View source for ISFDB:Policy

=Privacy Policy=

See [[ISFDB:Privacy policy|Privacy Policy]].

=Conduct Policy=
{{Shortcut|shortcut=BLOCK|link=ISFDB:Policy#Blocking Policy}}
Policy intent: Anything that helps make the ISFDB a more useful and more reliable bibliographic tool is encouraged. Anything that hinders this process is discouraged.

Specific policy guidelines that will be used by ISFDB administrators:

#Spamming commercial information (gambling, porn, links, etc) will result in an immediate indefinite blocking of the user
#Blatant vandalism (blanking, obscenities, nonsense, etc):
#*1st offense: an immediate 24 hour block and a canned message posted on the user's Talk page ("chill and come back later")
#*2nd offense: a block for one week
#*3rd offense: an indefinite block
#Personal attacks that are not obscene:
#*1st offense - a canned warning on the user's Talk page
#*2nd offense - a 24 hour block
#*3rd offense - a week long block
#*4th offense - an indefinite block
#Behavior that is otherwise non-constructive or disruptive will be dealt with on a case by case basis. 

Note that these are general guidelines and ISFDB Administrators are not bound by them. Particularly egregious cases may be dealt with more promptly while repentant sinners may be given another chance.

[[User:Ahasuerus|Ahasuerus]] 12:36, 10 May 2006 (CDT)

= Appeals Policy =

Decisions made by moderators can be appealed on [[ISFDB:Moderator noticeboard]].

=Biography Policy=
{{Shortcut|shortcut=BIOPOL|link=ISFDB:Policy#Blocking Policy}}

ISFDB author records include a Note field. The field can be used to enter a short, neutral, factual biography, professional in tone. See [[Help:Contents/Purpose#Biographies]] for more on what is and is not appropriate. Author records can also be linked to third party Web pages which host author biographies (author-maintained pages, Wikipedia, etc), but note that they may not be stable.

=Contents/Project Scope Policy=
{{Shortcut|shortcut=SCOPE|link=ISFDB:Policy#Contents/Project Scope Policy}}
== Definitions ==

=== Speculative Fiction ===

Many of these have been linked to Wikipedia articles about the subject to give the reader a sense of what is covered by each particular genre. 

==== Inclusions ====

''[[Wikipedia:Speculative fiction|Speculative fiction]]'' is defined to include:
*[[Wikipedia:Science fiction|Science fiction]], including works:
**set in a future that is now in the past
**that deal with technological advances that were futuristic at the time they were published
*[[Wikipedia:Fantasy|Fantasy]] fiction
*[[Wikipedia:Alternate history|Alternative history]]
*[[Wikipedia:Utopian and dystopian fiction|Utopian and dystopian fiction]] as long as it is recognizably fiction and not a treatise
*[[Wikipedia:Fabulation|Fabulation]]
*[[Wikipedia:Magic realism|Magic realism]]
*[[Wikipedia:Slipstream (genre)|Slipstream]]
*Proto-science fiction, including but not limited to:
**[[Wikipedia:Lost World (genre)|Lost world tales]]
**Fantastic voyages
**[[Wikipedia:Scientific romance|Scientific romance]]
**Pre-historic romances
**Future war stories
**The older the book, the more likely we are to include it even if it is borderline eligible. This is caused by the fact that there were relatively few works published prior to 1800 and by the difficulties with distinguishing between speculative and non-speculative fiction (or even fiction and non-fiction) when you are dealing with pre-1800 works.
*The [[Wikipedia:supernatural|supernatural]] (with an inclusionist bias), including but not limited to:
**Supernatural [[Wikipedia:Horror fiction|horror]]
**[[Wikipedia:Ghost|Ghost]] stories
**[[Wikipedia:Gothic fiction|Gothic fiction]] with supernatural elements
**[[Wikipedia:Occult|Occult]] ''fiction''
* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_psychic_abilities Psychic and extrasensory abilities], including but not limited to clairvoyance, levitation, precognition, telekinesis, telepathy and teleportation, when presented as if they were real

==== Exclusions ====
''Speculative fiction'' is defined to exclude:
*[[Wikipedia:Techno-thriller|Techno-thriller]], [[Wikipedia:political thriller|political thriller]] and [[Wikipedia:satire|satire]] works set in a future indistinguishable from the present (?)
*[[Wikipedia:Fairy tales|Fairy tales]] with no known author (?)
*Animal books for very young children, i.e. books for preschoolers which depict simple scenes from animal life featuring anthropomorphized animals
*[[Wikipedia:Comic books|Comic books]], [[Wikipedia:manga|manga]], and [[Wikipedia:Graphic novel|graphic novels]]
*[[Wikipedia:Game|Games]], game guides and game paraphernalia -- but works of fiction based on games are included
*[[Wikipedia:Philosophical|Philosophical]] works of speculative nature unless written as a work of fiction (with an inclusionist bias)
*Purely [[Wikipedia:Psychological horror|psychological horror]] works that feature no supernatural or fantastical elements

=== Published ===

The ISFDB considers a work "published" if ''both'' of the following two conditions have been satisfied:
* The work was made available to people and/or organizations (e.g. libraries) ''outside'' of the publisher
* The work was made available for reading and not for reviewing or in-house editorial/technical tasks

This definition of "published" includes:

* limited editions
* book club editions
* editions restricted to subscribers, including Patreon/Kickstarter editions
* Advanced Reader Copies (under the name "e-ARCs" or any other similar name), but only if they were specifically produced for sale by the publisher

This definition of "published" excludes:

* Advanced Reader Copies (ARCs) except for rare cases where they were specifically produced for sale by the publisher

Note that not all works considered "published" are eligible for inclusion in the database. See [[ISFDB:Policy#Definitions_of_Speculative_Fiction]] and [[ISFDB:Policy#Rules_of_Acquisition]] for details. 

== Rules of Acquisition ==

=== Included ===

#Published works of speculative fiction, where "published" and "speculative fiction" are defined above:
#* paper books published by:
#** professional publishers
#** [[wikipedia:Small press|small presses]]
#** [[wikipedia:print on demand|print on demand]] (POD) publications
#** [[wikipedia:self-publishing|self]] or [[wikipedia:Vanity press|vanity publishers]]
#* paper periodicals of the following types:
#** professionally published magazines (prozines)
#** semi-professionally published magazines (semi-prozines)
#** paper-based [[wikipedia:fanzine|fanzine]]s
#** newspapers
#* electronic publications of the following types:
#** e-books with a unique identifier such as an ISBN, ASIN, EAN, or catalog number
#** downloadable e-zines
#** Internet-based publications which are downloadable as electronic files in any number of ebook formats (ePub, Mobi, PDF, etc).
#** Webzines, which are defined as online periodicals with distinct issues (note that online periodicals without distinct issues are not considered webzines).
#** One time speculative ''fiction'' anthologies published on the Web
#** Online publications available exclusively as a Web page, but only if:
#*** published by a market which makes the author eligible for SFWA membership (listed [https://www.sfwa.org/about/join-us/sfwa-membership-requirements/#pro here]), OR
#*** shortlisted for a major award
#* audio books, i.e. readings, but not dramatizations
# Unpublished works of speculative fiction which have been:
#* announced as forthcoming within the next 90 days
#* announced but never published (entered as "unpublished")
#* published only in translation (the original should be entered as "unpublished")
# Published non-fiction works ''about'' speculative fiction which can be plausibly linked to ''published'' (as defined above) speculative fiction. This rule allows the inclusion of secondary bibliographies, i.e. bibliographies of bibliographies, which are two steps removed from published speculative fiction. It also allows the inclusion of non-fiction works about shared cross-media universes like "Doctor Who" and "Star Wars", but only as long as there is a plausible connection to the universe's ''published'' component. Thus a book about "Star Trek physics" can be included (because it applies to all types of media including novels) while a book about Star Trek movie outtakes and bloopers should be excluded.
# Works (both fiction and non-fiction) which are not related to speculative fiction, but were produced by authors who have otherwise published works either of or about speculative fiction over a ''certain threshold'' (see below). This includes any non-genre works published as standalone books as well as non-genre short fiction, but excludes non-fiction which was not published as a standalone book. Thus, {{A|Poul Anderson}}'s mysteries and his non-fiction book about thermonuclear weapons will be included, but {{A|Gregory Benford}}'s professionally published scientific articles will be excluded.

=== Debatable ===

# Convention programs, guides, etc. We definitely want any convention-published "real books", but probably not the ephemera. What about the book length stuff that cons put out that doesn't have any fiction, but has a lot of related information?
# Academia-produced magazines. Can we realistically compete with, say, the [http://library.tamu.edu/cushing/sffrd/ SFRD]?

=== Excluded ===

#Unpublished works of speculative fiction unless they fall within one of the categories explicitly listed in the "Included" section
#Works published in a web-based publication and available exclusively as a Web page -- such as blogs, author-run sites, fan fiction, web serials, etc -- unless listed in the Included section
#Works that are not related to speculative fiction by authors who have not published works either ''of'' or ''about'' speculative fiction over a ''certain threshold''. This "certain threshold" is hard to define, but we need to draw the line in a way that would exclude Winston Churchill, who published at least one work of borderline speculative fiction. The goal here is to avoid cataloging ''everything'' ever published by {{A|altname=34338|James Fenimore Cooper}}, {{A|altname=1964|Robert Louis Stevenson}}, {{A|altname=1596|Honoré de Balzac}} and other popular authors. Instead, we want to catalog their speculative fiction works only.
#Works unrelated to speculative fiction that are found in primarily non-genre publication that will be cataloged based on other criteria, e.g. a Norton anthology of 19 century literature or a Playboy issue that include a single speculative story. This is done to avoid having to catalog huge amounts of non-SF data.
#Dissertations 

<small>(Originally compiled by [[User:Ahasuerus|Ahasuerus]] on 2006-05-04. Updated by [[User:Mhhutchins|MHHutchins]] on 2014-08-05, based on the current practice. Further updated by [[User:Mhhutchins|MHHutchins]] on 2014-10-08, based on a Rules & Standards discussion.) For a list of changes since 2016 see [[Rules and standards changelog]]. </small>

== What to Include ==
{{PublicationInfo:WhatToInclude}}

= Image linking policy =
See [[ISFDB:Image linking permissions]].
[[Category:ISFDB Help|{{SUBPAGENAME}}]]

= Moderator policy =

See [[Moderator Qualifications]]. Moderators who have been inactive for over 12 months lose moderator privileges.

=License=

The ISFDB is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license. See [[Creative Commons License]] for details.

=Data Deletion Policy=

Like other major bibliographic sites, the ISFDB doesn't delete publications/titles that are known to have been published.

To the extent that the ISFDB collects biographical data, only publicly available sources are used. This means, among other things:

* The ISFDB does not identify publicly undisclosed pseudonyms even if individual editors are aware of them
* The ISFDB does not record e-mail addresses if they are intentionally obscured or spam-protected

If a living author (or their authorized representative) requests that the ISFDB remove the author's detailed biographical information, the ISFDB will comply after confirming the requester's identity.  The ISFDB will remove as much biographical data as needed in order to accommodate legitimate privacy concerns while preserving, to the extent possible, the work of the editors who have compiled the data. A note will be added to the author's record explaining what type of information has been removed and why.