I may respond to the rest of the message at a later time, but I just couldn't pass this up. On Jul 18, 2006, at 12:36 PM, Timwi wrote:
Jesse W wrote:
Maybe because someone else has said - "I noticed you made an edit that didn't agree with our policy on [[Wikipedia:Verifiability]] - please read that page and follow it in any future edits you make. Thanks for volunteering your time working on Wikipedia!" (paraphrase of one of our standard notes to new users).
I have never seen a message of this kind. The kinds of messages I see on User talk pages, especially those for IPs, sound more like "You have repeatedly violated the [[WP:XYZ]] rule. Further violations will be sanctioned with a block. You have been warned."
You prompted me to do some research - I looked at RC for the last few minutes, in the User_talk namespace, and clicked on various IPs talk pages to see what was on them. Here are my results:
On http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk: 198.53.166.66&oldid=64574374 was the following (standardized) message:
[[Image:Stop hand.svg|left|30px]] Welcome to Wikipedia. We invite everyone to contribute constructively to our encyclopedia. Take a look at the [[Wikipedia:Welcome, newcomers|welcome page]] if you would like to learn more about contributing. However, unconstructive edits are considered [[Wikipedia:Vandalism|vandalism]], and if you continue in this manner you may be '''[[Wikipedia:blocking policy|blocked]] from editing without further warning'''. Please stop, and consider improving rather than damaging the work of others. Thank you. <!-- Template:Blatantvandal (serious warning) --> [[User:Hyenaste|Hyenaste]] <sup>[[User_talk:Hyenaste|(tell)]]</ sup> 00:58, 19 July 2006 (UTC)
On http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk: 64.180.183.181&oldid=64574305 was one of Tawkerbot's warnings:
==Your edit to [[Grom Hellscream]]== Your recent edit to [[:Grom Hellscream]] ([http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php? title=Grom_Hellscream&diff=64574269&oldid=64560008 diff]) was reverted by an '''automated bot''' that attempts to recognize and repair [[Wikipedia:vandalism|vandalism]] to Wikipedia articles. If the bot reverted a legitimate edit, please accept my humble creator's apologies – if you bring it to the attention of the bot's owner, we may be able to improve its behavior. '''[[User:Tawkerbot2/FAQ|Click here]]''' for '''frequently asked questions''' about the bot and this warning. // [[User:Tawkerbot4|Tawkerbot4]] 00:58, 19 July 2006 (UTC)
On http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk: 67.172.174.120&oldid=64574240 was a spam warning:
Please do not add commercial links (or links to your own private websites) to Wikipedia. [[Wikipedia:What Wikipedia is not|Wikipedia is not]] a vehicle for [[Wikipedia:Spam|advertising]] or a mere collection of [[Wikipedia:External links|external links]]. You are, however, [[m:When should I link externally|encouraged to add ''content'' instead of links]] to the encyclopedia. See the [[Wikipedia:Welcome, newcomers|welcome page]] to learn more. Thanks. <!-- Template:Spam --> —--[[User:AudeVivere|Aude]] <small>([[User:AudeVivere|talk]] | [[Special:Contributions/AudeVivere|contribs]])</small> 04:34, 30 December 2005 (UTC)
At least to me, "Take a look at the [[Wikipedia:Welcome, newcomers|welcome page]] if you would like to learn more about contributing.", " If the bot reverted a legitimate edit, please accept my humble creator's apologies", and "See the [[Wikipedia:Welcome, newcomers|welcome page]] to learn more. Thanks." do not seem like assuming that new users are all bent on destroying Wikipedia.
And as for linking to [[WP:XYZ]] - none of the above messages use any of the WP:WP shortcuts - they all explain what the policy is on Wikipedia, and link to further explanations. What more would you have us do?
Jesse Weinstein