User:DangerousPanda/Essays/Shut up and calm down

This is an essay.

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

Hey, I get it; you're pretty angry right now. Remember, we make some of our dumbest mistakes when we're angry - or drunk (or both). As such, right now is a good time to shut up and calm down before you get yourself into possibly even more trouble. After all, right now things are likely "fixable"; but that may change based on how you move forward.

If you make things worse, then your chances of reversing the problem become exponentially smaller. So, take a deep breath, calm down a little, and act rationally as you proceed.

You're probably going to get a lot of advice/comments right now; use them. Note that administrators typically do not want to block you, but if it comes to protecting the project, they will need to. However, they are likely your best source of help and advice in moving forward right now, so it's a good idea to pay attention to them. It might unfortunately be a good time ignore non-admins who anger you or egg you on to do dumb things.

Deletion discussions

You have put a lot of work into something, and someone has had the nerve to say it's not notable, or that it needs to be deleted. Sometimes it's even going to be speedily deleted. What the heck, right? You deserve to be angry because

Unblocks

"How dare you block me!"

How to get unblocked in general

Although the Guide to Appealing Blocks is pretty detailed, here's the key parts:

show that you understand the reason behind the block - the project is being protected from something, so what is it?
put yourself in the blocking admin's shoes - what did they see?

Legal threats

Here's the one where you really need to keep calm, and not make it worse. Policy says that we must block you for any and all direct threats, and sometimes even just the suggestion that you're involving police or the legal system. Period.

Take a deep breath. Take a look at your recent contributions. What did you say that led to this block? Try reading it from the other person's point of view. Were you just blowing off steam? Were you trying to get your preferred version of text in an article? Is there an article about you or your business that you were "fixing"?

Remember, Wikipedia is a private website, and you have no rights to edit here. Therefore stop, breathe, and take a moment before proceeding. Do not create a new account, or even edit anonymously until this is cleared up.

Whatever you do, don't make additional legal threats on top of the one(s) you already made!

How to get unblocked for legal threats

This type of block is reasonably easy to fix: submit an unblock request that explicitly states:

you are not pursuing legal means
you retract all legal threats
you will remove any instances using <s> </s> once unblocked (don't forget to do it)
you will not do it again