User:The Bipolar Anon-IP Gnome/DirtyDozen

The Dirty Dozen
Here is a partial list from my edit history on 5 May 2007 as User:72.75.73.158 ... these are User Talk pages on which I placed  tags after placing a   or   on the article they created ... all of them have been deleted, except for one ... note that the log starts at 11:18 and ends at 12:22  ... round 64 minutes to one hour ... a "nooner" on Newpage Patrol that I refer to as the Dirty Dozen ...

I have to explain why some edits are only one minute apart ... I was in the habit of doing 3-5 DB tags, then look at my own edit history in a second browse tab to find the author talk pages and post 3-5  tags ... but sometimes, an article would be deleted even before I could leave the courtesy warning ... my new protocol is:


 * 1) check the User Talk page
 * 2) put the courtesy   on the User Talk page (add   with   Edit summary)
 * 3) put the   on the article
 * 4) comment on the WP:CSD nomination on the Discussion page (add   first)

It kind breaks my rhythm when I'm following a vandal's trail, but it's safer and avoids confusion ... use a "generic" courtesy warning, then go back later an personalize it for,  ,  ,  ,  , or whatever.

Look at the edit histories of the Dirty Dozen, and you'll see that nearly all of them made no other edits than the deleted article, nor have they returned with that same wiki-id ... that's twelve in a smidgen over one hour, or one every five minutes ... that's only eight man hours to do nearly one hundred (96, to be exact) in a normal day ... but even if these twelve were the only ones I did that day, why should I remember any of them, and why should I keep track of them? That's one component of OCD ... do it, then MOVE ON to the next one as quickly as possible ... what's done is done.

If it takes more that three minutes to decide if an article's subject meets WP:A for WP:N, or if it's not blatant Vanispamcruftisement, then I just MOVE ON ... otherwise I start tagging.

Some NP Patrollers look for articles to bookmark and improve at their leisure, and some are anxious to seek out and confront the Forces of Evil ... I belong in whatever category says, "I'm just taking my turn a guard duty, but I do not feed the trolls, nor do I suffer them gladly."

If it's an obvious example of WP:NFT nonsense from a first-time IP account, it gets an immediate, and no courtesy warning ... OTOH, you might want to start with a   if it's a blank User Talk page ... IMHO, WP:Don't Bite The Newbies does not apply to sockpuppets and anonymous vandals, although WP:Civil must never be ignored, even when you are baited by a WikiTroll.

Rule of thumb: Don't waste time with a  on a virgin User Talk page for an IP account, or even a   ... and never post on a newly created User Talk page without adding a   or a , especially if you are not the first one there, and no one else has already left a "greeting" ... in part for the audit trail (don't forget the   Edit summary), but also because it would be rude not to show them some respect by demonstrating how things should be done.

Anywho, if it's a no-brainer, then it takes me less than two minutes to notify the author, tag it, and MOVE ON ... a  takes even less time to flag (don't have to warn the author), but often blanking the article is the author's response to an earlier courtesy warning on their User Talk page, so I'd count it as double-time, and a   is usually triple-time because it involves Serious Bad Karma, almost by definition.

Happy Editing! &mdash; 09:50, 9 May 2007 (UTC)