[WikiEN-l] Incivility, re: psychosis

[Mark Ryan]

I certainly did not expect this issue to be taken to the mailing list
itself. Because you took the issue to the mailing list, I shall
respond to you on the mailing list.

The best reaction would have been to reply with something to the
effect of 'okay, I won't call people's arguments "b.s." or suggest
that they be "taken out and shot"'. Not to turn around and claim that
I am equally uncivil (for violating the "etiquette" which somehow
demands that people who do the wrong thing not be told they are doing
so), humourless, suffering from some sort of psychosis, and a dick.

I instituted a rule of civility on this mailing list a couple of years
ago in response to some extremely abusive posts by someone who
demanded to know what rule they had broken to get themselves moderated
on the list. It does not follow [[WP:CIVIL]] to the letter (in fact I
don't think I've even read that wiki page completely). It follows
common sense (specifically, the common sense of the list
administrators).

If you cannot see that calling people's arguments 'specious' and
'b.s.', and suggesting that the founder of such arguments should be
'taken out and shot' can be interpreted to be personal attacks, then
I'm not sure anything I say to you is going to do any good.

~Mark Ryan
WikiEN-l mailing list admin

P.S. Your emails are breaking mailing list threads in Gmail.


On 16/01/07, Christopher Thieme <cdthieme at gmail.com> wrote:
> I just got admonished by "Mark" for being "uncivil" on this list with regard
> to a comment I made in my initial message on "Moving the Main Page."
>
> I don't think I was.  At least, from how I read the strict construction of
> the policy, I didn't say anything ruled to be incivility by the dictates
> of WP:CIVIL.
>
> And going back to my post on what psychosis might be hidden in some of
> users, I forgot one of the biggest problems underneath the surface of
> Wikipedia...
>
> We have too many humorless people.
>
> Humorless people who enforce WP:CIVIL thinking that something benign
> and rhetorical and not even mentioned in WP:CIVIL is "incivility."
>
> And those who don't realize that it's incivility to admonish others
> for acting with "incivility."
>
> Here's probably the only circumstance where I'll state that WP:DICK
> and WP:FUCK are not a cop-out.
>
> Regards,
> Christopher D. Thieme
>
>
> P.S. I know I'm not alone in saying that I have considered leaving Wikipedia
> on several occasions not because of incivility or personal attacks, but
> because there are people who can't and refuse to take an obvious joke.  The
> humorless people will ruin Wikipedia before those who aren't prim, proper
> and civil.
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