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This is an essay on the conduct policy.
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: Yelling “Censorship” to “win” a content dispute in Wikipedia is a misguided approach. |
Wikipedia has content disputes between editors and conduct disputes involving one or more editors. Content disputes should normally be worked out in accordance with the dispute resolution policy between the editors, sometimes with help from other editors or from the community. Conduct disputes can be reported to a conduct forum such as WP:ANIorWP:AN, or Arbitration Enforcement in some cases, or dealt with by a single administrator. However, there are certain approaches that are sometimes taken by an editor in a content dispute in order to “win” the content dispute that are not constructive. One of them is yelling “Censorship!” in order to “win” the content dispute, claiming that deleting or reverting their edits is censorship and violates the policy that Wikipedia is not censored. It is true that Wikipedia is not censored, but censorship, in the context of the Wikipedia policy, and in general proper usage, has a specific meaning that does not encompass all editing. The policy that Wikipedia is not censored means that content should not be removed from it because it is morally offensive, inappropriate for children, or likely to cause emotional distress. It does not mean that content may never be removed. Content may be removed from an article for a number of reasons, the most common being that it is not verifiable, that its inclusion is undue weight, or it can be expressed in some more encyclopedic way. Editors who yell that the removal of their words from an article is censorship, or complain that an article is being censored, usually do not understand what is meant by censorship, either in the context of Wikipedia or in general proper usage.
Editors who continue to yell about “censorship” to “win” a content dispute should generally have the policy explained to them more carefully. However, editors who yell in order to “win” a dispute often do not listen to explanations. It is rare for a content dispute in Wikipedia actually to involve censorship. If an editor insists on yelling that removing their content will be censorship, the dispute resolution policy describes several approaches to resolve disputes, including a Request for Comments. A Request for Comments establishes consensus, and editing against consensus is disruptive editing.
