NBDb:Content Policy

The NBDb (short for Nonbinary Database) is a free database that can be easily read by both humans and machines. Content is presented in a structured way using Items, Properties and Statements, which means that all information entered in this project should be as short and concise as possible. For long-form explanations of a concept or an identity, please see the Nonbinary Wiki. This page documents the kind of content that is allowed on the NBDb.

Items and properties

NBDb's content is based on Items and Properties, located in the Item: and Property: namespaces, respectively. This means that the main namespace should not have any kind of content (other than the Main Page). If you think that an exception should be made, please discuss it with the community before creating it.

Items are a kind of page that contain structured data about something. All items have a label (the "title" of the page), a short description, and alternative ways of spelling or saying that word. Additionally, they contain a set of statements: structured information about the item. Items are also multilingual, meaning that all the statements, label, and description can be localised to any supported languages; this is why items use numeric identifiers (with a Q at the beginning). To understand it more clearly, see the item about the they/them pronouns; note that they/them is displayed as the page title, but the URL just contains Item:Q1 as the page title.

Item statements contain information about the item in the form of data values introduced by a property. For example, they/them can be used as a singular pronoun, so Singular is the value of the Grammatical number in the they/them item. Properties and items have a similar structure, since Properties can also have statements. Just like with items, Properties have unique IDs as their technical page titles (for example, Grammatical number is P4), but the way they are used is different. When you define a statement (in an item or in a property page), you choose a property (which needs to exist already) and then assign a value to it; different properties have different kinds of values they accept.

Allowed items

Items on the NBDb must be related in some way to nonbinary gender or nonbinary identities (understanding nonbinary in the widest of the definitions). This includes the following kinds of item:

• Gender identities, including traditionally binary identities. Unlike in the Nonbinary Wiki, there is no restriction based on how many people are known to use the term. However, a reference should be provided to verify that it is, indeed, an identity that has been used by at least a person and is not created to make fun of the nonbinary community. To provide a reference, simply use the add reference option when classifying the new item as an identity to attach the link.
• People who identify as nonbinary. The only requeriment for people to be added to the NBDb is that there is some kind of public proof that the person exists and that they are nonbinary.
• Pronoun sets relevant to nonbinary identities. For example, English pronouns are only allowed in third person, since first (I) and second (you) persons don't have any kind of grammatical gender. Pronouns in other languages are allowed, with the same restriction. Pronoun labels should not be localized (i.e. they/them should not be translated to the Spanish elle; a new item should be created instead).
• Titles relevant to nonbinary identities. The requeriments and policies are the same as with pronouns.

As a general rule, if you can find a proper value when adding the instance of statement (which all items should have), the item fits the scope of the project.

Property creation and deletion

Property creation is restricted to administrators, so if you need a property to be created don't be afraid of contacting one of the administrators requesting it. The administrator team will discuss it and proceed to the creation (or not). Properties should be as specific as possible, and they shouldn't be re-usable in different contexts. For example, Language and Spoken language are different properties because they refer to different concepts. Always keep in mind that the NBDb should be as easy to re-use by third-party software as possible, so the more specific a property is, the better.

However, there are some properties that can be used in multiple contexts. For example, Instance of is used on all Items, and Frequency is used in items about pronouns, titles, and identities. This is so because the value they accept is the same in both type and meaning.