User:Tempodivalse/User interaction policy

This page outlines basic principles that users should adhere to when interacting with others. Writing news can sometimes be stressful due to the deadlines involved, so users can become frustrated or upset more easily than on a more time-neutral project such as Wikipedia or Wikibooks. However, there are still certain standards to follow to ensure continued cooperation and productivity.

Personal attacks

A personal attack, known in logic as ad hominem, is a negative comment aimed not at a user's argument or opinion, but at some personal trait of the user himself, usually with the purpose of discrediting the user.

Obvious insults making little or no attempt at constructive criticism classify as personal attacks (e.g. "Your contributions were utter garbage!"), but other things falling into this category include negative/derogatory remarks made about one's beliefs, physical characteristics, and accusations about personal behaviour (e.g. "Of course you're biased, you're a Mormon!"), when irrelevant to the issue at hand. When in doubt: comment on the content, not the user.

Remember, personal attacks don't help anyone and only reflect badly on the user making the attack. They should be avoided because they are incompatible with a productive, cooperative and focussed atmosphere that Wikinews needs in order to function well.

Enforcement

All editors are strongly encouraged to comply with the above guidelines. Nobody, from newbies to established editors, should be exempted from respecting others.

Extreme, hostile, and flagrant violations crossing any threshold of acceptability may result in an immediate block, but the user making the attacks should generally be informed of this policy first and requested to tone down discussion. A block of at least 24 hours will be applied if the user does not attempt to be more respectful (although it can be increased at an admin's discretion). Repeated personal attacks and rudeness after previous blocks can result in immediate revocation of editing privileges with prejudice, escalating to an indefinite block after several offenses or with community consensus.

Feeding the trolls

Occasionally you may run across obvious trolls who are clearly here only to vandalise and disrupt the community. Such users should of course be blocked, but refrain from lashing out at them with sneers or insults. Rather, the vandal should be blocked immediately and his edits removed in a professional manner. Most trolls want to see you get angry and upset; you can actually frustrate them more by not taking the bait. Additionally, this method makes them a minimal distraction by not drawing any attention to them, allowing you to return back to the goal of improving Wikinews. The vandal in question, seeing that nobody is reacting to his bait, may give up more quickly.