User:SCZenz/Reference desk comments

Here's what I personally will be doing, for the time being, to try to deal with misuse of the reference desk by certain users. If I feel a comment undermines the reference desk, I will not remove it, but simply copy it to the talk page and explain why it's a bad idea; in some cases, I might also leave a message on the user's talk page asking nicely for the comment to be removed. If enough different people do this, it will help users who have been using the ref desk inappropriately which comments are innapropriate and put community pressure on them to change their behavior. For this to work, I need everyone's help, so I'd like to invite you to join me!

Here's a quick guide to what to do...

What to comment on
Anything whose presence you think makes the reference desk significantly worse. For me, this might include:
 * Discussion that gets in the way of factual answers by obscuring it and taking up space
 * Inside jokes, or purposeless crude comments, that might make new users feel excluded from the reference desk
 * Opinions stated as fact, of which get in the way of others trying to provide factual answers
 * Advocacy of personal opinions
 * Answers that are clearly unhelpful, in cases when the poster ought to have known better

What to say
Comment in terms of Wikipedia policy and in terms of the purpose of the reference desk. Here are some reasons you might cite:
 * Be civil
 * Please do not bite the newcomers
 * What Wikipedia is not, item 5, which states that Wikipedia is not to be used for discussion forums.
 * Wikipedia cannot give medical or legal advice. See Medical disclaimer and Legal disclaimer.  Giving "not-medical-advice" is inappropriate and will mislead question askers, in ways that may prove very unfortunate for them; that's bad.
 * The reference desk is a place to assist in finding factual answers to questions. Things that get in the way of this function are not appropriate.

Fictional example
I might leave this comment on the ref desk talk page, and a slightly modified version on the user's talk page:

Inappropriate comment from Reference desk/Miscelleneous
It seems to me that the following comment was not appropriate to the reference desk. FictionalUser has inserted her own personal opinion rather than answering a very clear question, and has given medical advice as well. I'd like to ask FictionalUser to remove her comment, please, since they undermine the purpose of the reference desk. -- SCZenz 01:36, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

''How do I find a doctor near San Mateo, California? -- Questioner''
 * Doctors are evil; they will only make things worse. -- FictionalUser

Avoid useless arguments
It seems to me that the users who misuse the reference desk tend to greatly enjoy arguing, and have an infinite capacity for it, and they do not argue from the viewpoint of what is good for Wikipedia or for the purpose of the reference desk. Discussion has already been tried by a number of users, and gotten nowhere. Thus in many cases there will be little point in responding directly when they dispute your comments. Let their arguments hang in the air, be patient, and wait for similar complaints to accumulate.

If you see another user has already commented on something you feel is inappropriate, you could certainly add a note of agreement. Again, you might want to avoid being drawn into a long discussion.

If there's no response to community pressure
The right to misuse the reference desk is not a matter of opinion. Excessive discussion, inappropriate joking, rudeness to new users, and advocacy of opinion are all violations of Wikipedia policy&mdash;especially when they get in the way of the reference desk page serving its function. If those who abuse the reference desk don't get the message from this strategy, then at least we'll have clear examples of problematic behavior, and our efforts to address the problem, for use in requesting a more binding solution.

Please help with this page
This being a wiki, you should of course feel free to add any ideas you have that would help with this strategy; however, if you oppose my efforts, it would probably make more sense for you to comment on the talk page.