Chalo Chatu:Policies and guidelines

This page in a nutshell: Chalo Chatu's policies and guidelines document the best practices accepted in the Chalo Chatu community. This policy explains how policies and guidelines should be developed and maintained.

Chalo Chatu's policies and guidelines are developed by the community to describe best practices, clarify principles, resolve conflicts, and advance our goal of creating a reliable encyclopedia documenting Zambia’s history and pride. There is no requirement to read every policy or guideline before editing — but they serve as the backbone of how we work.

Policies are standards that all users should normally follow. Guidelines are best practices for applying those standards in specific contexts. Both should always be applied using reason and common sense.

This policy describes community standards for the organisation, lifecycle, maintenance, and application of policies and guidelines.

Derivation

Chalo Chatu is operated by the not-for-profit Chalo Chatu Foundation, which reserves certain legal rights. See also: Role of Jason Mulikita. However, Chalo Chatu is primarily a self-governing project. Policies and guidelines reflect community consensus.

Role

Policies have wide acceptance among editors and describe standards that all users are expected to follow. Policies are listed at Chalo Chatu:List of policies and guidelines and Category:Chalo Chatu policies. A summary of core policies can be found at Chalo Chatu:List of policies.

Enforcement

Enforcement is community-driven. If an editor violates a policy or guideline, others may guide them back to accepted standards. In serious or repeated cases, administrator or steward intervention may be necessary.

Gross violations may result in:

• Formal warnings
• Reversion of content
• Blocks or bans (temporary or indefinite)
• Arbitration for sensitive or long-standing disputes

Going against policy without valid consensus is unlikely to be accepted.

Content

Policies and guidelines should:

• Be clear. Use plain, direct language. Avoid legalese or vague generalities.
• Be concise. Avoid verbosity. Focus on actionable content.
• Emphasise the spirit of the rule. Use common sense as the default rule.
• Maintain scope and avoid redundancy. Clarify purpose early and avoid duplication across pages.
• Avoid overlinking. Use links only where they aid clarity or support context.
• Avoid contradictions. If policies appear to conflict, resolve discrepancies through a single, centralised discussion.

Not part of the encyclopedia

Chalo Chatu’s editorial policies, process pages, and internal governance documents are not part of the main encyclopedia. As such, they are not subject to content policies like Chalo Chatu:Verifiability or Chalo Chatu:Neutral point of view.

Instead, they:

• Reflect internal consensus
• Prioritise clarity and function
• May link to or quote external sources, but are not bound by them

All policies must still comply with Chalo Chatu’s legal, behavioural, and non-content rules — e.g., copyright, civility, and anti-vandalism.

Naming

Policy and guideline page titles do not need to include the word "policy" or "guideline" unless necessary for disambiguation.