Wikipedia:Wikibreak

This is a Wikiproject article about Wikipedians off-work. In other words, it is their period of rest or break from Wikiwork. For festivals and holidays observed, celebrated, and commemorated in Wikipedia by the Wikipedian community, see Wikipedia:Wikipedia holidays. For a how-to guide on the usage of line breaks, see Wikipedia:Line break handling.

A wikibreak, wikiholiday, wikivacation or leave of wiki-absence is a period when even a wikiholic must be parted from Wikipedia—though, presumably only temporarily.

Concept

The pain involved varies from Wikipedian to Wikipedian. Some find it easy to endure, whereas others find the separation agonizing. Often the latter find themselves grasping at any opportunity to go online "just to check what's happening".

The degree of coercion also varies. Some remarkable individuals are actually capable of taking a voluntary wikiholiday: they are to be admired for their strength of character. Some people have to enforce their departure for their own good. Others still are forced into it through circumstances beyond their control: it is often at such times that Wikiholics discover their condition.

When to depart

• You are going to go traveling.
• You are a student and you have exams or other pressing schoolwork.
• You feel exhausted by your regional weather.
• You are neglecting your work and job.
• You have a new video game to obsess over for the next few days.
• You find yourself repeatedly assuming bad faith.
• You are stressed to the point that it affects your editing.
• You have a new girlfriend or boyfriend.
• Your girlfriend or boyfriend cheated on you.
• Conversely, your girlfriend or boyfriend breaks up with you.
• You have to look for a job.
• You have been making false edits, not verifiable or under copyright protections, including the GFDL and Fair Use licenses.
• You have to move.
• You have neglected to pay your Internet bill and are without Internet access.
• You are sick.
• Your Wikistress is making it hard to work.
• You need time to relax and think, so that when you do return to Wikipedia, you'll hopefully be refreshed.
• Your time on Wikipedia is having a drastic effect on your life outside of Wikipedia.
• Your computer broke.
• It takes you several hours to make and perfect a single edit, because you're worried your edit will be corrected by someone else.
• You find yourself checking your watchlist compulsively throughout the day to defend your edits against vandals and other ne'er-do-wells.
• You find yourself wanting to make edits, but can't!
• You're giving up editing Wikipedia for Lent or a similar religious observance.
• You have been grounded by your parents or partner from using the computer.
• You've been blocked indefinitely from editing Wikipedia, per ruling of administrators, Jimbo Wales and/or the Arbitration Committee. See block log.
• You are addicted
• You become disillusioned with the project.

• You have died (wikibreak optional here)

When to come back

• You came back from travelling.
• You have either been unblocked or your block has expired.
• Your spouse asks you to buy a new car. Just buy it and come straight back.
• Your exams are over.
• You find out your girlfriend or boyfriend is a Wikipedian, too.
• You're finished moving.
• You've recovered from your sickness.
• You rise from the dead. (religious beliefs are a factor here)
• You've let go of all your Wikistress.
• You're tired of taking a Wikibreak.
• You've done all the "relaxing" you can do.
• You are cured from being a wikiaddict. (It may never happen and most probably you will never recover)

The wikibreak templates

When taking a wikibreak, it is a good idea to inform your wikifriends that you are not active and indicate when you might be back. You can use the wikibreak template for this purpose. Let's say Example wants to go on wikibreak until Christmas. He would then place this text on the top of his user and/or talk pages:

{{wikibreak|[[User:Example|Example]]| on December 25}}

He would get this:

For a longer break, he could also use {{Long Wikibreak}}, writing

{{Long Wikibreak|[[User:Example|Example]]| next summer, God willing and the creek don't rise.}}

which renders thus: Template:Long Wikibreak

The other wikibreak template

When taking a wikibreak, it is a good idea to inform your wikifriends that you are not active and indicate when you might be back. However, not all wikipedians have the self-discipline to keep away for various reasons, so this template was created for those who feel like taking a wikibreak, but at the same time will return to make small edits every once in a while. Let's say Example wants to go on wikibreak until Christmas. He would then place this text on the top of his user and/or talk pages:

{{Attempting_wikibreak|[[User:Example|Example]]| on December 25|I}}

He would get this: Template:Attempting wikibreak

The Busy Template

An alternative for those weaning themselves more slowly from Wikipedia is the 'Busy' template, which is designed for those who are being overtaken by "real" life (if you have one) work. Wikipediholics can use this template to assuage the guilt associated with long breaks from the Wiki. If Example were using this template, he would place the following text at the top of his user page:

{{busy|[[User:Example|Example]]}}

or

{{busy|~~~}}

and they will get this:

The School template

When school beckons, or any other school for that matter, use

{{Attempting school wikibreak}} 

to get: Template:Attempting school wikibreak

The Busy on Weekdays because of School Template

School can make weekday activity impossible, or, at the very least, quite difficult. To let people know that your activity on weekdays may be somewhat restricted, add

{{Busyweekdays}} 

to your userpage, which will bring this about:

The Off and On WikiBreak Template

There are times when one is having trouble being able to consistently make contributions for some reason. If you are inconsistently able to make edits, add

{{Off and On WikiBreak}} 

to your userpage, which will bring this about:

The College template

A template for those college students smart enough to make studying a priority. Type

{{College wikibreak}} 

and you'll see: Template:College wikibreak

Also, you can use

{{College wikibreak|date}} 

to specify the date that your school finishes. That will produce: Template:College wikibreak

The Exams template

Another template for those who have exams coming up soon, to add it just add the following text at the top of your user page:

{{exams}}

and you will get this:

Alternatively, you can use

{{exams|date}} 

to specify the date that your exams finish. That will yield:

The Semi-wikibreak Exams Template

{{Semi-Exams}}

The sick/ill template

For those of us who are sick or ill and would thus be partially inactive, Wikipedians can use this template to indicate this.

{{user health inactive}}

and the user will see this:

The fractured wrist template

For those of us who have a broken wrist and would thus be partially inactive, Wikipedians can use this template to indicate this.

{{user broken wrist}}

and the user will see this:

Vacation templates

{{holiday}} 

produces

{{vacation}} 

produces

{{vacation2}} 

produces

{{vacation3}} 

produces

{{vacation3|[[User:Example|Example]]|start=[[7 July]], [[2008]]|end=[[23 July]], [[2008]]}}

Produces:

The No-Internet Access template

{{No-Internet}} 

produces

The Internet Upgrade template

{{Upgrade|Example}} produces Template:Upgrade

Usage:

{{Upgrade|Your username here}}

The Got Grounded Template

This template is dedicated to students who got grounded by their parents due to their excessive use of the computer, and ultimately, Wikipedia.

{{Grounded|[[User:USERNAME GOES HERE|USERNAME]]}}

produces Template:Grounded

* In this case, the user is named "example".

Retirement template

We hope this never happens, but sometimes good things must come to an end. If you are retiring from Wikipedia you can use the Retirement template:

{{retirement|[[User:Example|Example]]}}

and it will produce:

Example

This user is no longer active on Wikipedia.

If you simply say:

{{retirement}}

it will automatically say your user name

Retired

This user is no longer active on Wikipedia.

In this case, it takes the name of this page which is Wikibreak.

Alternately, if you say:

{{User EX-WP}}

This box will be produced:

This editor has decided to leave Wikipedia.

If you want an animated/looping image:

[[Image:Miranda-retired.gif]]

This message will be produced:

Bonked/Fatigued templates

{{bonked}} 

produces this:

Indefinite inactivity

{{Personalissues}} produces:

Personal Issues

As well as the above personal issues template, if you are coming back, you can display: {{Personalissuesunspecified}} which is Template:Personalissuesunspecified

Ditched by Girlfirnd /Boyfriend

When your girlfriend or boyfriend cheated on you. Because you were not able to spend qualitative time with them because you were too much involved in editing Wikipedia {{Template:Ditched}} Template:Ditched

Semi-wikibreak

A semi-wikibreak is a Wikibreak taken by Wikipedians who are not fully on a wikibreak, but are not fully editing. There are many possible reasons for a semi-wikibreak; including, for example:

• busy at work or school
• new puppy isn't housebroken yet
• slow internet connection
• boyfriend or girlfriend needs more attention
• Super Bowl season
• sharing computer with others
• ran out of coffee

Use Template:Semi-wikibreak:

Got Bullied

When you recently got bullied/wedgied: {{Bullied}} Template:Bullied

See also

• meta:Wikibreak
• Wikibreak enforcer