edit war

From edit +‎ war.

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edit war (plural edit wars)

1. (Wikimedia jargon) A dispute over the content of a page on a wiki or other editable work where opposing editors continually change the page without discussion.

   As with dinner-table discussions, it is best to avoid editing articles about politics or religion unless one wishes to become entrenched in a perpetual edit war.

   • 2008, Phoebe Ayers, Charles Matthews, Ben Yates, How Wikipedia Works: And How You Can Be a Part of It, No Starch Press, →ISBN, page 388:

     An unproductive edit war results as editors change the page back and forth between two incompatible versions, without troubling to engage in discussions.

   • 2011 September 12, Noam Cohen, “On Wikipedia, Echoes of 9/11 ‘Edit Wars’”, in The New York Times‎, →ISSN:

     In 2008, doubters of the official account of the attacks — sometimes called truthers — were told by the arbitration committee not to edit the main page on the attacks after so-called edit wars over what should be included there.

edit war (third-person singular simple present edit wars, present participle edit warring, simple past and past participle edit warred)

1. (Wikimedia jargon) To engage in an edit war.

   When a dispute arises, it is common to see a page protected to avoid edit warring.

• edit-war

• edit warrior

• wardite