Editing Policy:Moratorium

{{Policy}}
{{nutshell|Only add material from sources that have been published more than two months ago.}}

The [[Sarna BattleTechWiki]] is an unofficial fan site. It has no official relationship with the owners or licensees of the [[w:IP|intellectual property rights]]  ([[FASA]], [[FanPro]], [[Wizkids]], [[InMediaRes]], [[Catalyst Game Labs]], and others) or any individuals employed by those companies.

We also recognize that the IP owners and licensees depend on selling their products. As such, it is deemed inappropriate for this wiki to compete with official products released by those companies, or even to give the impression of doing so.

Therefore, BTW asks its editors to please refrain from adding content information from official titles for '''two months''' after the date of publication.

In order to facilitate this process, please place the [[Template:Moratorium|moratorium tag]] on the article pertaining to the product in question.

==Usage==
Cut and paste '''<nowiki>{{moratorium|the ending date of the moratorium}}</nowiki>''' into the top of the article. 

For example:
<pre>
{{moratorium|July 2, 3025}}
</pre>

Will display:
{{moratorium|July 2, 3025}}

==Exceptions==
;Free products : The moratorium concept does not apply to free products (free downloads, promotional material, etc.). Its sole purpose is to protect the publisher's interest in selling a new product for money, which is inherently not applicable to free products.

;Creating an article for the source : This policy applies to the content of new products, not to the products themselves. Editors are encouraged to create new articles about new products (with the moratorium notification in place), both so that other editors can be informed that it is under the moratorium period and to increase awareness of new products. Please remember to tag the subject as being under moratorium, and refrain from providing detailed content information such as plot summaries for the duration of the moratorium.

;Clarifications : Sometimes information in a new source corrects or clarifies information previously published elsewhere. In this case, please fix the outdated information as quickly as possible, as Sarna BTW does not wish to be a source of misinformation.

;Reprints : In a few rare instances, books were essentially reprinted with a different title (eg. ''[[Technical Readout: 3025 Revised]]'', ''[[Classic BattleTech RPG]]'', etc.). It is not necessary to put them under a moratorium as sources if they only contain identical or virtually identical information to what is already past the moratorium period. Be careful, however, to make sure that no new information is included that could be subject to the moratorium.

==Products Presently Under Moratorium==
The following tables (visible only when populated) provide an accurate status{{m}}via auto-generated data{{m}}of each product presently labeled as under moratorium.

{{#ask:[[Category:Sources under Moratorium]][[Moratorium Date::>{{#time: d.m.Y|now}}]]
|?Moratorium Date
|mainlabel=Article (Active Moratoriums)
|format=table
|sort=Moratorium Date
|order=ascending, ascending
|offset=0
|limit=1000
}}

{{#ask:[[Category:Sources under Moratorium]][[Moratorium Date::<={{#time: d.m.Y|now}}]]
|?Moratorium Date
|mainlabel=Article (Expired Moratoriums)
|format=table
|sort=Moratorium Date
|order=ascending, ascending
|offset=0
|limit=1000
}}

==Notes for Admins==
Administrators, if somebody violates the moratorium policy, ''do not ban or block them''. Simply inform them of the policy and ask them to respect it. Remember to [[Policy:Assume good faith|assume good faith]]. To facilitate this, you can use the pre-generated [[Template:Moratorium Violation|moratorium violation]] warning.

Rather than removing the content, text and images may also disabled by placing the <nowiki>"<!---- ---->"</nowiki> code around them. When the moratorium has been lifted, the code is removed, once again allowing the content to be visible.