This is anessay. It contains the advice or opinions of one or more Wikipedia contributors. This page is not an encyclopedia article, nor is it one ofWikipedia's policies or guidelines, as it has not beenthoroughly vetted by the community. Some essays represent widespread norms; others only represent minority viewpoints.

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This page in a nutshell: It's okay to call a spade a spade – to speak plainly – but remember toremain civil, and to stay focused on improving the encyclopedia.

Tocall a spade a spade is to describe something clearly and directly. Rather thanusing oblique and obfuscating language, just "tell it like it is".

While editors who consistently engage in disruptive editing are disruptive editors, and editors who consistently vandalize are vandals, it is still required that editors becivil to one another. However, beingcivil should not be confused with beingfriendly orcourteous, let alonecharitable orcredulous. A key concept: treating someone in a "not bad" way does notalways equate to treating them in a "good" way. You are required to not treat other editors horribly, you should perhaps act with kindness, but you are not required to act with unrequited kindness as if you wereMister Rogers orBob Ross orKeanu Reeves.

You don't have to be likeFred,Bob, orKeanu. Wikipedia's aim is not to be virtuous (nor malicious); it is meant to beneutral. You should try to be too.

Rather than citing their edits in good faith, some users may point to our policies againstpersonal attacks andincivility in order to protect their edits from scrutiny. It's OK to let others know when you think they're acting inappropriately, but a bit of politeness and tact while doing so will get them to listen more readily. One can be honest and direct about another editor's behaviour or edits without resorting to name-calling or attacks. Discuss troubling edits, in reasonable terms, on thatarticle's discussion page. If the behaviour of a user remains troublesome, use thedispute resolution process. When referring to a particular bad edit, it is always best to include adiff.

Calling a spade a spade can apply to article content. For example,POV pushers often like to create obfuscated prose which disguises the majority view. To give an example:

Flat earth is a scientifically disproven conception of the Earth's shape as a plane or disk.

to this

Flat earth is a traditional cosmological model which has been criticized by some for what they see as "misinformation".

When it is clear that the majority view among reliable sources is that Flat Earth is not a real thing, the article should state it inwikivoice.

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