"WP:UW" redirects here. For information on inaccurate weighting of points of view, seeWP:Undue weight. For the Wikipedia Upload Wizard, seeWP:File Upload Wizard.
This page explains what user talk namespace templates are, and how to use them within Wikipedia. You can click on the tabs at the top of this page for detailed information about how to use these templates, as well as how they have been designed.
The purpose of this WikiProject is to standardise and improve user warning templates, and make them conform to technical guidelines.
User talk templates are placed on users'talk pages to advise a user against actions that disrupt Wikipedia, to advise editors of common mistakes, or to place a standard boilerplate note at the top of a page. They are designed to convey a standardized message. The purpose of user warnings is to guidegood-faith testers and dissuade bad-faithvandals or editors engaging indisruptive editing.You should check that the user has made harmful or disruptive edits before issuing a warning, and that they have not already been warned for the same action by another editor. The user must be given a chance to see, and react to, each warning given.
User blocks serve to prevent further disruption, or to protect Wikipedia, rather than to punish users. If a user stopped vandalizing some time ago, and their edit histories don't suggest a pattern of chronic vandalism, there's no need to warn or block them at all; a welcome template for new users might help future visits. Conversely, if a user is in the midst of an obviously bad-faith vandalism spree, there's no need for them to be warned before anadministrator temporarily blocks them.You should ensure that you are familiar with the content of templates before issuing them. If the tone or content of a template isn't appropriate, don't use the template — just write your owncivil message that fits the situation. You may use the content of the template as a base if you like.[a]
Quoted & rearranged from:WP:Civility. Incivility – or the appearance of incivility – sometimes arises from placing (inappropriate) warning templates and unprofessionally fighting (alleged) vandalism.
Be careful with user warning templates. Be careful about issuing templated messages to editors you're currently involved in a dispute with, and exercise caution when using templated messages for newcomers (seeWikipedia:Please do not bite the newcomers). Consider using a personal message instead of, or in addition to, the templated message.
Explain yourself. Insufficientexplanations for edits can be perceived as uncivil. Use good edit summaries, and use the talk page if the edit summary does not provide enough space or if a more substantive debate is likely to be needed.
Be careful with edit summaries. They are relatively short comments and thus potentially subject to misinterpretation or oversimplification. They cannot be changed after pressing "Save", and are often written in haste, particularly in stressful situations. Remember toexplain your edit - especially when things are getting heated; to avoid personal comments about any editors you have disputes with; and to use the talk page to further explain your view of the situation.
Be professional. Just because we are online and unpaid does not mean we can behave badly to each other. People working together in a newspaper office are not supposed to get into punch-ups in the newsroom because they disagree about how something is worded or whose turn it is to make the coffee. Nor are volunteers working at the animal rescue centre allowed to start screaming at each other over who left ferrets in the filing cabinet or the corn snake in the cutlery drawer. In fact, there's pretty much nowhere where people working together to do something good are allowed to get into fist-fights, shouting matches, hair-pulling or name-calling; the same principle applies here.
Try not to get too intense. Passion can be misread as aggression, so take great care to avoid the appearance of being heavy-handed or bossy. Nobody likes to bebossed about by an editor who appears to believe that they are "superior"; nobody likes a bully.
Take a Real-Life check. Disengage bytwo steps to assess what you're about to say (or have just said). Asking yourself "How would I feel if someone said that to me?" is often not enough, many people can just brush things off, and it's like water off a duck's back. To get a better perspective, ask yourself: "How would I feel if someone said that to someone I love whocannot just "brush it off?" If you would find that unacceptable, thendo not say it. And, if you have already said it, strike it and apologise.
If you're a vandal or you disrupt Wikipedia often,you may find auser warning that this user contributed to onyour talk page the next time you disrupt Wikipedia.
^In fact, you may be able to copy the result of the template directly, then edit that, bysubstituting it then copying the output fromShow changes if you're using theSource Editor. (Almost all of these templates are intended to be substituted anyway.) Please also edit the HTML comment that says the name of the template to say something like "based on [name of the template]".
User warnings
General
Culture and the arts
Geographical
History and society
Science, technology
Wikipedia assistance
