User:Defiant Elements/YAV

This is in preparation for a revamp of YAV (feel free to contribute your thoughts on the talk page)

What YAV means

 * All (good faith) user contributions are valuable regardless of:
 * The user's status (Admin, anon, etc.).
 * The user's number of edits.
 * When the user joined.
 * As such, users are encouraged to be bold.
 * Users should not deprecate themselves on the basis of their status, etc.

What YAV does not mean

 * YAV cannot inherently make a user valuable, either a user is valuable or not (however, the aforementioned criteria should not be taken into consideration when determining a user's value).
 * YAV doesn't mean that a user's history of contributions will not be taken into consideration.
 * While all arguments should be considered independent of the author, not all arguments have (or should have) equal clout.
 * Disagreements are not violations of YAV.
 * Similarly, users should not poison the well by insinuating that another user's argument is in violation of YAV.

Revised Version (1st Draft)
All users, regardless of their number of contributions, the date they joined the Wiki, and their status (admin, user, or anon) should be treated equitably. That is to say, all good faith contributions are valued equally and each editor has just as much of a right to question, suggest, and even change GuildWiki as everyone else. Indeed, all users are encouraged to be bold. It is unnecessary (and even offensive) to deprecate yourself, your opinions, or your contributions by saying, "But I only have # edits, so don't mind my opinion too much," or, "I'm just a newbie, so this admin's opinion is more valuable." Wrong!

Of course, no policy can intrinsically bestow value upon a user; either a user is valuable or not as established by their history of contributions, but we assume good faith regardless of the criteria listed above. Along the same lines, although all points of view should be considered independently from the author, not all arguments have (or should have) equal clout, and it is your responsibility to avoid poisoning the well by insinuating that another user's point of view is in violation of YAV.

Finally, remember to respect our traditions and guiding principles, just like everybody else. But don’t worry; you’ll be forgiven your mistakes just like anybody else would be.