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 | This page in a nutshell: Excessive instruction by others is likely to drive editors away from Wikipedia. |
On digging
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A team of construction workers was hired to dig a trench. One man took a shovel and started to dig. The trench slowly grew longer and deeper.
One worker said, "You'd dig faster if you put your back into it."
One worker said, "You're using the wrong kind of shovel."
One worker said, "Did you read the blueprints first?"
One worker said, "I hope you don't hit a sewer pipe."
One worker said, "We used to have better workers on our team."
One worker said, "You're sweating too much."
One worker said, "I don't think you got proper authorization."
One worker said, "How long do you think this will take?"
One worker said, "This is silly, digging by hand; you should use a backhoe."
And one worker kicked a couple shovelfuls of dirt back into the trench, saying, "You should never have taken that out in the first place."
The man in the trench put down his shovel, looked up at the crowd, and smiled. "You gentlemen know so much more about digging this trench than I do. I'll bet you can do a much better job, too." He climbed out of the trench, got into his truck, and spent the rest of the day at the beach.
Meaning
editExcessive instruction by others is more likely to drive editors away from Wikipedia rather than keep them.