Wikipedia:Don't fight fire with fire

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Administrators' noticeboard/Incidents

Even if the Scissor Sisters or Metallica tell you to.

If everyone fought fire with fire, the entire world would go up in smoke.

As in real life, you may find yourself face-to-face with boorish editors who don't know (or don't believe) they're boors. These editors can be most maddening, especially with their tendency to fly into

personal attacks
. When this happens, you may find yourself angered and tempted to respond, to throw fire back at the fire-starter. Unfortunately, this is the worst tactic to use: anger breeds more anger, fire more fire. No matter how much you try to show the said boor the error of his ways, he still refuses to see it and regards you as the attacker. In aggressively confronting him, you have allowed the boor to infect you.

So based on these instances, we can conclude that "

water
works much better.

I'm being nice to them, but they still attack me

Sometimes, no matter how civil you are to another editor, they will regard you as an attacker. Even the kindest of criticisms are met with hostility. If the editor in question would rather cut off the hand of their rescuer than believe he needs rescuing, leave him be. There is no point in giving help to someone who doesn't want it.

The Three Users: A Parable

The following story is based on an actual event.

Once upon a time on Wikipedia, there were three friends. One day, while discussing the actions of a certain editor, two of the friends encountered a terrifying

homes
.

The two users finally had enough and confronted the orc in its lair. Unfortunately, they had brought torches and pitchforks with them and things got messy (i.e. the conversation became really ugly). So the users took it to the

cripple
, the WikiOrc so that it could not harm another editor. Alas, the savage orc showed up and ravaged the discussion with its deadly club.

The two friends returned to the orc's domain and confronted it angrily once more. The orc continued to be boorish and aggressive and refused to believe that it is at fault. Even when the editors told it that if it did not stop, the village leaders will send a

mob
to destroy it, the orc still saw the editors as the ones at fault. The fight soon escalated to the point that both sides were throwing flames about the cavern.

Meanwhile, the third friend was going for a stroll in the forest of articles when she decided to visit one of her friends. She arrived at his

house
and was horrified to find the hideous message left by the orc. So she decided to head to the orc's lair at once. She arrived in time to see the chaos happening. She also saw an angry mob in the distance. Knowing that such violence would solve nothing, she stepped in, and tried to reason with the orc. The fire died down, but the orc remained unmoved. The mob had arrived at the orc's doorstep. The orc, undaunted, scoffed and called the village leaders "pathetic". The third friend, still hopeful for the orc, gently chided it and showed it how to speak properly.

The angry mob brought out the torches, which only made things worse!

But instead of thanking her and changing its ways, the orc angrily slapped her in the face and ordered her out of its cave. This caused the editor to lose whatever sympathy for the orc she had left. She got up and just before she left the cave, quietly warned it again of the danger of its behavior. The orc, more softly this time, simply told her to leave again. Silently, the three friends walked down the path, leaving the mob to go ever closer to the orc. All agreed that nothing they do or say will make the orc mend its ways.

As the sun set, and the mob neared the orc's lair, the orc reached for its torch and spiked club as it came out to meet the crowd.

See also