Encyclopedia Dramatica:ED Is Not

Policy This article defines official ED Policy. Shortcut: ED:NOT

Consult the ED style guide and you will be well on your way to success!

1. Basic Rules - very important read!
2. When is it crap?
3. Wiki-specific markup
4. Why not pipe?
5. Why not pie?
6. Good Joke:Word Count Ratio
7. Internet Relevance
8. ED vs. Wikipedia
9. ED Is Not
10. Templates
11. Strikethroughs
12. Image Selection Process
13. The Encyclopedia Dramatica Guide to Article Building

Everyone knows Encyclopedia Dramatica is awesome, but what is it not?

Many people read ED and treat it as if it were some half-assed operation like Wikipedia because of the similar interface. Here are some important distinctions.

ED is not Anarchy

Encyclopedia Dramatica does not believe in anarchy. We believe in documenting internet drama, which is itself chaotic. ED is also not a Democracy. It's actually a Dramacracy, at any given time it's governed by a parliamentary system of community veterans, so long as they remain trusted, otherwise ED will change hands. The ancestor of ED would probably be The Bible.

ED is Not a Phone Directory

Unless the subject of the article was ballsy enough to openly place their IRL address, phone numbers and other such information on the Internet without any attempts to hide it, we will not host said information on this site. If you want to release such information, please do it elsewhere.

ED is not Neutral

Many wikis, Wikipedia in particular, attempt to establish a neutral point of view, thus giving neutral, unbiased information. This is a mistake.

Other sites like Wackypedia naturally go to the opposite end of that spectrum to write random garbage and laugh at its own jokes. This kind of derivative work is also a mistake.

Encyclopedia Dramatica deals in Internet drama. Point of view is the only thing that matters here. We facilitate bias and encourage diverse writing styles, presenting them as the extra dimensions needed for fully imparting an unfiltered experience to the reader. ED believes in POV fidelity, for the purposes of drama calcification, underlining stupid behavior, and poking fun at stereotypes exaggerated to their extremes. Attempting to neutralize viewpoints is more often than not counter-productive, much like explaining this shit to you, and will get you banned.

ED is not Hitler's Uncyclopedia

If you are under the impression that the hallmark of a good article is to make up a bunch of random bullshit about niggers and kikes, you're on the wrong wiki and should probably head on over to here. Encyclopedia Dramatica exists to document internet goings-on. Uncyclopedia and its ilk exist to parody themselves, and to take up a lot of space doing essentially nothing. We are not a content-free encyclopedia. Our content is meaty and delicious.

ED is not Urban Dictionary

Same applies for above. This is not a website for you to define useless terms that describe nothing significant.

ED is not a Chan

So your stupid attempt at forcing a meme floats the front page for an afternoon before drifting to the last page and eventually getting bumped off the end. Cool story bro. Encyclopedia Dramatica is not 4chan, 7chan, 420chan or Jackie Chan. We may document chan memes and drama, but we are not an abortion graveyard. We are not an archive for every fad that briefly holds the attention span of easily derailed image boards and forums.

ED is not a Revenge Porn Website

Encyclopedia Dramatica does not care that you still have the nudes from your ex-girlfriend who cheated on you, or that you trolled some autist into sending you pictures of his bent duck. Posting nudes without permission will summon the wrath of the banhammer. However, if the person posted the images to the Internets themselves (for example: via public social media post, posted on porn sites, etc) that is a totally different story and the images are then allowed.

ED is not for Advertisement

Unless you happen to be involved in some sort of lulz/drama, ED does not care about you, your YouTube, LiveJournal, etc. This especially goes for owners of *chan boards. One example of an individual that thought he was able to get away with that faggotry can be found here. Everything here has to be somewhat notable, even on List of *chan boards.

ED is not Your Personal Army

While Encyclopedia Dramatica documents the efforts of various trolling organizations, we are not a trolling organization. We do not exist to come to your aid in your efforts to harass and humiliate retards on the internet. Dumping someone's dox and punctuating your shit article with /i/ cliches such as "you know what to do" will backfire. ED is not a magnifying glass for 13 year old boys to roast ants, it's a telescope to gaze deeply into and document the internet drama universe.

Once again (we know you are a little slow), unless the subject of the article was stupid enough to openly place their IRL address, phone numbers and other such information on the Internet, we will not host said information on this site (Even if they did post their dox for everyone on the Internet to see we probably won't host it here anyways). If you want to release such information, please do it elsewhere.