On Jul 21, 2006, at 11:08 AM, Timwi wrote:
Jesse W wrote:
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:
[.......]
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.
Yep -- well selected. Now let *me* do *my* selections from *your* samples (I've replaced boldface with capitals):
Well done! I agree that the selections you picked are non-welcoming, and accusational in tone. Now the question is - if we should do something else, what should it be, and how should we do it? It is simply a fact that we get a large number of "unconstructive edits" - what should we say to the people who add them? It is also a fact that we get a large number of additions of advertising - what should we say to the people who add those things? This started with the claim that no-one was told about our policies before they were blocked for violating them; I think both of our selections make it quite clear that this is not the case.
Thanks for the discussion!
Jesse Weinstein
The selections:
unconstructive edits are considered vandalism, and if you continue in this manner you may be BLOCKED FROM EDITING WITHOUT FURTHER WARNING.
Please stop, and consider improving rather than damaging the work of others.
Your recent edit [...] was reverted by a BOT that attempts to recognize and repair vandalism.
Wikipedia is not a vehicle for advertising or a mere collection of external links.
Do these sound inviting or welcoming to you? To me, all of those sound excessively hostile and suggestive of accusations.
And as for linking to [[WP:XYZ]] - none of the above messages use any of the WP:WP shortcuts
Take a look at AfD if you're looking for those.
Standard explanation: Lack of time.