Wikipedia:Don't throw your toys out of the pram
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. |
Be cautious when referencing this page, particularly when involved in a dispute with another editor, as it could be considered a personal attack . |
This page in a nutshell: Conflicts on Wikipedia should be resolved calmly and amicably, assuming good faith on all parties where possible. Raised tempers and expressions of anger are counter-productive. |
Babies and small children in
Wikipedia is free for anyone to edit. But because it's an encyclopedia, it's not acceptable for anyone to edit everything about anything. There are a number of
If this sort of thing happens to you, you might be confused, upset or angry. It's a perfectly natural human emotion to have when somebody's trashed your efforts. But it's really important that you act calmly and with civility and don't throw your toys out of the pram. Exactly how you respond to conflict is just as important as what the conflict is to determine what happens next, and a quiet and polite response to something works so much better than an angry, ranting one.
Yet it's surprising how many times on
Examples
Most cases of throwing your toys out of the pram involve some sort of appeal to emotion – words like "censorship", "bullying", "vendetta" and "busybodies" all relate to somebody's opinion of who they are, rather than what they have done. Some typical ways we see this happening are as follows:
What the issue is | What the toy-thrower says |
---|---|
Blocked for edit warring | This is evil censorship and bullying. I am right and they are wrong. You cannot allow lies and slander to appear on Wikipedia articles! |
Article is nominated for deletion
|
This is censorship. This article is about a very important person. Clearly 'x' (where x nominated the article for deletion) has never heard of them, doesn't like me and is pursuing a vendetta! |
Article has {{citation needed}} tags placed on it | This is pure vandalism – nobody can read the article without these sad and pathetic busybodies graffitiing their self-importance all over the place! |
... and especially, especially,
A special case of toy-throwing results from when you encounter somebody overreacting in an uncivil manner. Just because they threw their toys out of the pram, that doesn't mean you have to throw yours. If somebody reverts your edit to
You may even be so aggravated and upset, that you're tempted to go for the ultimate toy-throwing exercise of
Throwing your toys out of the pram in response to something is never successful. It does not work. To successfully appeal against a decision, you need to focus on what has been done and where it does or doesn't fit into Wikipedia policies. Don't let your emotions get the better of you.
See also
- Wikipedia:Assume good faith
- Wikipedia:Civility
- Wikipedia:Advice for hotheads
- Wikipedia:Don't be a jerk
- Wikipedia:Don't be high-maintenance
- Wikipedia:Don't come down like a ton of bricks
- Wikipedia:No angry mastodons
- Wikipedia:Please be a giant dick, so we can ban you