RevertsHurt
Reverts can hurt. Let's document how, and how to avoid the hurt when reverting.
If you care ... explain why you reverted, not just what you did!
Reverts That Don't Hurt
Occasionally I'll make an EfficientlyExpressedSuggestion that turns out to be wrong headed. I may have been missing essential information or perhaps I was thinking poorly. When someone reverts a change that I've made and takes the time to clearly and Graciously explain their reasoning, I feel like they care about me. An explanation in the edit summary feels important, because then it explains to others who might be watching that the reverter doesn't think I'm stupid. An explanation on my talk page indicates clearly that they care about me and how I might feel about having my work undone.
Reverts That Do Hurt
When something I've done on the wiki is reverted (changed back) without any explanation in the edit summary, that hurts. My goal is to make EfficientlyExpressedSuggestions with my edits, and a silent revert feels perhaps too efficient as a response, for me to feel part of this community.
It also hurts if the only explanation is an edit summary that says "removed xyz," with no reason why. Was my idea that bad, that I don't even need to know why someone thought it was a bad idea?
Reverts using the RollBack button also hurt, because there's no chance for an edit summary explaining, and it feels as if I'm being treated as a vandal or spammer.
Discussion
We should all AssumeGoodFaith when we work on AboutUs and if we are assuming good faith then we should believe that if someone changes our work they are trying to add value to it. If we trust the people we work with then reverts, or even roll backs, should never hurt.
- This "should" language doesn't work for me. It makes me wrong for being angry when someone uses the rollback button (a tool for saving time with spammers and vandals) without explanation. When someone uses the rollback button for an edit of mine, that tells me that I am as unimportant as a spammer or a vandal. This tells me that I don't matter to this project because the person couldn't be bothered to use an edit summary to tell me the reason for the revert. We are human beings with emotions, and if we care about each other, we owe each other explanations for reverts. TedErnst
