Forum:Proposal: Remove COD:AFP

The Armed Forces Policy has not been referred to for months, and I don't actually recall a time when anyone has been warned or blocked under COD:AFP. For those who don't know, AFP was written in response to a few users who ambiguously claimed to be in the military when they were actually not, and required users to specify if they were referring to a fictional character on their userpage if he was supposedly part of the armed forces.

I posted a comment on the policy's talk page, but with little response. In my opinion, the policy has no place on the wiki. It is no business of ours to prevent users from making such claims, and certainly not within any productive guidelines that users be blocked for doing so. There is no distinction between a user claiming to be a member of an armed force and any other profession. We clearly don't care if a user pretends to be a history teacher, weapon expert or COD fanatic.

Of all the policies we have, COD:AFP is the least relevant and has absolutely nothing to do with editing. Seriously, "Armed Forces Policy" sticks out as a nonsensical policy that does not address any issue or help the wiki in any way. --Scottie theNerd 11:24, August 10, 2010 (UTC)


 * I made it without a vote, I think I'll just remove it without a vote. 11:25, August 10, 2010 (UTC)
 * We can probably reach consensus very quickly. It's best we follow the correct procedure for the removal of a policy regardless of how it was formed. --Scottie theNerd 11:27, August 10, 2010 (UTC)


 * Oh, I deleted it. It doesn't serve any purpose here. Would you like me to undelete it so we can get it through a vote? Sorry. 11:30, August 10, 2010 (UTC)


 * I don't know how you expect me to respond to that. Whatever suits you, I guess. --Scottie theNerd 13:19, August 10, 2010 (UTC)


 * While you're at it, delete the COD:AFP redirect page. --Scottie theNerd 13:28, August 10, 2010 (UTC)
 * Should users be forced to show ID if other users request it? A Lonely Nomad 13:30, August 10, 2010 (UTC)


 * Anyways, I restored it, might as well get a consensus then delete it. 13:31, August 10, 2010 (UTC)


 * Are you intentionally turning this into a joke? --Scottie theNerd 13:36, August 10, 2010 (UTC)

I will now give input on the topic - yes, I do think this policy should be removed. It's not used, and as stated above does not really have anything to do with editing and does not help the wiki in any way, which policies are meant to do. A whole load of policies looks bad towards newer users who will assume this wiki is overwhelmed by rules. The main reason I decided to implement this policy was because back when it was made there was a big deal about users lying they were in the armed forces, and a policy was supposed to stop them arguing about it. It'd be good if this policy was taken out of service. 14:09, August 10, 2010 (UTC)
 * There are far better tools for dispute resolution than suddenly implementing a policy without anyone else's consent and then telling other users to follow it. 14:20, August 10, 2010 (UTC)
 * Technically it's not even a valid policy, as there was no input, consultation or discussion. In fact, I don't think many people even know about the existence of such a policy. One sysop -- not even a bureaucrat -- can spontaneously write up a policy and make it official without due process. While I'm interested in seeing more opinions, I believe that we can remove the policy on the grounds that it was never valid. --Scottie theNerd 14:24, August 10, 2010 (UTC)
 * That is exactly why I deleted it without a vote in the first place. 15:45, August 10, 2010 (UTC)


 * Umm,no.Just recently a user tried to say he was in the Military.CoD:AFP was there.So,no.MW2 Pickup SPAS12.png Rampantlion513 MW2 Pickup RPG.png Talk??MW2 Pickup Kriss.pngTAR-21 HUD 6.PNG 14:55, August 10, 2010 (UTC)
 * So what? I could claim that I'm the Pope. --Scottie theNerd 15:05, August 10, 2010 (UTC)


 * That's an invalid point. He might have been joking, or for all we know he might well be. People should be free to express what job they are in. Scottie claim's he's a teacher (and no one minds that), that's a profession, and so is being in the armed forces. There's no difference. 15:45, August 10, 2010 (UTC)

Despite whats been said here, it has been used. Not even a month ago CE CplDunn and I were disscussing a user claming to be in the Rangers, he was found lieing and never blocked, to my knowledge, there are other examples. Although there are easier ways to deal with it, I believe it should be removed, if it has not already been. Dolten  Lets Talk  15:47, August 10, 2010 (UTC)

Completely agree. Shotrocket6 16:02, August 10, 2010 (UTC)

This should be removed. The violations of this policy can be dealt with on a per case basis. In the United States, its already illegal to claim to be or have been in the Armed Forces, when you really aren't/haven't.  Rambo362   20:53, August 10, 2010 (UTC)
 * If the policy is removed, then it cannot be violated. There's no issue to deal with when users falsely claim to be in the military unless we intentionally go out of a way to find an issue. --Scottie theNerd 02:55, August 11, 2010 (UTC)


 * Personally, I see no advantages of having the policy. People should be able to claim what they will, but at the end of the day, this Wiki is about a computer game, not real life events. Being in the military has no sway here - the only policy of this nature that should exist should be an Infinity Ward Employee Policy (IWEP), if one does not already exist. That is the only thing that has any significance.  Toon Ganondorf  (t   c)  21:44, August 10, 2010 (UTC)
 * Agreed with you. Wiki is about video game, which is in virtual world, and armed forces are in real world. I see no policies about scientists on Combine OverWiki. AFP should be removed as part of Real-Life Project on wiki. 15:27, August 11, 2010 (UTC)
 * The Real-Life Project deals with content in articles, not policies. By your logic, we should get rid of community and user policies such as COD:UTP because they deal with real-life issues rather than in-game content. --Scottie theNerd 15:38, August 11, 2010 (UTC)

Support

 * 1) Coolest-handgun2.jpg TheManOfIron Coolhandgun2-right.jpg 23:55, August 10, 2010 (UTC)
 * 2)  Dolten 1164610-433px usmc logo svg large.png  Let's Talk  00:02, August 11, 2010 (UTC)
 * 3) --Scottie theNerd 02:51, August 11, 2010 (UTC)
 * 4) Shotrocket6 02:58, August 11, 2010 (UTC)
 * 5) Darkman 4 03:06, August 11, 2010 (UTC)
 * 6)  14:37, August 11, 2010 (UTC)
 * 7)  15:20, August 11, 2010 (UTC)

Neutral

 * 1) US Army OF-2.png Rambo362  US Army OF-2.png 19:48, August 11, 2010 (UTC)
 * 1) US Army OF-2.png Rambo362  US Army OF-2.png 19:48, August 11, 2010 (UTC)

Oppose

 * 1) Brothertim 15:51, August 11, 2010 (UTC)

ALL Comments
 Talk 18:55, August 11, 2010 (UTC)
 * @SiPlus: What's the big deal about lying? Is it that much of a problem on the wiki that we should make a policy to ban it? --Scottie theNerd 15:39, August 11, 2010 (UTC)

Dolten  Let's Talk  21:13, August 12, 2010 (UTC)