 | This is an essay. 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: Although we respect editors who feel very passionately about a topic, they often disrupt the project. |
The following was posted by William Pietri to welcome back a banned editor on a hotly disputed article. Several people have praised it as embodying perfectly the Wikipedian ideals, especially this excerpt:
Wikipedia's articles are no place for strong views. Or rather, we feel about strong views the way that a natural history museum feels about tigers. We admire them and want our visitors to see how fierce and clever they are, so we stuff them and mount them for close inspection. We put up all sorts of carefully worded signs to get people to appreciate them as much as we do. But however much we adore tigers, a live tiger loose in the museum is seen as an urgent problem.
Pietri's posting is an excellent example of staying cool when dealing with people with strong opinions. Another posting on WikiEN-l is also particularly pertinent:
Another key to the problem here, {name of contentious editor}. You don't see yourself as having an opinion; you see yourself as bearing the Truth. You perceive your biases as neutral.
It is inescapably true that, on occasion, all of us fall prey to that particular conceit.