Wikipedia: The Missing Manual

When You Get Irritated (or Worse)

This chapter is primarily for situations where you’re the target of incivility or personal attacks. But, sadly, you may be the one committing—or thinking about committing—mayhem against another editor. You know you shouldn’t, but sometimes telling yourself that you shouldn’t do something isn’t enough. If it’s not, this section can help.

If You Haven’t Yet Posted Something You’ll Regret

If you’re just thinking about posting something snippy, subtly insulting, or otherwise critical of another editor, take yourself promptly to one or more of the following pages:

• Wikipedia:Truce (shortcut: WP:TRUCE).

• Wikipedia:A nice cup of tea and a sit down (shortcut: WP:TEA).

• Or take a look at some of the essays mentioned earlier in the chapter: WP:COOL, WP:NAM, and WP:APR.

If You Have Posted Something You Realize You Shouldn’t Have

Say you’ve indulged in a little biting criticism of another edit. And, quite possibly, the editor deserved to be criticized. Nevertheless, you’ve committed a violation of Wikipedia policy, and (as good as it may have felt when you were doing it) done nothing to further the goal of building the world’s best online encyclopedia.

First, rest assured that you won’t get booted off Wikipedia for a single mistake, or even for a couple. You will get into trouble by ignoring justified warnings and continuing your behavior. As discussed earlier in the chapter, Wikipedia administrators don’t block editors to punish them, they block editors to prevent future ...