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WP:RANDY

Molṑn labé!

Randy in Boise is the archetypal uninformed but relentless Wikipedia editor. Randy in Boise rose to fame in an essay about Wikipedia in Wired:

The Wikipedia philosophy can be summed up thusly: "Experts are scum." For some reason people who spend 40 years learning everything they can about, say, the Peloponnesian War—and indeed, advancing the body of human knowledge—get all pissy when their contributions are edited away by Randy in Boise who heard somewhere that sword-wielding skeletons were involved. And they get downright irate when asked politely to engage in discourse with Randy until the sword-skeleton theory can be incorporated into the article without passing judgment.^[1]

Randy's enablers

The mythical Randy in Boise would cause far less disruption were it not for his enablers. Most of these are experienced Wikipedians, whose own content edits are unproblematic, but who systematically take Randy's side in the disputes with which he inevitably becomes involved.

Frequently, they discover behavioral problems with every editor who opposes Randy's POV pushing. Meanwhile, they ignore or minimize Randy's own behavior problems. When Randy first arrives on the scene, they justify his problematic edits by saying that "only experienced Wikipedians should be held to a higher standard." However, if their support does allow Randy to last long enough to accumulate a few thousand edits, and perhaps burn out one or more valuable editors, they do not then hold him to a higher standard.

Eventually, Randy wears out the patience of the community to the point that his enablers cannot protect him anymore. His editing career is then over, except for possible sockpuppets. His enablers, by contrast, seem to go on forever, always finding new Randies to support.

Notes

^ Sjöberg, Lore (19 April 2006). "The Wikipedia FAQK". Wired. Retrieved 11 April 2014.

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+== Randy's enablers ==
+The mythical Randy in Boise would cause far less disruption were it not for his enablers. Most of these are experienced Wikipedians, whose own content edits are unproblematic, but who systematically take Randy's side in the disputes with which he inevitably becomes involved.
+Frequently, they discover behavioral problems with every editor who opposes Randy's POV pushing. Meanwhile, they ignore or minimize Randy's own behavior problems. When Randy first arrives on the scene, they justify his problematic edits by saying that "only experienced Wikipedians should be held to a higher standard." However, if their support does allow Randy to last long enough to accumulate a few thousand edits, and perhaps burn out one or more valuable editors, they do not then hold him to a higher standard.
+Eventually, Randy wears out the patience of the community to the point that his enablers cannot protect him anymore. His editing career is then over, except for possible sockpuppets. His enablers, by contrast, seem to go on forever, always finding new Randies to support.
 ==Notes==

Revision as of 15:42, 19 October 2016

Randy's enablers

Notes

See also