Difference between revisions of "EditWars"

EditWars refer to the chaos that ensues when two or more users engage in intense bouts of repeated reverting one another’s edits.

AboutUs’s policy toward EditWars is that they are not constructive behavior and are destructive to community building efforts.

EditWars occur when there is a break from wiki culture in the failure to AssumeGoodFaith in the actions, or for wiki purposes, in the edits of another. Edits are made, then reverted, reverted again and the makings of an EditWar are well under way.

How to Avoid Edit Wars

• If your edits have been reverted and you believe them to be constructive trying leaving a note on the talk page of the offending user. You can also leave a note on your own talk page if the user persistent reverter has an anonymous IP address. This is a good first step to avoiding EditWars, especially when the conflict is rooted in misunderstanding.

• Always make sure that your edits adhere to these basic principles:

1. Is my edit constructive?
2. Is my edit good for the reader?
3. When in doubt- dicuss! (leave a notes on talk pages, your own or other users)
4. Rembember that not all constructive edits are positive; criticism based on facts and experience are useful to the community- as hard it is as it flies in the face of human tendency of self preservation. Use criticism as an opportunity for dialogue.
5. If an EditWar is looming ask for Help from the community or ContactUs to mediate the situation.

Final Thought

• EditWars would be harder to wage if users were part of a community, using real names and practicing transparency.

Good response

Thinking of a conflict in life as an example of what happens online is a good way to think about edit wars, here is a good example of how to resolve such situations.