[WikiEN-l] Dangerous factionalism (Was: Re: SlimVirgin and CheckUser leaks)

[Abd ul-Rahman Lomax]

At 10:29 AM 7/22/2008, Ken Arromdee wrote:
>Which is not a positive comparison.  Because it leads to serious injustice
>in the schoolyard, when a kid gets bullied, complains about it, and the
>teachers punish both the bully and the victim.

Well, smart teachers don't punish either, and avoid deciding blame. 
Rather, they stop and prevent further abuse, they make sure the kids 
can talk about what happened in a safe place, etc., etc. And they 
encourage the kids to find ways to get along, or, at least, to leave 
each other alone. And when one kid is constantly the focus of 
complaints, then they need to give that some special attention.

When there is a brawl in a bar, and the police walk in, they do not 
attempt to figure out who caused it, whose fault it is, who is to 
blame, etc. They tell everyone to stop. Now. And if *anyone* doesn't 
stop, they arrest that person (or worse.) How often that person, 
being dragged off, is screaming, "But he started it!"

Perhaps. Perhaps he did start it. But you continued it, and you are 
still carrying it. Drop it. Or be arrested.

Our "Stop!" is warning followed by "arrest" (block) if the behavior 
continues. Sometimes we get totally distracted by trying to figure 
out who was wrong (i.e., who started it). Admins should stay out of 
that, almost totally. Disputes will always erupt, and, it is often 
possible to find out "who started it," but that actually doesn't 
help, much, to stop it, because before each action there is a cause, 
and before that cause another cause, and on without limit.

No, stop! Now! Then, when we can start to communicate civilly, we can 
start to resolve whatever underlying problems there are. It's not 
Rule Number One, but WP:CIVIL is far more important than our 
too-common casual tolerance of incivility might indicate.