[WikiEN-l] "refactoring" signatures

Mon Jun 5 17:41:04 UTC 2006

Phil Boswell wrote:
> Steve Summit wrote:
>> So when you delete or alter it, it's a direct personal affront,
>> a slap in the face, the equivalent of an  ad hominem argument.
>> They react angrily, and this should come as no surprise.
>
> So send them off to read WP:OWN and WP:NOT...
> Anybody who complains about anything they add to Wikipedia just about
> anywhere other than their own user-page being edited mercilessly needs to be
> handed a bunch of clues.
>
> If that does not work, a few sharp taps with a cluebat should help,
> and if they still insist on their "right" to scrawl graffiti across the
> encyclopedia, then maybe they should take time out to sit on the naughty
> chair and think about their activities. If it works for naughty children,
> it should work for them.

Go read "A Group Is Its Own Worst Enemy".

Do you handle every aspect of your children's education with
cluebats, paddles, and naughty chairs?  I pity your children.

On some issues, the advance warning about merciless editing is
fine and adequate.  On some issues, the retroactive cluebat
thwack is fine and adequate.  But not for all issues --
sometimes, it's just too, too contrary to people's perfectly
reasonable expectations.

The point is that some conflicts -- the interesting ones, really
-- can *not* simply be resolved by fiat, by writing down an
arbitrary policy somewhere which a given person may or may not
have read, and by castigating anyone who has not read or accepted
the policy as a child or an idiot.

(It's a lot like the antics of the [[BOFH]], beloved in sysadmin
circles and bemoaned by actual users.  Come to think of it, the
BOFH likes cluebats, too.)

Human nature is what it is and cannot be swept aside or redefined.
For some of these conflicts, a more diplomatic approach is
necessary, and if we've noticed that the "traditional" solutions
haven't worked, and if we still want to resolve them, we might
have to take a step back, question some of our assumptions, and
try a different approach.