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Essay on editing Wikipedia
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Be reasonable at all times. Anything unreasonable that is being done shouldn't be done at all.
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While Wikipedia has its set of various
rules
and
guidelines
, there is one "unofficial" rule that should be observed by all who participate in the project: the
reasonability
rule
.
The reasonability rule: if an action cannot be considered "reasonable" or "acceptable" by an objective third person, that action should not be performed.
While the term seems to originate in the
insurance industry
(which applies a form of the reasonable rule by determining, for example, whether it is reasonable for a particular
medical procedure
to be done on a particular client in order to determine if the
medical insurance
company will pay for that procedure), it applies in many other areas, including:
- In
law
and
law enforcement
, the reasonability rule is often used to determine the extent of charging a person of a
crime
, the person's culpability in a
tort
or
civil suit
, the appropriate
verdict
or
sentences
, and the ultimate questions of "Is justice being done here?", "Does the punishment fit the crime?", and "What is the best way to obtain justice?"
- In
business
, the reasonability rule often comes into play in the realm of
commerce
.
Contracts
are often signed and executed within the boundaries of the reasonability rule (are the terms reasonable to both parties, for example). One can even argue that the "
meeting of the minds
" requirement under
contract law
is in fact a codification of the reasonability rule.
- In
education
, grading policies generally reflect the reasonability rule, most notably on the
college
and
university
level: "At what level is it reasonable to expect a class's students to perform?' "Is it reasonable and appropriate to give Wendell an 'A' for this course?", "Is it reasonable for Byron not to be penalized if he commits
academic dishonesty
?", and "Did Byron commit
academic dishonesty
?" are only a few questions that involve the reasonability rule in the decision process.
Editors are urged to observe the reasonability rule when working in a massive
collaborative effort
such as the Electronic Encyclopedia:
- Consensus
arises only when the community as a whole agree that a particular action or presentation is reasonable in nature. While the community often has individuals that would disagree with a specific action or determination, it is important that the editors who disagree with consensus are assured that the community reasonably take the differences of opinion in consideration while the process of forming a consensus proceeds. Similarly, it would be unreasonable for an apparent consensus to form that would be contrary to Wikipedia policies (for example, insisting that a material fact is contrary to that presented in
reliable sources
).
- A person insisting on a position or action contrary to the bulk of the community would be violating the reasonability rule by repeatedly reverting additions supported by the community itself, for such an insistence is assuming that the community is acting in bad faith; on the other hand, if consensus exists for a particular action or position, insisting that there is no consensus would also be a violation of the reasonability rule as it would be unreasonable for the community to assert consensus when none is present. Unfortunately, instances of editors violating the reasonability rule are common on Wikipedia and often result in unresolved
edit wars
,
mediation
, and more drastic measures by administrators.
- Administrators
must be diligent in observing the reasonability rule when
enforcing policy
. Is it reasonable to conclude, by using Wikipedia policies, that a particular article should be deleted? Is a particular
username
a reasonable one for an editor to have, or is it inappropriate for this venue? Is a particular action against a particularly disruptive editor reasonable and appropriate in light of the disruption? Is the action "appropriate" and reasonable in light of the editor's tendencies and proclivities?
Another way of looking at the reasonability rule is this: if you're involved in an action or judgment involving (or by) another person, reverse roles. If the role reversal forces a change of opinion as to whether the action or judgment is unreasonable, then the original action?with the original roles?violates the reasonability rule. Such violations should be kept to a minimum: full compliance with the reasonability rule will result in a minimum of conflict and a maximum of productivity and enjoyment for all who participate. Such is always the goal of a collaboration of any scale.
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- Adminitis
- Akin's Laws of Article Writing
- Alternatives to edit warring
- ANI flu
- Anti-Wikipedian
- Anti-Wikipedianism
- Articlecountitis
- Asshole John rule
- Assume bad faith
- Assume faith
- Assume good wraith
- Assume stupidity
- Assume that everyone's assuming good faith, assuming that you are assuming good faith
- Avoid using preview button
- Avoid using wikilinks
- Bad Jokes and Other Deleted Nonsense
- Barnstaritis
- Before they were notable
- BOLD, revert, revert, revert
- Boston Tea Party
- Butterfly effect
- CaPiTaLiZaTiOn MuCh?
- Complete bollocks
- Counting forks
- Counting juntas
- Crap
- Don't stuff beans up your nose
- Don't-give-a-fuckism
- Don't abbreviate "Wikipedia" as "Wiki"!
- Don't delete the main page
- Editcountitis
- Edits Per Day
- Editsummarisis
- Editing Under the Influence
- Embrace Stop Signs
- Emerson
- Fart
- Five Fs of Wikipedia
- Seven Ages of Editor, by Will E. Spear-Shake
- Go ahead, vandalize
- How many Wikipedians does it take to change a lightbulb?
- How to get away with UPE
- How to put up a straight pole by pushing it at an angle
- How to vandalize correctly
- How to win a citation war
- Ignore all essays
- Ignore every single rule
- Is that even an essay?
- Mess with the templates
- My local pond
- Newcomers are delicious, so go ahead and bite them
- Legal vandalism
- List of jokes about Wikipedia
- LTTAUTMAOK
- No climbing the Reichstag dressed as Spider-Man
- No one cares about your garage band
- No one really cares
- No, really
- No sorcery threats
- Notability is not eternal
- Oops Defense
- Play the game
- Please be a giant dick, so we can ban you
- Please bite the newbies
- Please do not murder the newcomers
- Pledge of Tranquility
- R-e-s-p-e-c-t
- Requests for medication
- Requirements for adminship
- Rouge admin
- Rouge editor
- Sarcasm is really helpful
- Sausages for tasting
- The Night Before Wikimas
- The first rule of Wikipedia
- The Five Pillars of Untruth
- Things that should not be surprising
- The WikiBible
- Watchlistitis
- Wikipedia is an MMORPG
- WTF? OMG! TMD TLA. ARG!
- What Wikipedia is not/Outtakes
- Why not create an account?
- Yes legal threats
- You don't have to be mad to work here, but
- You should not write meaningless lists
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