User:Wookipan/External links policy

Articles on the Team Fortress Wiki may include external links, links to websites outside the Wiki. External links are often placed at the very bottom of an article, either as their own section or in the list of references. However, external links are also used in the body of some articles, most notably linking to Wikipedia, Steam, and other independent sources.

External links must always lead to trustworthy websites; links that lead to suspicious websites of any kind will be removed without warning. If you find a link to a malicious site, you should remove it immediately and report it to the staff for further investigation.

Aside from a website being trustworthy, links also must not be "closed", where the source is locked behind account registration. For example, websites or platforms that require the visitor to register an account in order to view their contents. In short, sources must be available at all times to all users, with no additional effort.

There are a couple of exceptions:

• Links on user pages are generally exempt from the "closed" rule, but still must be trustworthy.
• Community event organizers that use Discord (or similar closed platforms) are instead encouraged to create a Steam Community group, and moderate through that.

Examples

Here are a few examples of sites which are acceptable/unacceptable external links

Website	Safe	Open	Notes
Wikipedia	Yes	Yes	Wikipedia's content is vetted by moderators, so it is a trustworthy, independent source.
Steam	Yes	Mostly	Steam store pages are provided by developers and are a good primary source of information. However, Steam comments are user-submitted and may not be factual, except when stated by a developer or moderator.
Reddit	Mostly	Mostly	Some Reddit communities are 18+, and Reddit content is not always thoroughly moderated. As comments are also user-submitted, they may not be factual, except when stated by an officially speaking moderator.
TF2Maps.net	Yes	Mostly	Similarly to Steam, TF2Maps is a good primary source for mapping development. However, some of the threads contain user comments and may not be factual, except when stated by the map creator.
The Wayback Machine	Mostly	Yes	The Internet Archive hosts a service which makes persistent copies of pages. This is a good way to keep content open, even when the original site disappears or is privatised. However, its safety depends on the safety of the original contents.
Discord	Mostly	No	Discord channels can be 18+, and are inaccessible without an invitation. Note that a picture of a Discord message is not acceptable because it cannot be verified.
Facebook	Yes	No	Facebook has a fairly stringent terms of use, so its contents are safe. However, content requires an account to view, and is thus not open.
Twitter	Mostly	Mostly	Twitter does host some 18+ content, and some of its contents may be closed, for example direct messages or private profiles. A copy of a private Twitter profile via the Wayback Machine would be considered open.
t3amf0rtress.com	No	N/A	Phishing websites which masquerade as real websites are unsafe, and should not be linked under any circumstances.
spam-promotion.com	Mostly no	N/A	Sites which are blatant advertisements are not acceptable links since they do not provide value and are often malicious.