 | This is an essay. It contains the advice or opinions of one or more Wikipedia contributors. This page is not an encyclopedia article, nor is it one of Wikipedia's policies or guidelines, as it has not been thoroughly vetted by the community. Some essays represent widespread norms; others only represent minority viewpoints. |
 | This page in a nutshell: Do not be hostile toward regular editors. Remember to assume good faith and respond to problematic edits in a clear and polite manner. This is a counterpart to please don't bite the newcomers. |
Regular editors are humans too. Although some editors have been here since time began and have god-like edit counts, we all make mistakes. The worst thing you can do is to bite them. Even if they have deleted the Main Page. Just because you don't think a regular editor should have done that or said those things, it does not give you the right to bite them, even if they are being nasty. The best way to deal with this is to talk with the editor; this is not just dumping notices and warnings on their talk page. Conversation and debate is what makes the wiki better.
In particular, if a regular editor is incivil to other people, especially newcomers, don't be incivil to them back. We want people to resolve disputes calmly and quietly, not tearing each other's heads off.
What to do if you feel you have "bitten" or have been bitten
editIf you have "bitten" someone, or feel that you have been bitten, you should consider the key principles to help ensure that it doesn't happen again as follows.
- Choose to learn from the incident.
- Apologize if you realize you have bitten another user.
- Consider alternatives to biting that could have achieved a better response. If you encounter a similar situation in the future, choose one of those alternatives instead of repeating history.
- Find something of value in the experience. Extract the wisdom that may have been unintentionally veiled.
- Be reasonable. Explain why you were offended, but learn to recognize when the message cannot be received. The recipient may be unable or unwilling to accept fault, and it may be better to move on to other things than to dwell on the bite.
- Move on from it!