This is a Wiktionary policy, guideline or common practices page. This is a draft proposal. It is unofficial, and it is unknown whether it is widely accepted by Wiktionary editors. | |
Policies – Entries: CFI - EL - NORM - NPOV - QUOTE - REDIR - DELETE. Languages: LT - AXX. Others: BLOCK - BOTS - VOTES. |
Do not make personal attacks anywhere in Wiktionary. Comment on content, not on the contributor. Personal attacks will never help you make a point; they hurt the Wiktionary community and deter users from helping create a good dictionary.
There is no excuse for personal attacks on other contributors. Do not make them.
Editors who make extreme or repeated personal attacks may be blocked or face other consequences, such as being forbidden from interacting with particular editors.
Specific examples of personal attacks include but are not limited to the following:
Instead, try the following:
Many Wiktionarians remove personal attacks on third parties on sight, and although this is not policy it is often seen as an appropriate reaction to extreme personal abuse. Users have been banned from other sister projects for repeatedly engaging in personal attacks. Abusive edit summaries are also ill-regarded.
If you are personally attacked, you should ask the attacker to stop and note this policy. If they continue, consider following Wikipedia's process for resolving disputes.
In severe and repeated cases, an attacker may be blocked. A block may be applied even for isolated personal attacks where the attack was extreme (such as a death threat or an instance of doxxing that plausibly places another user at risk of real-world harm).
As with all blocks, blocking for personal attacks should only be done for prevention, not punishment. A block may be warranted if it seems likely that the user will continue using personal attacks.
Personal attacks are also contrary to the Wikimedia Foundation's Universal Code of Conduct and the Terms of Use. Editors who have egregiously and continually violated these policies have been globally banned from all Wikimedia sites, including Wiktionary.
Remember to accept that we are all part of the same community as we are all Wiktionarians. Disputes on talk pages are accessible to everyone on the Internet. The way in which you conduct yourself on Wiktionary reflects on Wiktionary and on you.
It is your responsibility to foster and maintain a positive online community in Wiktionary. Personal attacks against any user - regardless of the editor's past behavior - are contrary to this spirit.