 | This is an essay on civility. 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. |
 | This page in a nutshell: Don't contradict yourself and everyone's happy. |
One of the problems of being a modern human means that there have been mistakes in the programming. Usually it's something small, like being colorblind, or forgetting why you entered a room. One of these mistakes is hypocrisy. Wikipedia users and the general populace usually frown upon hypocrisy, for it confuses and infuriates.
How to be a hypocrite
editIf one so wishes to be a hypocrite, then they are to contradict their own statements or beliefs regularly. This can be accomplished by going onto one or multiple talk pages and arguing FOR one side, then later going and arguing AGAINST that same side, such as in the deletion of a page.
How can I avoid such annoying behavior?
editFor starters, don't go back and forth between opinions and statements. Don't say that you want to have User:SoAndSo banned, then five seconds later start saying you want him to become an admin. This, as stated before, confuses and infuriates, leading to flame wars and a whole lot of people getting banned, including you. Who wants that?
The second way to avoid being a hypocrite is to say that you never do 'X' (such as making mistakes while editing or something similar), then proceed to do 'X'. Not only do you become a hypocrite, but you also become a liar. Unless that gets you off, you're going to get nowhere within the Wikipedia community, and you risk being condemned by a few to a lot of users, causing edit wars and a whole lot of people getting banned (this sounds familiar), including you.