Wikipedia:No personal attacks
Do not make personal attacks on the Wikipedia. Comment on content, not on the contributor. Personal attacks damage the community and deter users. Nobody likes abuse.
Many Wikipedians remove personal attacks on sight. Users have been blocked or banned for repeatedly engaging in them. Abusive edit summaries are particularly ill-regarded.
Different contributors may not agree on an article. This may reflect fundamental differences in real life. Members of opposing communities reasonably wish to express their views. The synthesis of these views into a single article creates a better, NPOV article for everyone. In order to create this synthesis of views it helps if we accept that we are all part of the same community as we are all Wikipedians.
Remember that disputes on talk pages are accessible to everyone on the Internet. The way in which you conduct yourself on Wikipedia reflects on Wikipedia and on you.
Wikipedians should:
- Be civil
- Stick to good Wikiquette
- Work towards consensus
- Respect the right of others to hold their views. This does not mean that you have to agree with them, but just agree to disagree.
- Discuss the facts and how to express them, not the attributes of the other party.
- Never suggest a view is invalid simply because of who its proponent is.
- Consider exploring issues in a less public forum like e-mail if a debate threatens to become personal.
- Have a read of Wikipedia:Dispute resolution to see how other Wikipedians can help you to resolve a dispute.
- Be tolerant of others views, even if you disagree with them. You may well regard the other party's views as being on the fringe. This may even be true, but Wikipedia is aiming for a neutral point of view, not to exclude unconventional views. We are not trying to write a "single correct version of the truth."
Specific examples of personal attack include:
- Negative personal comments
- Racial, sexual, homophobic, religious or ethnic epithets directed against another contributor. Religious epithets are not allowed even if the contributor is a member of a purported cult.
- Political affiliation attacks, such as calling someone a Nazi
- Profanity directed against another contributor.
- Threats of legal action
- Death threats.
- Threats or actions which expose other Wikipedia editors to political, religious or other persecution by government, their employer or any others. Violations of this sort may result in a block for an extended period of time which may be applied immediately by any sysop upon discovery. Sysops applying such sanctions should confidentially notify the members of the Wikipedia:Arbitration Committee and Jimbo Wales of what they have done and why.
There is no excuse for such attacks on other contributors. Do not make them. Stay cool.
If you are personally attacked, you may remove the attacks or may follow the dispute resolution process or both. In extreme cases, you can request the attacker be blocked.
Suggestions of policy changes
Options added in the policy on the 10 Sep 2004 (UTC) and not yet validated by the community (if no objection before 2 weeks, will be considered approved). If you disagree with those propositions, please comment below or in the talk page. (objections in Talk) Objections having been made by several users and two weeks having passed, these changes are not considered approved. -- orthogonal 07:51, 27 Sep 2004 (UTC)
Specific examples of personal attack include:
- Recently added (21:53, 10 Sep 2004 (UTC)), not yet validated by consensus:
Assertions of negative or malicious intent outside of dispute resolution.
Personal attacks do not include
- Claims explicltly limited to edits. "This edit is stupid" is not a personal attack. 'You are stupid" is.
- Reasonable and moderated language used to describe a user's actions in the context of dispute resolution or requesting sysop action, unless such a request is patently absurd and clearly designed only to cause offense.
- Statements that accurately reflect claims a user has made about him or herself. For instance if a user says "I am a Nazi who wants to eliminate all mention of Jews in Wikipedia," the claims "You're a Nazi" or "You're trying to eliminate all mention of Jews from Wikipedia" are not personal attacks.
Personal attacks do not include reasonable and moderated language used to describe a user's actions in the context of dispute resolution or requesting assistance from others. However, when doing this please be careful to avoid becoming either disruptive to Wikipedia, or harrassing to the user in question.