Revision as of 22:22, 13 September 2006 view sourceDoc glasgow (talk | contribs)26,084 edits glorify -> encourage← Previous edit | Revision as of 06:55, 14 September 2006 view source DDKS (talk | contribs)1 editNo edit summaryNext edit → | ||
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{{Proposal in a nutshell|Because they may encourage vandals and other negative editors, categories, user pages, and tracking pages which serve to describe or document patterned edit abuse should be kept to a minimum.}} | {{Proposal in a nutshell|Because they may encourage vandals and other negative editors, categories, user pages, and tracking pages which serve to describe or document patterned edit abuse should be kept to a minimum.}} | ||
Revision as of 06:55, 14 September 2006
Essay on editing Misplaced PagesThis is an essay. It contains the advice or opinions of one or more Misplaced Pages contributors. This page is not an encyclopedia article, nor is it one of Misplaced Pages's policies or guidelines, as it has not been thoroughly vetted by the community. Some essays represent widespread norms; others only represent minority viewpoints. | Shortcut
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This page in a nutshell: Because they may encourage vandals and other negative editors, categories, user pages, and tracking pages which serve to describe or document patterned edit abuse should be kept to a minimum. |
Explanation
Motivations for vandalism (as distinguished from abuse like harassment and edit warring) range from a desire for recognition and infamy to frustration with the project or community. Vandalism is encouraged by offering such users exceptional notice. This is particularly true for prolific vandals, who are immortalised by Misplaced Pages pages, meticulously catalogued by category pages, dedicated specific templates, and who thereby become a notable part of wiki culture.
This glorification of vandalism through infamy encourages Internet memes through positive reinforcement, where users imitate notorious or unique vandalism methods for amusement, to share in the infamy, or for the thrill of defying authority and/or the perception of destroying other users' work. Denying recognition and infamy removes the primary motivations for vandalism and disruption.
How to mitigate vandalism
If you see information pages about vandals or vandalism that you think has no practical purpose, list them for deletion (if you see a whole group of similar pages, make a group nomination). Userpages for indefinitely blocked users (except sockpuppets and banned users) that have no practical purpose should be deleted after a short while.
Notes
References
- As an example of desire for recognition and infamy as a motivation for vandalism, see "Pelican shit" on Misplaced Pages talk:Long term abuse.
- For more information of motivations for wiki vandalism, see the Misplaced Pages article Wiki vandalism.
- IP addresses stored for registered users are only kept in the system for so long; categorising a user after this period of time serves no useful purpose.
See also
- Herostratus
- Misplaced Pages:Don't stuff beans up your nose
- Misplaced Pages:Revert, block, ignore
- DissuadeReputation