User:Lexein/Avoid letter greetings and closings

Avoid letter greetings and closings means that Wikipedia article discussion pages, and user Talk pages, are not letter exchanges. "Hello," "Warm regards," and the like are distracting, are a waste of space, and are simply sarcastic when bracketing criticism. Civility and good etiquette should be baked into what we concisely write, not feigned in decorative text.

Brevity is the soul
Newcomers to Wikipedia may be put off by the discussion style practiced here at Wikipedia article Talk pages. It's quite streamlined: a section heading and a post, signed only with name and date, followed by variously indented replies and ongoing discussion. No greeting, no introduction, and no closing - no farewell. This is so because we're not writing letters to each other over the course of weeks, months or years. Discussions can accelerate to time scales on the order of seconds, involving dozens of users. Most discussions progress more slowly. Discussions about issues in articles can be quite narrowly focused - so focused that greetings and signoffs would clutter the page and obfuscate the discussion itself. The most productive discussions are shallow, and fork quickly for subtopics, so that different "threads" can resolve different aspects of an issue. In sum, decorative text is inefficient. Of course, responses to specific users are commonly necessary in long discussions, where indenting does not make a response seem specifically addressed - in these cases, simply stating or templating (with U) the user's name is "greeting" enough, for example:
 * @Lexein, I agree about the ... --JustAsking (talk) 15:59, 3 February 2014 (UTC)
 * , but what about the ... --JustAsking (talk) 15:59, 3 February 2014 (UTC)

Be concise
As expressed in WP:Talk page guidelines, conciseness helps all concerned. It focuses attention on the exact important issue, excludes distractions, and avoids passion and uncivil or discourteous writing. Letter greetings and closings add nothing to the issue under discussion, and serve only to clutter discussion.

It is entirely possible to be concise and polite at the same time.

Sarcastic use

 * Hello,
 * I think you have competence issues regarding source quality. If you would like some help, please feel free to ask.
 * Warmest regards,
 * --DisingenuousUser (talk) 15:59, 3 February 2014 (UTC)


 * 1) The comment is about the editor, not the article or the sources. This is the wrong way to go about treating any editor.
 * 2) The comment doesn't link to policy, guideline or essay section. It is not only unhelpful, it is provocatively so.
 * 3) Someone who's not "competent" (a nasty, condescending word not welcome at Wikipedia) is not likely to know what help they need. If the author knows what help is needed, it should simply be linked to, specifically, without sadistically requiring the recipient to ask for it. Someone faced with this level of condescension would be best advised to completely disengage with the author.
 * 4) "Warmest regards" is merely sarcastic knife-twisting, and a true measure of the author's disrespect for the recipient. Given the comment itself, the signoff feigns good etiquette, rather than actually practicing it.

Better

 * Please use better sources here - see WP:RS for the guidelines. I've reverted some of them, and tagged some dubious. It's important to cite quality sources, not tabloids - please discuss. --FairmindedUser (talk) 15:59, 3 February 2014 (UTC)


 * 1) It's about the sources.
 * 2) It links to the appropriate guideline article in 9 characters WP:RS, though not to the most specifically helpful section. Still, somewhat helpful.
 * 3) Just a direct request to discuss; no conditionals or condescension.
 * 4) Simply signed with a couple of dashes and the four tildes --~.