The DragonVale Community is a very large, friendly, diverse, dispersed, and active forum community who do nothing but discuss all things about DragonVale. Their discussion is fuelled by a wide interest in DragonVale, and spiced with overwhelming goodwill, witty humour, profound grace and compassion and relentless taunting. They are an independent forum in no way affiliated with Backflip Studios, though Backflip Studios have an account on their forum board and do communicate with users with occasional regularity. The DragonVale Community forum was created by and is managed by DragonVale fanatics.
The DragonVale Breeding Sandbox answers "What do X + Y make?" and "How do I make Z?" questions within a simulated breeding environment. It recognizes short-term luck as the most important factor and rejects the idea of "magic combos," focusing instead on combos with shorter fail times to maximize breeding attempts over the long-term. Its continual evolution is a result of the help and support from the DragonVale Wiki, the DragonVale Community, and players from all over the world.
The r/dragonvale subreddit is a forum space where questions and topics about DragonVale can be posted and read. Scroll through the posts to see if unknown information is to be found. Find a post of desire and click on it to read additional comments and replies. The r/dragonvale subreddit is a fan-based community with no direct affiliation to Backflip Studios.
The Purpose
The purpose of being affiliated with other sites may vary, but some definitions and explanations of the word "affiliated" include:
Officially attach or connect (a subsidiary group or a person) to an organization. -Google
A partnership in a way where both sides benefit equally and work together to make each a better place (helping when needed, offering suggestions for how might one improve, etc).
Affiliated means having links to each other sites, and being in active communication with those in charge of each site, also working on projects together.
To be affiliated means, that each party is in an active partnership where communication is open and open minded.
Affiliation does not equal advertising. Advertising is part of being affiliated but affiliation is a lot more involved.
Affiliated doesn't have to be limited to wikis.
Affiliation would have to be a two-way street with both sides agreeing to be affiliated.
General Guidelines
The site should be informational to the topic and so both sites could benefit from each other. It should be a mutually symbiotic relationship between both the sites rather than one site becoming the "advertising media" for another.
The affiliated site should be deemed as well developed with the content on the site instead of only having a connection with the content to the DragonVale Wiki.
The site should be informational and allow the option to possibly help the wiki when needed.
Example: Help with some image rendering to give the highest quality for both sites.
The site should have a similar target audience, hold the same standards as the DragonVale Wiki.
Examples: Similar guidelines or opinions regarding user behavior/conduct and not sharing spoilers.
The site should should/could have an open and active communication with DragonVale Wiki.
The site needs to have these five traits (The 5 R's); Reliable, Responsible, Refined, Recognized, and Resourceful.
The site must be active. The site must either be updated frequently (ie, at least once a week) or must have an active forum community.
The site should not contain messages to ask users to download a file from the internet.
The site should not allow discussion and pictures of spoilers of content not released yet or hacked content.
If the site is good but the communication and "partnership" seems to only be one sided then it cannot be affiliated.
Communication should be welcoming, and does not have to be constant, but it would be preferred during large updates if possible.
The site must be appropriate for all languages and it is preferred that language is kept at a "PG" rating, but "PG-13" language may be considered if not used frequently.
Terms of Affiliation
Wiki-related discussions should stay on the wiki and should not be discussed on any other external sites.
Please note that if a site does not follow the guideline/ protocol of DragonVale Wiki's Affiliation Policy, it would be removed immediately from our site.
A message would be left on the user's wall or on the specific site notifying them that the affiliation has be removed.
If the site becomes active again and would like to resume affiliation, they may submit a request to be considered for affiliation again.
Possible Sites
Some kinds of sites which may be considered for affiliation with the DragonVale Wiki are:
Established websites about games with dragon breeding.
Non-encyclopedic sites or fan writing (Fanon Wiki's) will NOT be considered for affiliation.
These will not be added because these kinds of sites contain primarily subjective content rather than objective content.
Important:
Not all the sites would automatically become affiliated. It would only be affiliated once all/some criteria are met.
Affiliation Request
If you would like to be affiliated with DragonVale Wiki, please make sure that you have met DragonVale Wiki's affiliation guidelines.
After doing so, add your request to the Affiliation Request Forum thread located here.
No duplicates requests please. If the site has a forum, you can link to either the site or the forum, not both.
Please include the following details;
The website/Wiki you represent.
Any necessary contact information where messages can be left.
A short description describing the site. What makes it unique? No editorializing!
Example: Saying "This is the best website ever and I love it!" will result in the request being cancelled immediately, along with any similar short descriptions that does not address the question.
The reasons the site wants to be affiliated with DragonVale Wiki.
After the submission, it will be up for approval.
Any active staff member (Administrators and Wiki Moderators) will leave a post on the thread indicating that they are aware of the request.
At least one active member will then research the site to check if the site has met the Affiliation Guideline. This process would take at least three (3) days.
The user whom requested for a site affiliation would be notified with the final decision on his/her MessageWall and the forum will be updated with a decision.
Forum post will be removed once the request is considered solved.
If the site is accepted for affiliation the message will ask for an image to represent your wiki (such as a wordmark or logo).
If the site is NOT accepted, the next earliest date the site can send a request again is one week after the determination decision is posted.
Improper submission of a request will result in the site automatically receiving a decision of being NOT accepted, and they can send in a request one week after notification.
Determination Forums
The forum will be opened on the Affiliated Sites forum board.
The discussion/vetting will occur over the course of three days.
After three days if more than 50% of the active staff (administrators, wiki moderators, chat moderators, and rollbacks) participating in the forum agree to include the site, the site will be approved.
An active staff member will then follow the protocols outlined to inform the other site whether their site has been approved or not at this time.
Templates
Approval:
Thank you for submitting a request to have your site affiliated with the DragonVale Wiki.
After reviewing your request and your website the active staff members of the DragonVale Wiki have decided to accept your request as you have met the guidelines set forth in our Affiliation Policy.
We request that you upload a wordmark or logo you would like us to use to represent your wiki. It is preferred that the image is in PNG (png) format and is a rendered image.
We understand if you are unable to supply a rendered image, and we will go forth and render it for you if necessary.
If you have any questions we will try to help and answer them.
Disapproval
Thank you for submitting a request to have your site affiliated with the DragonVale Wiki.
After reviewing your request and your website the active staff members of the DragonVale Wiki have decided that at this time your site does not meet the guidelines set forth in our Affiliation Policy.
This does not mean that your site will never be approved, and you are welcome to request affiliation again in the future if you think your site meets our guideline at a future date.
Thank you for understanding, and if you have any questions we will try to help and answer them.
Some recommendations to help make your site meet the requirements are:
<List helpful recommendations here.>
Note:
Too many affiliated sites would become overwhelming. Affiliation should be a two-way partnership with open and active communication, where both parties are benefiting and helping each other when needed.