User:Smallvillefanatic/Wikipedia:Revert and Discuss Error

This essay details one of the most common abuses of the Wikipedia:BOLD,_revert,_discuss_cycle, the confusion of that cycle with a “revert, discuss” strategy. The BRD strategy is intended as a way to smoke out most interested parties. However, many people use it to justify the ‘’behavior’’ of Most Interested Parties, reverting edits in contravention of wikipedia’s editing policy, wp:preserve. This essay will detail this mistake, and explain why “RD” is a violation of wikipedia’s editing policies.

What is RD?

Simply put, “RD” is the use of a revert on the grounds of stimulating discussion.

Why is RD different from BRD?

BRD is used as a justification for bold edits. It is for smoking out most interested parties on a page whose discussion has been completely bogged down. The overview explains BRD, what it’s for and how it works:

• Problem: Editing a particular page has become tricky, too many people are stuck discussing endlessly, and no progress can be made.
• How to proceed: Discover the Most Interested Persons, and reach a compromise/consensus with each, one by one.

Notice something here that’s very important. BRD as a strategy is a way for the bold editor to smoke out Most Interested Persons. In other words, BRD is a justification for a certain type of bold edit not a reversion.

RD on the other hand is used as a justification for a reversion It claims that a reversion may be used to generate discussion with a bold (and sometimes not so bold) editor.

Why is RD a misunderstanding of BRD?

The BRD strategy presupposes intransigent reverters who have bogged down a page to the point of lack of progress. It was never a justification for the behaviour of those intransigent editors. In fact, by acting as the reverter in a BRD cycle, you are behaving exactly in the manner that BRD is designed to combat. You have become exactly the type of intransigent reverter that BRD presupposes and tries to combat and who bogs down pages in the first place.

Why is RD a violation of policy?

It Violates WP:EDIT

Wikipedia’s editing policies are very clear. It says under wp:preserve: “’’Preserve information: fix problems if you can, flag them if you can't’’. As long as any of the facts or ideas added to the article would belong in a "finished" article, they should be retained and the writing tagged if necessary, or cleaned up on the spot.” Whenever you revert an edit with salvageable information, you violate this policy. It doesn’t matter if your intention is to “start a conversation”. Your intentions are irrelevant. You’ve just violated this policy. A wikipedia should never, ever remove salvageable information from an edit and an edit that has any salvageable information should not be reverted in order to start a conversation.

It Violates WP:OWN

Since ownership is at least in part an attitude, it can never be proven. However, RD is typical owner behaviour.

This examples are from the ownership page: "Revert. You're editing too much. Can you slow down?" or "Get consensus before you make such huge changes."

Like it or not, when you revert something and say, “Come discuss this with me”, you are telling them to get your permission. No one requires your permission to alter a page, which is why all reverts require grounds. Remember, when you say, “BRD” or “come talk to me” as justification for a revert, you didn’t give any grounds for your revert. When you make a revert without grounds, you are simply asserting your authority, that is, you are claiming to own the page.