User:SparqMan/temp/canonpolicy

(Important: This is currently only a draft policy. Please feel free to expand upon this article, and also to discuss the issue on Wookieepedia talk:Canon Policy.)

The goal of Wookieepedia is to be a reliable, concise guide to all readers. To this end, it is necessary for us to restrict to some extent the type of information we accept. Wookieepedia follows the canonical hierarchy established by Lucas Licensing in 2000. While some non-canon material may be covered on Wookieepedia, it should be clearly marked as such.

Canon resources
The following outlines resources that canon, those that are non-canon and those of unclear canon status. A discussion of how canon resources "rank" follows.

What is considered a valid resource?

 * All Star Wars films
 * All Databank entries
 * All episodes of ''Star Wars: Clone Wars'
 * All live action Star Wars specials
 * All Marvel and most Dark Horse (see below) comics
 * All West End Games and Wizards of the Coast roleplaying books
 * All novels published by Bantam Spectra, Del Rey and DK Publishing
 * All Topps, Decipher, Inc. and Wizards of the Coast cards
 * All LucasArts video and computer games, and related manuals
 * All issues of Star Wars Gamer, Star Wars Insider and Lucasfilm Magazine

What is not considered a valid resource?

 * Anything published under the Infinities label
 * Fan-made blueprints and specifications
 * Fan fiction of any kind
 * Conjecture based our own universe
 * Websites, unless information is clearly stated as sourced from a valid reference.

What is unclear?

 * Dark Horse Comics Tales #1 - #20
 * Unlicensed game magazines

Conflicting canon
When two canon sources conflict, one must consider the two sources and compare their origin.


 * 1) The films and the word of George Lucas are final. They are incontrovertable. When comparing different versions of the films, the most recent are considered the highest canon, and their edits considered Lucas' original intent and final vision. Production notes are considered to be part of the films.
 * 2) Content published on Starwars.com, including the Databank, brings any information to a near-film status of acceptability.
 * 3) Expanded Universe information and characters not included in the films, including reference books. This also includes the stories presented in games, but not the actual on-screen gameplay or stats.

In some cases, a source may be contradicted into complete non-canon. In others, only part will be contradicted by a higher source, while the rest remains canon. As long as a piece of information comes from a canon source and is not contradicted by a higher source, it is accepted as canon. For example, an EU novel may introduced a starship, but not detail its weaponry. Later, a WOTC RPG supplement may provide game statistics for the starship previously introduced, including its weaponry. So long as the weaponry detailed in the WOTC source are not contradicted by an existing source, they are considered canon. You must be vigilant, however, as Star Wars authors are prone to reintroducing obscure references from the EU, and the WOTC statistics may eventually be overridden.

Deleting invalid articles
If you believe an article contains nothing but non-canon information, or is sourced solely from non-valid resources, they should be listed on Votes for deletion. They may be deleted two days after they have been listed. In this time, other users may defend the article's validity.

If an article is concerning a canon subject but contains information from a non-valid resource, the issue should be debated on the article's individual talk page, and the article should be edited as appropriate.

Except in cases of vandalism, obscenity, and other nonsense, you should not edit the article and simply delete the text.