User:Tristessa de St Ange/Essays

On Wikipedia Civility - 11th January 2005
Imagine, for a second, what would happen if people were paid money for every time they were nice to another user on Wikipedia. Undoubtedly, few people would turn down the offer of essentially free money, and we would end up with a utopia (albeit an impossibly expensive one to maintain). One would think that in circumstances where any gain could be had from something which costs nothing, people would do it.

So, I am convinced that the answer to gaining civility, common courtesy, and a nice editing environment on Wikipedia is to give people something in exchange. Now, you'll notice that adminship on Wikipedia is treated in some respects very much like an award; I do almost wonder if this is the subconscious effect that adminship has had, and it has by default become a reward for good behaviour. This is dangerous, because it moves adminship from something trivial ("no big deal") into a mark of social propriety; and power should never, ever be allocated on that basis, since it is bound to lead to a ridiculous grasping for status.

We desperately need to remember to pay people for being civil - not pay them in money, but pay them likewise in civility, and provide some sort of exchange; on the basis that civility does not cost anything, even the slightest dividend in some way should be enough. Too many users start off civil, learn that they are treated equally to those who don't care, and lapse into a sort of apathetic unpleasantness simply because their altruistic attempts to be good users are ignored, and in some cases indeed they become targets for those who are not prepared to behave more nicely.

Consequently, all Wikipedians who have an interest in making this project work should concentrate on providing means for making people feel valued when they are behaving civilly, and in implementing those measures widely. I believe that pleasure motivates far greater than pain, which tends to merely create avoidance against doing something bad rather than producing a goal to work towards. From now on, whenever you're interacting with users on Wikipedia, please try to bear this in mind.--NicholasTurnbull | (talk) 22:43, 11 January 2006 (UTC)