User:Eastlaw/Don't get in over your head
 | Disclaimer: I wrote this essay when I was in a really bad mood. It is quite sarcastic and bitter in tone, and as such, should be taken with a grain of salt. Furthermore, I cannot and will not be held accountable for any problems which may befall any Wikipedia user as a result of following, or failing to follow, the advice rendered herein. Consider yourself duly warned. |
 | This is an essay. It contains the advice or opinions of one or more Wikipedia contributors. This page is not an encyclopedia article, nor is it one of Wikipedia's policies or guidelines, as it has not been thoroughly vetted by the community. Some essays represent widespread norms; others only represent minority viewpoints. |
Having been here for a little over two years, I think I've figured out a few ways to survive the constant POV pushing, incivility, aggressive deletionists who want to wipe out everything they've never heard of, spammers and self-promotionists who are pushing their penis pills or shitty MySpace bands, the ever present legion of vandals who contribute only chaos to the project, and of course the various cabals which supposedly don't exist and are merely a figment of our collective imagination.
The basic strategy is this: Don't get in over your head.
Essentially, what this means is: don't allow yourself to get sucked into any sort of "online drama" here. Wikipedia is supposed to be an encyclopedia, not a social club or internet forum. Don't get so caught up in the idea of "online community" that you forget what the original purpose of this site is meant to be, regardless of the wildly-varying quality of its articles. Keep your head down, don't make waves, and don't cause trouble.
How to avoid getting in over your head[edit]
- Have a life outside of Wikipedia, both online and in the physical world. Don't become one of those people who is so glued to Wikipedia that it becomes the focal point of all existence.
- In general, don't interact with other users any more than necessary. Sure, there are plenty of very pleasant, intelligent, productive people who edit Wikipedia. But that doesn't make them your friends. You can feel free to join one or two WikiProjects that suit your interests or expertise, but limit your participation to actual contributions to articles, rather than chit-chat on talk pages or IRC. Be polite and civil when you do deal with other users (especially admins), but the less you say to other Wikipedians, the better.
- If you like to create new articles, do the following:
- Do your research beforehand, and list your sources and/or links right there in the article. Even if you can't (or won't) use official citation format, at least demonstrate where you got the material from.
- Write a rough draft of your article either offline or in User space, so that way, if it does get deleted or horribly vandalized, you will have the original copy to work with.
- Try to find topics which have not been covered in any meaningful way, and write about them. Try to avoid writing about really controversial issues, no matter how tempting they may seem. It has been my experience that those topics which are primarily of interest to academics, professionals, and "serious" hobbyists are usually (but not always) the best for this purpose.
- If and when you must edit articles on controversial subjects, the adage "be bold" must be taken with a grain of salt. Don't make any drastic changes to the article, even if you see a really glaring error. Do some light copy editing or something, but limit yourself. If you do spot a factual error on a page known for edit warring or similar behavior, don't worry about it, unless you can tell that it is obviously vandalism. Otherwise, force yourself to ignore it--because it isn't your problem.
- Understand that your opinion isn't the only valid one. The guy with whom you disagree may know a few things you don't. NPOV is a noble-minded, yet very difficult rule to follow. Try to be as objective as possible, even if you think the people around you are a bunch of loons.
- Remember that voting is evil. Vote in deletion discussions as infrequently as possible. More importantly, stay the hell away from adminship discussions unless you know the editor being voted on and can offer a glowing, unconditional endorsement.
- Most importantly, avoid the temptation to oppose someone on an adminship vote, no matter how much you dislike or distrust them. Your vote won't matter; more than likely the editor will become an admin anyway. And once that person becomes an admin, he will remember your opposition, and have a perfect reason to exact online revenge on you (by blocking, banning, talk page warnings, etc.)
- Last but not least--when faced with a "fight-or-flight" situation, choose to flee rather than fight. Yeah, I know it sounds cowardly, but it actually works to your advantage. If you choose to stand your ground and argue your position, sooner or later you will get blocked or even banned. There are a number of formal dispute resolution methods on Wikipedia, and I can virtually guarantee that none of them will give you the outcome you seek. (Oh yeah, and be sure to avoid those discussions like the plague.)
- Accept the fact that the hive-mind is more powerful than you are, and that much of the time, things will not go your way, and that there is nothing you can do about it.
- It isn't worth being blocked or banned just to make a point. You will lose much more than you will gain. You will feel stupid, all your changes will eventually be reverted, and if you get the chance to come back, the record of your block will be the Wikipedia equivalent of a scarlet letter. You have nothing to gain from fighting, so learn when to shut up and walk away.
- The only exception I can make to the above point is that if you can prove you are being harassed, or that a page is being repeatedly vandalized, report it to the appropriate administrators' noticeboard quickly, with as concise an explanation as possible.
- One final note about trolling and harassment--if someone is really digging into you, report him to the admins. Don't waste time trying to reason with the troll; that's exactly what they want (and expect) you to do. Just make it the admins' problem, and extricate yourself from the situation as quickly as possible.