[WikiEN-l] Newbies who don't act like newbies

[Kwan Ting Chan]

On Sun, 2007-12-02 at 08:32 -0500, Anthony wrote:
> On Dec 2, 2007 4:01 AM, Todd Allen <toddmallen at gmail.com> wrote:
> > Or the "newbie" may be a sock. But all the others are real possibilities
> > too. The important part is to look for -actual- disruption. If someone's
> > editing non-disruptively, and doing good work right when new, well,
> > there's a very good chance that they're simply a conscientious person
> > who bothered to RTFM, and in the absence of evidence otherwise, we
> > should assume that is the case.
> >
> I'd like to agree with this, and maybe I do, but to play devil's
> advocate, isn't the line between "disruption" and "good faith editing"
> rather thin, especially in the meta namespace?  The lack of hierarchy
> and appeal to what's called "rough consensus" make it very easy for
> people to game the system and cause a lot of drama without doing
> something purely disruptive.  If we assume someone is simply a
> conscientious person who bothered to RTFM, then we'll excuse them for
> inadvertently causing a little drama.  But if they're a sockpuppet or
> meatpuppet participating with the intention to cause drama, then the
> very same actions take on a whole different meaning.  To quote the
> secret email: "So by the time Jimbo does something controversial, most
> Wikipedians don't get more than a sense of vague unease about this
> account's behavior."

Then the correct action is as has been suggested in the past, one of
increasing warning and sanction for continuing disruptive behaviour, or
ban them outright through the correct process which is using Checkuser
to confirm that it's a sockpuppet that's being used disruptively.

What we need to cut out, before it get any worse, is banning of new
users because they may become disruptive in the future, on shaky grounds
that they already know the way of the land. We should be applauding
those that actually RTFM as we often wish.

As has been said, who cares if an account is a returning banned user /
friend of WR / ...... At the end of the day, the goal of this project is
to create an encyclopedia. If the user is not disrupting that goal, then
leave them be.

KTC 

-- 
Experience is a good school but the fees are high.
  - Heinrich Heine
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