User:RHaworth/sb3

Talk page policy from 2020 Jan
I have revised my view on talk page messages as originally expressed in "Parliamentary language" below. Parliamentary language tends to be confrontational. But Wikipedia is collaborative. So I will try to reflect this in my messages. (Clearly the aspect of parliamentary language that one must comment on the issues, not the person still apply.)

Parliamentary language
I have a well-justified reputation for blunt speaking on talk pages. But such pages are not a vicar's tea party. I take my standards from parliamentary language - if a Speaker would allow it then I use it. To summarise it: you must not call the honourable member opposite a fool but you may say that his proposal is foolish. But it would be better to replace "foolish" with a phrase such as "ill conceived" or "totally unworkable". Also, I always try to give positive advice, even if it is only "publish on your own website".

COI
There is a distinct school of thought that anybody can become a Wikipedia editor if you talk to them nicely and nurture them. I disagree: true Wikipedians are a distinct sub-species of Homo sapiens. People often tell them "get a life" - but Wikipedia is their life!

People come here to promote their company or band and write technically poor articles because they cannot be bothered to waste time learning wiki markup, etc. Are they ever going to become Wikipedians? No - the Ethiopian cannot change his spots nor the leopard his skin.

Protection
I am hesitant about protecting this page because doing so seems contrary to the spirit of Wikipedia. I have done so for one reason only: to save the good people who have repaired vandalism so many times from wasting their time in future. If you want to be rude to me, my user talk page is available but even there instead of pointless vandalism such as this (the IP address had no 'previous' so it was impossible to tell about what they were complaining) explain what your beef is - with a link.

I also protect my talk page archives. This is not to prevent messages - quite the reverse - I want to see them so I can reply. My talk page archives are not on my watchlist so if someone leaves a message there and does not ping me (and newbies don't know about ping) I will never see the message.

I have had a metanoia: as I have explained here, I shall try and remember at all times when writing messages to avoid confrontational language because this is a collaborative project.

But regarding my "kindly have the decency" mantra: I still think it is right ordering to tell blatant spammers that there is no place for them on Wikipedia. Indeed I consider it a kindness to do so - any further attempts to publish are likely to result in further rejections.. But I am still trying to find an acceptable wording to tell them.