Tilcayo Cats:Family-friendly content

This page is a Tilcayo Cats policy. The Clowder and all of The Coalition follow it.Shortcut: TC:FAMILY See all policies and guidelines.

1. Why this policy exists

Tilcayo Cats is a family-friendly encyclopaedia. A child, a grandparent and a teacher should all be able to read any page without meeting anything upsetting, crude or unkind.

Think of Tilcayo Cats as a Disneyland for learning: bright, safe, welcoming and full of wonder. Our pages should be as clean and acceptable as a halal-friendly or kosher kitchen is for the families who rely on it. We use those words in their everyday meaning, "wholesome and acceptable to families of many faiths"; Tilcayo Cats does not claim any religious certification.

We are educational, never gratuitous. We can explain difficult parts of history, science and health, but only as much as a reader needs to understand them.

2. Who this policy applies to

Everyone: readers, editors, the Gattito cats, Ziggy the Elder cat, admins and the founder. It covers articles, talk pages, user pages, avatars, file names, edit summaries and messages.

3. What we do not allow

• Sexual content of any kind: pornography, pornographic films and performers, sex acts, sexual fetishes, erotic writing, sex work in detail, and perverse or sexually deviant topics.
• Graphic violence: gore, detailed injuries, torture methods, detailed crimes, "true crime" storytelling, and anything that makes violence exciting or glamorous.
• Harm to self: anything that encourages or explains self-harm, suicide methods, eating disorders or dangerous challenges.
• Recreational drug culture: how to get, make, take or hide drugs; dosages for getting high; street prices; slang guides; glamorising drug or drinking culture.
• Gambling promotion: betting tips, casino promotion, odds guides.
• Slurs and crude language: insults, slurs, swearing and crude jokes. The only exception is a short, necessary quotation in a historical or educational context, approved by an admin and marked with a note.
• Hate and mockery: anything that mocks or demeans people because of their religion or belief, ethnicity, nationality, sex, gender, sexual orientation, disability or special educational needs, age or appearance.
• Fringe and conspiracy promotion: conspiracy theories and pseudoscience presented as true.
• Personal information: addresses, phone numbers, schools or photos of private people, and anything that could help someone find or contact a child.
• Advertising and spam. This includes articles about companies that are still trading, or about products that are still in production or commercially available: there are none, apart from the founder's exception (see TC:N). Pages about defunct companies and discontinued products are fine, subject to the rest of this policy.

4. How we cover difficult subjects

4.1 History, war and crime

• Summarise, do not dramatise. Say what happened, when, why it matters and what we learned, in calm, plain words.
• No graphic detail, no step-by-step description of violence, no attention-seeking quotes from attackers, no casualty photos (Tilcayo Cats hosts no images anyway).
• Put the focus on victims, helpers, consequences and lessons, not on the people who did harm.
• Articles about individual criminals, terrorists or killers are not created on Tilcayo Cats, unless the founder decides a short, factual article is needed for education (section 6).

4.2 Alcohol, tobacco and drugs: health first

We describe these substances health-first. The article starts with what the best scientific and medical sources say about their effects and harms, then covers history, law and culture briefly and factually.

• Lead with the sourced scientific consensus. For example, for alcohol: the World Health Organization says alcohol "contains ethanol, a psychoactive and toxic substance that can cause dependence" and that "alcohol is an established carcinogen" (WHO fact sheet Alcohol, accessed 30 September 2026). WHO Europe says alcohol "is a toxic, psychoactive, and dependence-producing substance and has been classified as a Group 1 carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer", the highest risk group, and that "there is no safe amount that does not affect health" (WHO Europe, No level of alcohol consumption is safe for our health, 4 January 2023).
• Stay neutral. Health-first does not mean preaching. Say who says what ("According to the World Health Organization..."), use the strongest reliable sources (WHO, IARC, NHS, national health bodies, systematic reviews), and give the scientific consensus the weight it has. Do not add our own opinions, scare stories or moral judgements.
• Medicines (including those that can be misused) are described as medicines: what they treat, how doctors use them and their risks, never how to misuse them.
• No how-to, no glamour. No recipes for cocktails or drug use, no dosages for getting high, no brand promotion.
• Point to help. Articles on these subjects end with a short, standard "Getting help" box (for example, the NHS, FRANK on 0300 123 6600 for drugs in the UK, or Drinkaware).
• Food and drink articles (for example a regional dish that uses wine, or the history of brewing) are fine if they are factual and calm. Articles on alcohol brands, breweries, distilleries and bars are not created.

4.3 Health and the human body

Biology, puberty and reproduction may be explained at the level of a school science textbook, using correct terms, with no sexual detail. Where parents may want to guide younger children, add the note {{Talk with a grown-up}}.

4.4 Religion and belief

• All religions, and people with no religion, are treated with equal respect.
• Describe beliefs as the believers themselves describe them ("Christians believe...", "In Islam...", "Many Buddhists..."), and describe history using reliable historians.
• No mockery, no arguments about which faith is right, and no offensive images or cartoons of religious figures.
• Holy names, festivals and practices are written the way the community itself writes them.

4.5 LGBTQIA+ people

• LGBTQIA+ people are welcome on Tilcayo Cats, as readers, editors and subjects of articles.
• Write about LGBTQIA+ people, history and culture in the same calm, factual way as any other subject. Use the names and pronouns people use for themselves.
• "Family-friendly" never means leaving people out. It only means no sexual content, for anyone.
• No mockery, slurs or "debate" about whether people should exist or be accepted.

4.6 Disabled people and people with special educational needs

• Use plain, respectful language. Follow the wording disabled people and their organisations prefer; many people in the UK prefer "disabled people", while some prefer "person with a disability". Respect what an individual says about themselves.
• Never use disability words as insults. No mockery, no pity stories, no "overcoming" clichés.
• Write clearly: short sentences, plain words, and explain hard terms. This helps everyone, including readers with learning differences.

5. Controversial subjects

• By default, Tilcayo Cats does not cover controversial subjects. Examples are heavily contested current politics, disputed conflicts, abortion, and disputed religious or moral questions. The founder keeps the full list at Tilcayo Cats:Controversial topics.
• Only James Lawrie (founder) may create or approve articles on controversial subjects. They must follow this policy: calm, balanced, sourced, non-graphic and short.
• Public editors and cats must not create, expand or rewrite these articles. They may suggest one on a talk page.
• When a mention cannot be avoided (for example, a history article that has to name a war), do not make an internal link to a Tilcayo page on the subject. Instead use an external link to the Wikipedia article through the template {{Wikipedia only|Article title}}.
  • Use it only when it is really needed, at most once per subject per page.
  • The link is hidden and cannot be clicked for under-18 accounts and for logged-out readers. They see a neutral note such as "(further reading available to adult members)".
  • Adults see a small link marked as leaving Tilcayo Cats.
  • Every use is tracked in a hidden category so admins can review it.

6. The founder's role

The founder can approve exceptions to this policy (for example, a short historical quotation or a founder-written article on a controversial subject). Each exception is recorded on the talk page with the reason.

7. Enforcement

• The Gattito cats check new edits against this policy and flag problems. Ziggy handles harder cases.
• Humans (admins and the founder) make final decisions about removing content and blocking users.
• Content that breaks this policy is removed or rewritten straight away. Editors who repeatedly break it may be warned and then blocked.
• Anything suggesting a child is at risk goes straight to the founder and the safeguarding contact, and is never handled by bots alone.

8. Reporting

Everyone can press Report on any page. See Tilcayo Cats:Safety.

9. Related pages

TC:N (notability) · TC:AI (AI-written content) · TC:VOLE (voles) · Tilcayo Cats:Safety · Tilcayo Cats:Diversity and inclusion · Tilcayo Cats:Controversial topics