Uncyclopedia:Don't be a dick
It has wide acceptance among editors and is considered a standard that everyone should follow, unless they don't want to, in which case they are free to ignore it, in which case nobody will care. Please make use of the standing on one knee position to propose to this policy.
Thou shalt not be a dick is a sacred commandment followed by several online community projects, including most wikis. The key reason behind this is the community aspect of such projects. You see, community projects like Uncyclopedia depend a lot upon the interaction between the people contributing to it. However, a dick is, to put it simply, precisely the kind of guy nobody wants to interact with. This may eventually result in the dick becoming more of a hindrance than a helping hand to the project, and in certain cases, may also result in him getting kicked out (aka banned) because nobody can stand him anymore. Trust me, you do not want to be that kind of guy.
What is a dick, and how can I become one?
I started out by saying that a dick is a guy nobody wants to interact with. There are many ways one can become such a guy, often without even knowing it. Usually, people who are branded "dicks" are
- Just plain annoying- They have difficulty understanding other people, or following rules. They act very childish and defensive when confronted over the problems they're causing, and often begin to whine about how everybody's turning on them and how "nothing on this site is truly funny." Often people become annoying because it feels nearly impossible to talk any kind of sense into them as they're either too dumb or too hot-headed to understand the way things work around here.
- Arrogant and self-centered- These people are also known as douchebags, or people who keep acting as if they know best how to manage affairs on this site[1]. They're very stubborn about their point of view, and are not reluctant to cross the line between civil and rude behavior in order to "assert themselves". Though they may be raising a good point on an issue, it becomes difficult to work with them because of the way they keep pulling everybody else down.
- Haters and trolls- Perhaps the lowest level to which a user can stoop to. These people are frequently rude and abusive towards other users on this site. They resort to the use of foul language and personal attacks and/or threats towards other people because of some disagreement, or because they simply feel like it. Often, their behavior is extremely disruptive and off-putting and it earns no favor with any other users, mainly because they've abused and attacked pretty much all of them at one point or another. Usually, these people end up vandalizing the site, which is reason enough to block them from editing.
Keep in mind that the above traits of a dick are not mutually exclusive. People frequently behave like the ones described in the above list without even realizing it. You may be coming across as arrogant when you were genuinely working in good faith. You may be branded as annoying by some other user who was probably in a prickly mood. You may have also been branded a troll because you lost your temper and unleashed an abusive rant on somebody's talk-page. Either way, we do try our best to assume good faith around here, and if you think anybody went out of line when interacting with you, you can always take the matter to their talk-pages (in case an admin blocks you, though, you should read this).
Having said that, however, be mindful of how you treat everybody else around here. We all have standards for civil and acceptable behavior, and Uncyclopedia is no exception. Sure, we're relatively liberal with the use of bad language and name-calling and whatnot, but that's mostly just done for fun. If you start seriously disrupting this site, or attacking other people who visit it, you're only diminishing your standing here, and if you persist despite warnings and explanations, you may be shut out so that we can continue working in peace.
Notes
- ↑ Examples include all admins.