Wikipedia:Pencils are no big deal
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 | This page in a nutshell: If you use the tools you have to antagonize people, they will be wary about giving you more of them. |
On Wikipedia, one frequently encounters the phrase "adminship is no big deal."
You know what else is no big deal?
Ask somebody for a pencil, and they're likely to give you one, with very little fuss. And yet, if you repeatedly stick them, or yourself, in the eye with that pencil, people will be wary about giving you any more pencils. That doesn't mean that pencils are now a big deal, and it doesn't mean that the pencil-dispensing system is broken. It just means that maybe you should be a bit more careful with the pencil you currently have before requesting more of them. If you manage not to poke yourself or other people in the eye with pencils for, say, six months, somebody will probably at that point feel safe giving you another pencil.
There are many different user rights on Wikipedia, but an editor can do quite a bit of damage with no user rights at all. Edit warring, insulting other editors, adding dubious information to articles, and accidentally or purposefully breaking things don't require any special permissions: the "edit" tool alone is quite powerful. If you're interested in acquiring certain user rights (for example, through a request for adminship), your fellow editors will be much more likely to grant them if you've demonstrated that you're able to use the tools you already have without (metaphorically) poking your fellow editors in the eye with them.
But your fellow editors are often (though not always) a forgiving lot; if you have poked an eye or two, just stop doing that, and focus on using your pencil in the manner it was intended. Once some time has passed and you've demonstrated that you have no trouble using your pencil properly, your next request for a pencil is likely to go much more smoothly.