you have any questions always always always feel free to ask.