User:ItMarki/Wikipedia:给性急者的建议

维基百科,自由的百科全书
维基百科编辑者辛劳后可以休息一会。如果你觉得你动不动会变得“性急”,不如放一个維基假期吧。

本论述为自认为好争辩、爱抱怨、喜争端的编辑者提供一些基本建议。我们希望这些建议能帮您不受社群制裁之苦,有助你更好融入维基百科的讨论模式。连不常争辩的编辑者有时也会发火,而他们便需要考虑这些建议。

本论述不应该用来扣帽子。根据本页意见,请不要跟人说“你急了!”之类的话,而是要说“如果您和我们一样爱耍脾气的话,我建议您去看一下WP;性急者的建议。”

对事不对人

粗鲁可以传染

“佛罗里达州大学的一项研究指出,遇到同事粗鲁行为的人有较高机会在之后交流中表现粗鲁行为。

被虐待的人有较高机会认为其他人在粗鲁对待他们,于是他们恶言相对,像病毒一样传播负能量。”

— 《洛杉矶时报》"Study Finds Workplace Rudeness Is Contagious"(2015年7月26日) (研究:[1]

千万不要向不同意你的意见的人投射负面假设。你需要只关注事件/内容(就事论事),如果需要讨论编辑者的行为,则必须提出编辑规律。

The fastest route to trouble is to say something like:

  • "You're irrational!"
  • "You're only saying that because you have an agenda." (= "That's just a bunch of [mention political faction here] crap", "Only a [nationality/religion/etc. label here] would say that", and many other variants.)
  • "This is just more typical [username here] nonsense."

These are all ad hominem fallacies laced with argument to emotion as well – a.k.a. demonization.

Focus instead on what was said, not who said it or why you imagine they did so:

  • "That argument is unsound because [insert demonstrable logic and facts]."
  • "That view seems to side unduly with [whatever off-WP third-party interest it seems to reflect, and why]."
  • "That unhelpful edit fits a long-term behavior pattern: [insert diffs英语Wikipedia:Simple diff and link guide that prove it]".

One particular feature of this approach to dispute is couching things in terms of one's own perception, not projection of imagined Platonic, objective truths about someone else, and especially not hypocritical psychological projection of one's own faults, failings, and behaviors onto others.

Taking this careful approach is basically a way to be more polite and self-honest in a dispute if it is not likely to evaporate, and perhaps more importantly to the debatory personality, a way to be taken more seriously rather than being dismissed as a disruptive ranter.

Yes, really: address edits not editors

The style described above also takes cues from both E-prime and nonviolent communication (fancy ways of saying "not arguing like a holier-than-thou, know-it-all douchebag"): Avoid the "to be of identity" and anything that smacks of it, in reference to another editor.

Confrontational and likely to be interpreted as a personal attack:

  • "You are [something negative]."
  • "You are being [something negative]."
  • "You are doing [something negative]."
  • "Your statement is [something negative]."

Instead, couch things in terms of your own subjective perception, and about the content rather than the editor when possible:

  • "This comes across as [something frustrating that is not just a personal insult or value judgment] to me."
  • "That approach does not seem conducive to [collaboration, resolution, sourcing, etc.]."
  • "How is that any different from [something undesirable in the context, and not a personalized jab]?"
  • "That statement has [problems you clearly identify, with policy or sources to back it up]."

The use of hedging terms can notably soften a statement without changing the gist of the message: "It seems that these edits may ..." or "I find that statement somewhat ...".

Stop framing things in terms of victory and defeat

In a similar vein, one of the fastest ways to reduce a perception of "battleground" behavior is to avoid wording that suggests a focus on "winning". Wikipedia is not a contest.

  • Use: Green tickY The proposal, with which I agree, was accepted by consensus.
  • Not: Red XN I won on that.
  • Use: Green tickY I've already pointed out why that view doesn't apply to this case; please see [link here].
  • Not: Red XN I already defeated your argument.
  • Use: Green tickY That request for page protection was declined for a clearly explained reason.
  • Not: Red XN Your lame attempt to lock the page down was beaten.
  • Use: Green tickY Good luck at RfA, but you should probably closely read WP:RFAADVICE.
  • Not: Red XN Your RfA will go down in flames, because you're clueless.
  • Use: Green tickY Thank you for clarifying.
  • Not: Red XN Glad I forced you into making some sense.

See the difference?

Ask more; state and demand less

Many "how to win friends and influence people" and "how to win arguments" writers advise to frequently turn debate points into questions for the other party/parties to try to answer convincingly, rather than just making definitive statements or demands of your own that others can challenge (perhaps with difficult questions for you to wrestle with). Reformulating statements into clever questions is more work, but it does have a tendency to reduce conflict, by leading the other party to defend their assertion with actual facts and reasoning (i.e., improving the quality of the discussion and speeding resolution of the issue), rather than responding with a counter-attack against what they perceive as a verbal attack on their person, intelligence, or motives.

When it's important to state something firmly, do so only if your statement is grounded in demonstrable facts (what the reliable sources say, what Wikipedia policy says), not supposition or assumption, personal conviction or anecdote, "everyone knows ..." and other red-herring fallacies, or desire for what "should" be. If you can't prove it, don't say it.

If you're convinced that it's necessary to state something firm about another editor's behaviors, be damned sure英语Wikipedia:Casting aspersions that you have diffs to back up any claims you make about their editing patterns, and strongly consider saving such complaints for user talk page discussion, or (if it rises to that level) some form of Wikipedia dispute resolution. Whether your debate opponent has a habit of calling people Nazis or giving undue favor to sources from Botswana really has nothing to do with the purpose of, say, Talk:Doctor Who英语Talk:Doctor Who, so avoid digging into personal, off-topic arguments in such a venue. If you've already started, it's unlikely anyone will object if you refactor that material to user talk or close and collapse the extraneous material and resume the discussion in user talk.

A word of warning, though: If you habitually make everything a question, you will annoy other editors, because it looks like a WP:POINTy or sarcastic attempt to waste their time. Even if you're polite, it can also come across instead as uncertainty or cluelessness, as if you have no clearly formulated input for the discussion.

Tone it down

Keep Calm and Carry On

If you're using vulgarities, you're almost certainly making a mistake. Especially if you're responding to someone else who already did – you'll be missing an opportunity to take the discursive high ground. Swearing is strong seasoning in this environment, and its impact is squandered when it's done frequently. People are apt to think "Who is this full-of-shit asshole who keeps calling everyone 'assholes' and 'full of shit'?".

Avoid hyperbole, and look for adjectives of characterization and exaggeration that you can remove from what you're writing (or by self-moderating something you already posted). "This has clear logic problems, like [example], and is contradicted by policy, at [cite]" is actually a much stronger statement than "This has amazingly ridiculous logic problems, like some idiot on crack wrote it, and it totally flies in the face of cherished Wikipedia policy traditions like [cite] that we're all expected to uphold or get the hell off the system!". The latter is what sounds like the idiot on crack.

If you've included some dismissive "gesture" like "Go screw yourself", "Why don't you just quit Wikipedia and go troll somewhere else?", "Don't you ever post on my talk page again!", "BTW, please familiarize yourself with WP:JERK", etc., just delete it. It adds nothing, makes you look like the problem, and no one will take it seriously anyway. If you think there's a real problem to address, there are noticeboards for that. If you think there's a correctable attitude issue at play and something really, really needs to be said, be calm and distant about it if you can't muster a cheerful response, e.g.: "Talk pages are for collaboration and communication to improve the encyclopedia, not for personalized venting. Please refrain from posting on my talk page further unless it's toward constructive goals." This level of distant, chiding formalism tends to stop ranters in their tracks.

If you really must, you actually can get away with mentioning WP:JERK if you explicitly acknowledge the long-standing canard that one is violating the rule by the very act of citing it, e.g.: "I bet this discussion would be lot more productive if we both took a step away from the WP:JERK cliff." Remember that humor can go a long way to defusing tension, as can mingling some self-criticism into a critique of someone else, to make it less one-sided.

Pro tip: Assume that your post will be used as evidence at WP:ANI, WP:AE, WP:RFARB, or some other noticeboard. Are you sure you still want to click "Publish changes"? In a dispute, you want other editors to focus on the content or behavior you've objected to, not your own behavior.

Sarcastic false civility fools no one, including admins

A weak personal attack is still wrong英语Wikipedia:A weak personal attack is still wrong. If you make a habit of using faux-civility, dripping with sarcasm and irony, to make a point about your dim view of your debate opponents, no one is going to interpret this as actual civility, but simply as a form of gaming the system (specifically "sanction gaming" and "civil PoV-pushing"英语Wikipedia:Civil POV pushing). If you habitually use language manipulation to strongly imply instead of quite state outright that other editors are stupid, crazy, liars, or up to evil deeds this will still eventually result in you being sanctioned, just as if you'd called them names, if you keep it up.

Don't post in the heat of the moment

If you're a "ranty-pants" type, go ahead and write your spur-of-the-moment, bombastic reaction in a debate, to get it out of your system, but don't post it yet. Go have a snack or watch funny pet videos for 15 minutes, come back, and re-edit it to follow the above advice before posting it.

There are various other posting contra-indications英语Wikipedia:No angry mastodons, like drunkenness, lack of sleep, depression, etc. How much about what you're planning to post in response to someone reflects the facts versus your own mood?

Stop the runaway train

If you just posted a comment you regret, and no one has replied, it's not too late to delete it. If someone replies suggesting mutual withdrawal, consider it a golden opportunity to nip things in the bud. If you think someone else should take back something they said, you can also suggest mutual withdrawal.

You cannot argue Wikipedia into capitulation

Wikipedia's administrative processes are entirely geared to protecting project stability, not toward individual "justice英语Wikipedia:There is no justice", a "fair hearing", or "proving who is technically in the right". This is a marked difference from the approach taken by Western, democratic legal systems, especially common law systems; it is actually more akin to the legal systems in authoritarian jurisdictions, especially those with a civil law system. It's a collectivist approach that support the principle "the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the one".

Consequently, anyone who approaches Wikipedia administration and dispute resolution from a "justice" perspective will be disappointed and may make their circumstances worse, quite quickly, and sometimes irreparably. This is especially true of venues entirely controlled by admins, such as WP:AN, WP:AE, WP:RFARB, and WP:ARCA, versus the more everyone-gets-a-say forum of WP:ANI. Numerous generally-productive editors who have been sanctioned one or more times in the past will maintain the certainty of thought that (in at least some cases) their statements and arguments were correct, but feel that they still got railroaded and solely because of the disagreeableness with their attitude. They feel that they were punished simply for "being uppity".

This perception is, in fact, entirely correct. You will be sanctioned for habitually badgering others to satisfy your petty demands, being excessively individualistic at the expense of others, excuse-making or finger-pointing英语Wikipedia:Casting aspersions at others, nit-picking, clearly trying to just "win" at all costs, stubbornly "not getting it", dragging out conflict just to make a point, or waging a petty "righting great wrongs" micro-crusade for personal honor that no one else cares about.

Those who really are here to build an encyclopedia have one expectation of disputes: that they quickly resolve (or dissolve) with a result that is acceptable to the consensus of the editorial community so that collegial collaboration resumes. If you are here for advocacy or activism英语Wikipedia:Advocacy – for outing The Truth – then you are making a mistake and will be ejected when others realize it.

Administrative enforcement on WP necessarily takes this approach to recalcitrant hotheads, because the very act of arguing ad nauseam, to defy the collective peer pressure of the editorial community telling one to change one's ways, is considered disruptive in and of itself. The community, and in particular the administrative and arbitration corps, care primarily about the functioning of the Wikipedia "organs", like content creation and source checking; any individual cell (i.e., you) causing inflammation, for whatever reason, is a cancer to be removed. It can take a long time for some editors to internalize this and adjust, especially if they're used to rancorous debate on online forums. Some never do, and get indefinitely blocked or site-banned, or get in so much perennial trouble (repeated short-term blocks, topic- and interaction-bans, etc.) that they "quit in disgust". Inability to recognize that Wikipedia is not the Internet and is not academia or any other fully public sphere, but is akin to a closed game with a specific set of player-conduct rules, is in the end a working-with-others competence failure. Either one gets it, eventually, or one is shown the door.

For the temperamental and uncollaborative, walking away from Wikipedia (at least for a while) is a real option, and not necessarily a bad one.

See also

More advice for hotheads

References

  1. ^ Foulk, T; Woolum, A; Erez, A. Catching rudeness is like catching a cold: The contagion effects of low-intensity negative behaviors.. The Journal of applied psychology. January 2016, 101 (1): 50–67. PMID 26121091. doi:10.1037/apl0000037.