Pikipedia:Behavior guidelines

The following are guidelines for how we all should ideally behave on Pikipedia. It all boils down to being civil, though there are also some tips on how to act during more specific scenarios.

Assume good faith

Shortcut: P:AGF

In a nutshell: Always assume others want to help.

See more: Assume good faith on Wikipedia.

"This user's edit has some dubious claim, typos, and broke one of the page's tables. This user is clearly trying to tarnish the wiki!"

Not really. Unless there is clear evidence to the contrary, always assume other people are acting in good faith, and really want to help Pikipedia, not harm it. We all come from different walks of life, and with different levels of experience, so if something seems off to you, it's much more reasonable that it's because of differences in perspective and skill level than it is because they are causing problems.

Remember that there is a human behind that edit. Have empathy, take it easy, and if possible, prefer gently guiding them on how to improve.

Edit wars

Shortcut: P:EDITWAR

In a nutshell: Two users should discuss in a talk page instead of undoing back and forth.

See more: Edit warring on Wikipedia.

If you've made an edit, then someone reverts what you've done with their own changes and reasoning, take a step back before changing it back. Remember that you don't own information, that you don't own your edit, and that if you had a good reason to make your change, chances are the other person had a good reason to make theirs. If you're sure you should bring it back and can reasonably explain your reasoning in your edit summary, then hopefully that'll be the end of that and an agreement is reached. But if not, leave it be. And if you're the other person, don't go for a third revert!

Instead of butting heads back and forth forever, the participants should take it to a talk page to calmly discuss everything, until an agreement is made. Failure to comply may result in one or both participants being temporarily banned from the wiki.

Don't feed the trolls

Shortcut: P:TROLL

In a nutshell: When dealing with a troll, don't acknowledge them or show emotion.

See more: Deny recognition on Wikipedia.

Vandals and trolls harm wikis for fun. They live off of making people upset. If you feed them, they will have all the more reason to come back. So in order to minimize trolling, do not give them recognition. This means that when you are cleaning up one of their messes, don't acknowledge them in the edit summary, nor show any emotion. Just a simple summary of "Undo: Vandalism" is enough. The same goes for staff members that are in the process of banning a vandal.

Users who are clearly not on the wiki to help it also don't necessarily deserve a warning on their talk page. They already know they did wrong – they want you to waste your time and respond. If they receive the silent treatment, they'll go away.

People are not mind readers

Shortcut: P:EXPLAIN

In a nutshell: Explain your reasoning at all times.

When you are editing the wiki, keep in mind that other humans cannot read your mind. If you have a reasoning for making a given change, or know some extra relevant information, take a second to consider if it's something others – readers and editors alike – know.

This usually means writing an edit summary whenever your edit is not painfully obvious, wording things so that it's hard to interpret them differently, and making sure to back up your sources.

You are valuable

Shortcut: P:YAV

In a nutshell: Be confident that the wiki has your best interests in mind.

Whether you are a reader, editor, or staff member, you matter for the wiki. Your presence in this community is what makes it whole, and Pikipedia, by virtue of being a wiki, is designed to be an informative and friction-free environment for everyone interested in the subjects documented.

Your input is always welcome. When editing, your contribution is valuable, no matter if you make mistakes or not. No matter if you're an unregistered user, a standard user, or a staff member. Naturally, staff members are nonetheless trusted with making more important decisions and guiding the wiki's style and nature.

If you have a problem with the wiki, let a staff member know. If you have a proposal on how to improve the wiki, be it in the way article contents are read, the way pages are edited, the way the various policies and guidelines are managed, or anything else, let a staff member know.

Everything else

Again, in general, the idea is for everyone to be civil. Pikipedia has its own set of behavior guidelines, but if you follow Wikipedia's, you'll no doubt be on the right track.

• Wikipedia's conduct policies
• Wikipedia's behavior guidelines