Conversations with a Dragon
edit- Note: Using the Question format lessons the amount of challenge that the Dragon perceives. While there is a benefit in engaing him and taking his mind and energy off the "newbie" there is little sense in angering him. Afterall, he can breathe fire!!
- Note: There seems to be a surge in conflict but does it meet the needs of today's WikikPedia? Across the vast consciousness of Cyberspace are Internet conversations. Aggression is the watchword. But here, at WikiPedia, it threatens Civility, good faith positions, the community.
- The "newbie" is still finding out who they are and what they are going to do here. Whats the sense of killing their eagerness?
- I know that you are "fighting" for the best interest of WP. But your opponent is a novice; unaware of the landmines and pitfalls around each corner. Cut him some slack. Mentor him rather than mutilate him.
- "Can you see a way where you could abandon your convictions, only for a moment, in the name of opportunistic conciliation and a spirit of good fellowship?" Maybe that is the more important lesson for this young editor?
- Sometimes our propensity to reject empathy and compromise gets in the way of who WE really are. Administrators are designed to monitor and to lead.
- Empower them or subjagate them.
- Two choices when confronted by a neophyte: be kind or be cruel. Will you carry them on your back for the start of their journey or will you bare your teeth and send them running back to where they came from, never to be seen again?
- Isn't it better when we engage our neighbors and use the talk pages as our points of contact rather than only receptacles for complaints?
- There seems to be contempt for the "new fish" in the community tank. Almost seems like there is a sense of urgency to break the "newbie" while it is still just a pup. Take your foot off his throat so he can breathe. What harm can he really do?
- Lets rally around something other than an enemy. Lets rally around the new editors freshness and willingness to Be Bold. Isn't that what we asked him to do?
- This "newbie" hasn't been hardened to the WP editing process. New editors respond poorly to the Pain of Loss. To him losing his article/entry/edit and all the hard work envolved is monumental and crushing. It's his "baby" and people are harming it.
- Please realize. The newbie dug a hole...you filled it in...but you havent just filled in the hole...you questioned whether or not the hole should have ever even existed. You cancelled his work (and him) out. His defensiveness should be understandable.
Whats the sense of killing their eagerness? Cut him some slack. Mentor him rather than mutilate him. In the name of opportunistic conciliation and a spirit of good fellowship?" Maybe that is the more important lesson for this young editor?