MasonicWiki:Secret Work

The Masonic Wiki is intended to document the public history, organizations, traditions, people, and activities of Freemasonry. It is not a repository for ritual, secret work, private disputes, or information that would be inappropriate for public Masonic scholarship.

This policy applies throughout the Masonic Wiki, including articles, talk pages, user pages, templates, categories, edit summaries, and uploaded files.

Material added to the Masonic Wiki should generally be suitable for inclusion in a publicly published book about Freemasonry.

Editors should consider whether the material would be appropriate to encounter in the works of recognized Masonic historians and scholars, such as Mackey, Pike, or other authors writing openly for a public audience. The fact that information can be found elsewhere on the Internet does not necessarily make it appropriate for inclusion on the Masonic Wiki. When there is reasonable doubt, the material should not be added.

Responsibility of Contributors

This policy applies equally to Masonic and non-Masonic contributors.

Every Mason is personally responsible for ensuring that their contributions comply with their obligations as a Mason and with the laws, regulations, customs, and requirements of their own Grand Lodge or other governing Masonic body. A Mason must not add any content that would violate, directly or indirectly, any obligation to which that Mason is bound. The Masonic Wiki cannot determine the obligations of every Mason or interpret the rules of every Masonic jurisdiction. Contributors are therefore expected to exercise their own judgment, caution, and discretion.

However, a person does not need to be bound by a Masonic obligation for their contribution to be inappropriate. Non-Masonic contributors must not add ritual text, modes of recognition, private Masonic records, invasive personal information, or material concerning private quarrels.

Masonic Practices

No text of any Masonic ritual may be added to the Masonic Wiki. Articles may discuss the history, development, authorship, publication, or general character of a ritual system, provided that no ritual text is reproduced.

Modes of recognition must not be added to the Masonic Wiki. This includes signs, grips, tokens, passwords, challenges and responses, tests of membership, methods of identifying a Mason or degree, instructions for giving or receiving recognition; or diagrams, photographs, descriptions, or coded references that reveal such information. In short: Editors must not provide information intended to help a person falsely claim Masonic membership, rank, office, or degree. Partial, indirect, abbreviated, or humorous disclosures are also prohibited when they effectively communicate a mode of recognition.

General descriptions of Masonic customs, ceremonies, degrees, and organizational practices may be included when they are already suitable for public discussion and can be presented without reproducing ritual or modes of recognition.

For example, an article may explain that a degree exists, the historical development of a degree; the public purpose or themes commonly associated with a degree, the organization responsible for conferring a degree, the general structure of a Masonic body, orthe history of a ritual tradition. Such descriptions should remain general, relevant, and encyclopedic.

Identified Masons and Biographical Information

The Masonic Wiki may include articles and references concerning identified Masons when the information is relevant to Masonic history or to the subject being discussed. Examples may include Grand Lodge officers, historically significant lodge members, notable Masonic authors and scholars, founders or leaders of Masonic organizations; and public figures whose Masonic membership is reliably documented and relevant.

Information about living persons should be limited to what is relevant, reliably sourced, and appropriate for a public encyclopedia.

A person's Masonic membership should not be stated as fact unless it is supported by a reliable source or has been publicly acknowledged by that person or an appropriate Masonic body.

Private Quarrels and Personal Disputes

The Masonic Wiki must not be used to publish, continue, document, or take sides in private quarrels. The Wiki is not a substitute for a lodge, Grand Lodge, Masonic trial process, grievance procedure, or private reconciliation between individuals.

Talk pages, user pages, edit summaries, and article histories must not be used to attack another Mason, settle a personal dispute, recruit support for a faction, or publish allegations that are not necessary to an encyclopedic article.

A disagreement may be discussed only when it is a significant matter of documented Masonic history and can be presented neutrally using reliable public sources.

Private Lodge and Grand Lodge Matters

Material from private lodge meetings, tiled communications, internal correspondence, disciplinary proceedings, membership investigations, or restricted administrative records should not be added unless it has been formally made public and is clearly appropriate for encyclopedic use.

Editors should not upload or reproduce private minutes, membership petitions, investigation reports, ballot information, disciplinary records, internal emails, unpublished membership lists, private lodge directories, confidential Grand Lodge communications, or information obtained through a position of Masonic trust. Even when such material has been leaked, improperly shared, or published elsewhere, it may remain inappropriate for inclusion.

Historical and Scholarly Sources

The Masonic Wiki may rely upon publicly available historical and scholarly works about Freemasonry.

Such sources may be used to discuss Masonic history, symbolism, philosophy, jurisprudence, architecture, and more. However, a source should not be quoted or reproduced in a way that violates this policy. A work being old, out of copyright, publicly accessible, or written by a prominent Mason does not create an exception for ritual text or modes of recognition.

External links and citations must not be used to circumvent this policy. A link may be removed when its primary purpose is to direct readers to content which violates this policy.

Ordinary citations to books, archives, libraries, museums, academic publications, and Masonic organizations are permitted when they support legitimate encyclopedic content.

Requesting Review

A contributor who is uncertain whether material is acceptable should ask an administrator before posting it.

The questionable material itself should not be reproduced on a public talk page as part of the request.

Where necessary, the matter may be reviewed privately.