Draft:What Bulbapedia is not
Bulbapedia is a community-driven Pokémon encyclopedia overseen by the Leadership Board and run by Bulbagarden. This policy outlines what one might think Bulbapedia is, but it really is not.
What Bulbapedia is not
Bulbapedia is not Wikipedia
Bulbapedia and Wikipedia are not the same thing. While both are wikis, there is coverage of some Pokémon-related content on Wikipedia, and Bulbapedia covers certain real-world topics, these two wikis are run by different entities (i.e. Wikipedia is run by Wikimedia Foundation, which Bulbagarden is not a part of or affiliated with), and have different goals, staff, and policies.
Bulbapedia is not a blog or a social media platform
Many Bulbapedia users have used their pages in the User: namespace like a blog or a social media platform; however, this breaks the userspace policy, which was written up as a result of a short-lived event from 2008.
Many users treated their userspace as a social site like Facebook, neglecting Bulbapedia's goals. This caused the leadership at the time to lock down editing of the User: namespace, then reopen it later that same year, under the newly written userspace policy. To encourage actual contribution, userspace edits were limited to up to three per day, under the condition that one more edit be made to the mainspace that same day. Additionally, there are some types of content prohibited from being in the userspace.
Bulbapedia is not a soapbox or a discussion forum
Bulbapedia may have talk pages for both its content pages and users, but the purpose of them is to help with wiki contribution. As such, under the talk page policy, they are not the place for indiscriminate small talk, which includes, but is not limited to, comments about the wiki page's content or opinions about a user that are unrelated to their contributions to Bulbapedia.
Bulbagarden also hosts its own discussion forums, which are notably less restricted than Bulbapedia's talk pages, but are still subject to moderation so that they are a safe space for both minors and adults alike.
Bulbapedia is not a battlefield
Everyone is expected to be civil, under the code of conduct. As such, it is unacceptable to intimidate or harass anyone else, even if a user disagrees with them. Under the same notion, edit warring is heavily discouraged. Conflicts shall be resolved with clear communication, not force.
Bulbapedia is not a crystal ball
Under the unreleased materials policy, Bulbapedia does not make predictions for the Pokémon franchise based on documents that may have been leaked over the years of the franchise's existence. Therefore, it does not cover future content that has not been officially acknowledged by entities that include, but are not limited to: The Pokémon Company, Nintendo, Creatures, Game Freak, or The Pokémon Company International.
Bulbapedia is not paper
Bulbapedia is a digital encyclopedia on Pokémon. Thus, it effectively has no size limits, can include links, can have its content updated by anyone and at any time, etc. There is also less need to exclude more arguable entries.
This does not mean that no part of Bulbapedia can be printed.
Bulbapedia is not a newspaper
Bulbapedia, the wiki, is not meant to be a primary source of news, Pokémon-related or otherwise. Bulbagarden does run a news website, aptly called Bulbanews, hosted on Bulbagarden's front page and formerly on its own subdomain of Bulbagarden, the latter of which has since been archived.
Bulbapedia is not censored
The Pokémon franchise, especially in its infancy, had content that may not have been offensive or controversial in Japan, but it would get censored internationally with the target audience in mind, such as EP035 being banned outside East Asia due to pervasive usage of firearms. As one of Bulbapedia's goals is to document the Pokémon franchise around the world, this also includes content that was not officially showcased outside Japan or East Asia, or even banned outside those regions. Making all content acceptable to all readers, including those with general social or religious norms, is incompatible with the purpose of an encyclopedia.
However, this does not mean any and all content is to be indiscriminately hosted on Bulbapedia. It is still expected that content adhere to Bulbapedia's policies and applicable laws, including but not limited to copyright laws.
Content that may be unsuitable for younger readers is typically marked with the {{PA}} template.
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