Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-24739709-20151217190208/@comment-452-20151220135738

Wikia Staff have a history of not honouring permission given in the past, so linking to this thread in the future will be of little use.

A few years ago, I was given explicit permission in a support request to add links to the "On the Wiki" tab.

A while later, another member of Wikia Staff came along and removed them, accusing me of violating the customization policy. I explained that I had previously been given permission, therefore I never violated the customization policy, but they did not care that I had been given permission. (They even cited a 2011 comment as to why the 2012 permission did not count!)

Apparently because the policy had changed since then, I retro-actively violated the customization policy when I added the links with permission.

Of course, Wikia can change their policies, and say "The policy has changed and this is no longer allowed", but that is not what happened. As far as they were concerned, the fact that the links existed means I violated the customization policy, regardless of permission given in the past.
 * Example: If I had previously parked my car in a signed parking spot, is it okay for someone to change the sign to a "no parking" sign and give me a ticket for parking there last week?

So, they don't need to remove this thread. All it will take is for another member of Wikia Staff to decide that it's not allowed.

Speedit wrote: The staff aren't really like lawyers, they're a support team. Which is exactly why this thread does not override the TOU. The TOU is written by Wikia's lawyers, why would something written by the support team override that?

87.115.122.110 wrote:

This is true, but that is one customisation that is allowed - see RuneScape wiki. I've tried citing other wikis, including the RuneScape wiki, as examples, and they were very rude to me in return, telling me ... I've gotta look this one up, ah, here it is:
 * "You are also policing other communities’ actions, which is not helpful nor in the spirit of community at Wikia."

So apparently saying "Well, if RuneScape can do it, so why can't I?" is "policing". I've learnt over the years that some Wikis - such as RuneScape, Aion, and Starwars - are shown favouritism and are not treated the same as other wikis. When these wikis violate the customization policy or TOU, it is either ignored, or quietly removed without mentioning the violation.