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Fanon is any story, biography or description of any Sim, family, neighborhood or feature which was not created by EA and/or Maxis and which does not appear in the games at the time of their release. Stories, biographies or descriptions of a player's changes to EA or Maxis-made Sims, families, neighborhoods or features are also classified as fanon for administrative purposes. The Sims Wiki has adopted special policies regarding creation of fanon, and has created a special Fanon Namespace, where fanon content shall be placed. The following rules apply to fanon content, and all users should familiarize themselves with the rules before creating any fanon.
Basic requirements[]
1. Wiki-wide policies apply: Fanon content must adhere to all other applicable Wiki policies, including rules regarding profanity and content quality.
2. Registration required to create fanon: Fanon may only be created by registered contributors: All fanon contributors must register an account with FANDOM (aka Wikia) and log into their account before creating fanon content.
- Unregistered users who create fanon content (that is of good enough quality to keep on the wiki) shall be contacted by an administrator and asked to register an account and claim their fanon creations, with {{Fanon-anon}} added to their creations. These users shall have at least 72 hours to do this; after that time, an administrator may delete fanon created by anonymous users, regardless of quality. Anonymous users who continue to create fanon content after administrator contact are subject to warnings and blocks, as well as content deletion.
3. Fanon pages are managed by their author(s): Fanon pages are to be managed by the person or people who created them. Fanon pages should not be edited without creator(s) consent, unless the edit is minor or serves to correct policy violations.
4. Fanon by indefinitely or long-term blocked users is deleted: Users who have been blocked indefinitely, or blocked for at least one year, will have their fanon deleted. If the user returns to the wiki after the block ends, they can request that the fanon be un-deleted.
5. Fanon about non-original content: Users may create fanon about Maxis/Electronic Arts creations, or about a third-party's creations (such as a YouTuber, game streamer, online blogger, etc.) as long as:
- A. The fanon exceeds the source material. Users must expand upon or reinterpret the original content with their own personal changes or additions. Fanon articles that merely document non-original creations in an encyclopedic fashion are not permitted.
- B. The original creator (or trademark holder) does not prohibit its adaptation. For instance, fanon works about trademarked characters are generally prohibited unless the trademark holder permits fan fiction based on their work. Fanon works about or based on Maxis/EA-made creations are presumed to be allowed, as long as those fanon works follow Rule 5.A above.
Fanon organization[]
6. Fanon must have the "Fanon:" prefix: All fanon pages must have the prefix "Fanon:", such as Fanon:<Name of Sim>. This prefix automatically adds fanon content into the Fanon Namespace.
- All fanon must be placed in the Fanon Namespace, to prevent confusion between fanon and actual game content (canon). Fanon pages created in the main namespace (i.e. lacking the 'Fanon:' prefix in the page name) or in another incorrect namespace will be moved to the correct namespace on the first and second incorrect placement, accompanied with an advisory notice or warning against placing Fanon in the wrong namespace. Starting with the third incorrect placement, all fanon placed in the wrong namespace will be deleted, and its creator may be subject to a block from editing.
7. Fanon must be marked with a property template: All fanon pages must have the {{Property}} or {{Property-multi}} template, depending on whether the page was written by a single author or by multiple authors, respectively.
8. Disambiguation: In cases where two or more authors create fanon works about the same subject, these authors should take steps to disambiguate their fanon works from the works of others. This is usually done by including the username of the author in parentheses at the end of the page title. Wiki administrators may rename fanon works as needed, and any editor may create disambiguation pages as needed to maintain unique page titles and overall fanon organization.
Quality standards[]
9. Fanon articles must be good quality and substantial: All fanon content should be substantial (i.e. more than "stub-length") to warrant its own page(s).
- Fanon that is not substantial, written poorly, or abandoned by its author, may be deleted after a reasonable period of time.
- Biography pages for fanon Sims need some purpose for their creation. Bio pages typically should not be created unless the Sim is involved in a story or unless the Sim is referenced elsewhere in a user's fiction.
10. Fanon may be marked for cleanup; fanon may be deleted if not cleaned up: A user may mark fanon content with a {{Fanon-cleanup}} template if the fanon page does not meet quality criteria; a user may also remove this template. If the article is not improved, it will be deleted. Users who are currently working on fanon pages but whose pages may not yet be up to quality criteria may mark their pages with a {{Fanon-uc}} template, notifying administrators that the page is being worked on. If the page is not improved within a reasonable time, a user may mark the page with the {{Fanon-cleanup}} template.
Policy history[]
The Fanon Policy took effect on 18 February 2011. Rule 5 was adopted based on this community discussion, which took effect on 7 May 2018. Rule 5 was amended to more closely reflect the consensus of the 2018 discussion, as discussed in this thread; this amendment occurred on 6 September 2023.
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