[WikiEN-l] Block appeals--just don't follow the instructions? Huh?

[K P]

On 9/17/07, Zoney <zoney.ie at gmail.com> wrote:
> On 16/09/2007, K P <kpbotany at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > Blocks are NOT easily appealable when you have a hostile and petty
> > blocking administrator and a policy that requires you to contact him
> > first.  And when you don't realize that you're not required to contact
> > him first in spite of the blocking message which tells you that.
> >
> > And, when you're a new contributor to Wikipedia and you get blocked
> > and you don't know your way around, it is NOT CLEAR that the
> > instructions are not meant to be followed.
> >
> > And this gets tiresome being told that the instructions are not meant
> > to be followed and everybody knows their way around them, as if I'm
> > stupid for not realizing that the instructions don't mean what they
> > say, and I shouldn't be following them but some other set of
> > guidelines.
> >
> > I am getting the idea ingrained into my head, though, from a couple of
> > past conversations with administrators, that I AM a total idiot for
> > trying to follow instructions on Wikipedia.
> >
> > It's not an issue of just you, it's an issue of the system being set
> > up in a way that is hostile to the average user.  Instructions that
> > shouldn't be followed.  Experienced users dismissing the confusion of
> > inexperienced users by saying, "oh blocks are easily appealable," when
> > the inexerienced user points out they are not.  If you already know
> > everything, you probably don't even know what the instructions say.
> > But if you don't already know everything, you can't possibly know that
> > it's easy to do as long as you don't bother with the instructions.
> >
> > It is very frustrating when Wikipedia is treated as a closed club of
> > those who already know everything (blocks are easily appealed)
> > excluding those who are just here to edit and don't know the easy way
> > to do things that don't appear in the instructions.
> >
> > The blocking message still says the same thing it did.
> >
> > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MediaWiki:Blockedtext
> >
> > KP
> >
> >
> I've come to the conclusion recently, based on the plethora of conflicting,
> ambiguous, and ever-changing policy/guideline pages and the general state of
> them, and the various inane templates and messages used as editorial notices
> in article content, that Wikipedia is now controlled by the Vogons.
>
> Except that with the Vogons, you can probably eventually find out the
> correct archaic sequence to follow for any procedure.
>
> Zoney
>
> --
And with Vogons you can actually find the sequence for the procedure,
whether or not you can follow it.

KP