[WikiEN-l] Page delete request.

Sun Apr 24 17:49:32 UTC 2005

On Sun, Apr 24, 2005 at 04:03:25PM +0100, John Bradley wrote:
> Free will and being able to control you sub conscious and it's needs are not 
> the same thing at all.
> 
> The idea of lowering myself to the level of the average wikipedian is not 
> appealing. That most of them don't appear to be hear for Wikipedias stated 
> aims but for some other aims. I do not wish to join the "Wikipedia 
> community", I wish to help produce an encyclopedia, and seeing as one of 
> the most annoying features of wikipedians is their tendrncy to claim to 
> speak for everyone in the community when try to brow beat. I have no 
> intention of bolstering  the numbers they can claim to command/speak for.
> 

If someone claims to speak for "the Wikipedia community", that is that
person's failing, not yours.  Clearly, nobody speaks for every single
individual person that makes up the "community".  You are, however,
already effectively a member of that "community" by virtue of the fact
that you make edits to articles in Wikipedia and complain on the mailing
list about perceived slights.  It looks like whatever your problem is
with interacting with other people, you've failed in avoiding it.

You'll capture more flies with honey than vinegar.  If you simply A)
politely bring your complaint to the attention of the person whose
behavior you dislike and B) assume good faith for first assessments of
the reasons for behavior, you'll get a lot farther toward getting "your
way", and will get there much faster.  You should realize, though, that
this doesn't mean that everyone in the world will automatically adopt
your wishes as his or her life purpose.  Sometimes, people do things
entirely for their own reasons and are unwilling to change that behavior
just because someone else dislikes it.  Sometimes, you'll just have to
accept the fact that other people have as much a right to control their
own lives as you do yours.

I haven't read the page(s) in question, but from what I've seen here in
the mailing list it looks like someone's just keeping track of the edits
of certain Wikipedians (defined here as "those who are repeat-editors
with identifiable identities") for no malicious purpose.  Despite that,
it seems, you object.  Considering that your actions in editing
Wikipedia are public, it's difficult for me to sympathize with your
desire to have someone chastised and to impose your will on someone
else's behavior such that he or she can no longer view public actions in
the manner of his or her choosing.  In particular, your simple
unwillingness to ASK POLITELY that the person in question simply desist
really boggles my mind.  Perhaps you never got the cooperation lecture
from your parents/guardians when growing up.

Granted, I could be misreading this entire set of circumstances based on
my limited exposure to it.

> The idea of losing my integrity and taking part in a ritual is unpleasant, and 
> as far as I can tell that's what this is.
> 

What does being willing to try to work out differences rather than being
an obstinate, stubborn problem child have to do with losing integrity?

--
Chad Perrin
[ CCD CopyWrite | http://ccd.apotheon.org ]