User:Andrew Davidson/Glossary

The following concepts and terms are listed here as an aid in discussing and understanding our activity. It is a work-in-progress and will be developed in the light of experience.

Animal Farm
Aristotle suggested that man was a political animal. Some relevant allegories, analogies and findings follow:


 * ants
 * aquila non capit muscas
 * beargarden
 * behavioural despair test
 * blind men and an elephant
 * cat and mouse
 * cat-burning
 * cobra effect
 * cock throwing
 * crying wolf
 * dæmon
 * execution by elephant
 * fox tossing
 * goose pulling
 * herding cats
 * homo homini lupus
 * many monkeys hanging at the circus see and do three wise peanuts
 * molehill
 * nitpicking
 * pacu jawi
 * pecking order
 * pig wrestling
 * pit of despair
 * sheep voting
 * stereotypes

Laws
Per WP:NOTLAW, Wikipedia is not governed by formal rules. It therefore evolves in accordance with the dynamics of human behaviour. These have been documented as a variety of natural laws and principles including:


 * Acton's dictum
 * Arrow's paradox
 * Benford's law of controversy
 * Brandolini's law
 * Brooks's law
 * Campbell's law
 * Conway's law
 * Dilbert principle
 * Dunning–Kruger effect
 * Gall's law
 * Gell-Mann amnesia effect
 * Gender-equality paradox
 * Godwin's law
 * Goodhart's law
 * Hanlon's razor
 * Hick's law
 * Hutber's law
 * Iron law of oligarchy
 * Law of Jante
 * Linus's law
 * Paradox of fiction
 * Parkinson's law
 * Peter principle
 * Pournelle's iron law of bureaucracy
 * Putt's law
 * Rule-following paradox
 * Stockdale paradox
 * Streisand effect
 * Sturgeon's law

But there are other laws and principles, which are commonly not found here including:


 * Golden Rule
 * No Asshole Rule

Policies
.
 * WP:ATD – Alternatives to deletion
 * WP:BATTLE – Wikipedia is not a battleground
 * WP:BEFORE – Before nominating: checks and alternatives
 * WP:BURO – Wikipedia is not a bureaucracy
 * WP:BITE – Please do not bite the newcomers
 * WP:CENSOR – Wikipedia is not censored
 * WP:CREEP – Avoid instruction creep
 * WP:CSD – Criteria for speedy deletion
 * WP:DELAFD – Deletion discussion
 * WP:DEL-REASON – Reasons for deletion
 * WP:DGFA – Deletion guidelines for administrators
 * WP:IAR – Ignore all rules
 * WP:IMPERFECT – Perfection is not required
 * WP:NOTPAPER – There is no practical limit to the number of topics Wikipedia can cover
 * WP:PRESERVE – Preserve information
 * WP:PROD – Proposed deletion


 * AfD edit notice

Typology

 * Ambiguity tolerance–intolerance
 * Antisocial personality
 * Attention seeking
 * Auto-trolling
 * Backbiter
 * Biblioclast
 * Busybody
 * Carping
 * Censor
 * Compulsive hoarding
 * Deletionist
 * Dick
 * False evidence
 * Fanatic
 * Flaming
 * Griefer
 * Grinding
 * Hater
 * Hun
 * Iconoclast
 * Inclusionist
 * Jammer
 * Jobsworth
 * Liar
 * Pedant
 * Perfectionist
 * Player killer
 * Prig
 * Prude
 * Psychopath
 * Punding
 * Puritan
 * Sadist
 * Sniggling
 * Sociopath
 * Sockpuppet
 * Stalker
 * Stickler
 * Troll
 * Vandal
 * Vexatious litigant
 * Victim playing