Wikipedia:Drop the stick and back slowly away from the horse carcass
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This essay contains the advice or opinions of one or more Wikipedia contributors. Essays may represent widespread norms or minority viewpoints. Consider these views with discretion. Essays are not Wikipedia policies. |
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This page in a nutshell: If you are the only person left beating the horse after it has died, consider the possibility that you should stop. |
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There comes a point in every debate where the debate itself has come to a natural end. You may have won the debate, you may have lost the debate, or you may have found yourself in a draw. At this point you should drop the stick and back slowly away from the horse carcass.
If a debate, discussion, or general exchange of views has come to a natural end through one party having "won" or (more likely) the community having lost interest in the entire thing, then no matter which side you were on, you should walk away.
If you don't, if you continue to flog the poor old debate, if you try to reopen it, if you continually refer to old news, if you parade your triumph in the faces of others... you're not really winning friends and influencing people. Instead, you are annoying the hell out of everyone nearby.
- If you have "won" – good for you. Now go about your business; don't keep reminding us of the fact that your "opponent" didn't "win".
- If you have "lost" – sorry, hard luck. Now go about your business; don't keep reminding us of the fact that your "opponent" didn't actually "win" because of... whatever.
- If the debate died a natural death – let it remain dead. It is over, let it go. Nobody cared except you. Hard to stomach, but you're going to have to live with it.
So, the next time you find yourself standing over the body of a horse: please don't beat it. It won't help.
[edit] See also
- Dead Parrot sketch
- Don't be a dick
- Wikipedia:Let it go
- Wikipedia:Get over it
- Wikipedia:Just drop it
- Wikipedia:Time to take the dog for a walk
- Wikipedia:Don't edit war over the colour of templates
- Wikipedia:Don't spite your face
- Wikipedia:Use common sense
- Wikipedia:Do not disrupt Wikipedia to illustrate a point
- Wikipedia:No climbing the Reichstag dressed as Spider-Man
- Wikipedia:How many legs does a horse have?
- Wikipedia:The Last Word
- Wikipedia:Catch Once and Leave
- Wikipedia:Don't bludgeon the process
- Wikipedia:You don't own Wikipedia, on the drama created when power users discover this fact
