User talk:Beefy flaps

Category:1870 in Virginia
Why did you revert my edit to Category:1870 in Virginia?

Your edit summary left no explanation. -- Brown HairedGirl (talk) • (contribs) 08:06, 27 January 2019 (UTC)

January 2019
Hello, I'm BrownHairedGirl. An edit that you recently made to Huacaybamba Province seemed to be a test and has been removed. If you want more practice editing, please use the sandbox. If you think a mistake was made, or if you have any questions, you can leave me a message on my talk page. Thanks! Brown HairedGirl (talk) • (contribs) 08:08, 27 January 2019 (UTC)

Comedy of manners
Why did you revert my edits to Comedy of manners? You gave no explanation. I see this is not the first time you have made such an edit with no explanation. Please, either leave an explanation either in the edit summary or on the article's talk page, or else don't revert! Grutness... wha?   02:54, 28 January 2019 (UTC)
 * I also note that most of your other edits have been controversial or otherwise unhelpful. Wikipedians welcome supportive collaborative editors, but be aware that in general we take a dim view of those who make unhelpful or controversial edits without explanation. Grutness... wha?   03:00, 28 January 2019 (UTC)
 * Well, maybe if someone would bother to mentor me rather than just criticize everything I do. An admin even threatened to block me in an edit summary for reverting one of his edits. It seems like I’m just a new editor to bully, and Wikipedia isn’t actually as welcoming as it likes to pretend it is. Beefy flaps (talk) 03:27, 28 January 2019 (UTC)


 * Did you not read the welcome box that BrownHairedGirl put on the top of this page? If you want mentoring you have to ask for it - as is explained in the purple section at the top of that box. There are also a lot of links to pages explaining how to start editing. Wikipedia is very welcoming when editors find out how to edit before charging in and reverting valid edits with no explanation. But when someone does revert with no explanation, or removes valid edits, or reverts redirects to previously merged articles, others are bound to get annoyed. You should at the least leave an edit summary to explain why you've made those edits, and in the case of unmerging articles you should discuss the changes with others first at relevant talk pages (like Talk:Polynomial-time reduction or WikiProject Computer science).


 * You're clearly a new user, which is why admins like BrownHairedGirl and I have taken time to ask what you were doing and to explain what you should have done. In the case of User:David Eppstein, it's quite likely he had no idea you were a new editor, and was simply reacting to what he quite naturally saw as unhelpful editing.


 * And we're not criticising everything you do - in fact, some of your most recent edits have been good anti-vandalism patrol work (you might like to consider checking out WP:CUV or even Counter-Vandalism Unit/Academy if you want to extend your anti-vandalism activities!) Grutness... wha?   07:22, 28 January 2019 (UTC)
 * In fact, I was quite aware that BF was a "new" editor, but with a suspicious user name and a suspicious pattern of editing (random undos on totally unrelated and specialized topics). The name sounded vaguely reminiscent of someone else recently blocked as a long-term sockpuppet on AN or ANI but I couldn't find the thread and so far there isn't enough evidence to do much but revert the damage. But (as one of my edit summaries suggests) continued editing in the same vein is likely to lead to an indefinite block, either because someone recognizes a past troublemaker or because someone else loses patience with an editor whose only edits are trouble. —David Eppstein (talk) 07:27, 28 January 2019 (UTC)
 * Fair enough, though perhaps a gram or two of AGF and a note on BF's user talk page would have been a little less confrontational, at least until a sock-check had been done...? Grutness... wha?   10:33, 28 January 2019 (UTC)


 * So if I post a welcome template to someone’s talk page, that counts as communicating and offering guidance? It’s that simple? Then I can lose patience with that person if they didn’t click through all the links I overloaded them with? Beefy flaps (talk) 13:53, 28 January 2019 (UTC)
 * No-one is saying you need to click through all the links, but if you feel you need help (and your mention of mentoring certainly suggests that), then it's worth looking at the ones relevant to what you're doing. If someone posts a welcome template and it explains clearly and simply how to get help if you think you need it, then complaining that no-one is mentoring you is a bit rich. There are literally hundreds of thousands of users on Wikipedia - there are 900 administrators. It is impossible for admins to automatically mentor all new users personally (and many new users don't want to be mentored anyway), especially given that there are many other tasks around the project which need doing. That is why it's important to ask for help if problems crop up which you're unfamiliar with. And that welcome template makes it clear how to do that - with two mentions of the Help Desk, one of the help me template, and one of "Our new user help forum, the Teahouse". If you have questions, or need help, feel free to use them! Grutness... wha?   02:51, 29 January 2019 (UTC)