User talk:Jimbo Wales

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Matthew Gault (8 December 2021). "Wikipedia Editors Very Mad About Jimmy Wales' NFT of a Wikipedia Edit". Vice Media. The trouble began when Wales posted an announcement about the auction on his user talk page—a kind of message board where users communicate directly with each other.

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* Read this Signpost in full * Single-page * Unsubscribe * MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 22:48, 14 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

The encyclopedia that anyone can edit….

regardless whether they support all of the five pillars all of the time? Why not ask them to promise they’ll do that? If not, then bye. Anythingyouwant (talk) 00:31, 27 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Wikipedia is not a religion. It has no creed. It has no articles of faith. Asking people to make 'promises' unverifiable through any Earthly powers would achieve nothing, beyond quite possibly putting a great number of people off through being so utterly patronising. Judge people by what they do, not what they promise to believe in. AndyTheGrump (talk) 00:42, 27 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Making a promise has nothing to do with religion. It has to do with honesty. Honest people who promise to support the five pillars will make an effort to abide by them, and will leave Wikipedia if they feel unable to abide by them. I think there’s a non-negligible number of Wikipedians who are honest, don’t you think? As for the dishonest ones, sure, a promise would be worthless, and Wikipedia’s flawed and feeble mechanisms for stopping concerted gangs of propagandists will continue to fail no more than they already fail. Anythingyouwant (talk) 01:04, 27 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

You seem to have a somewhat naïve understanding of the human psyche in regard to such things as self-assessment of personal 'honesty'. If we were really like that, the world would be a much simpler place. AndyTheGrump (talk) 01:08, 27 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Promises can sometimes be worthwhile even when there’s no promise-enforcing mechanism. You vaguely suggest I’m naïve, so I’ll return the favor by suggesting you’re cynical. I think there are quite a few honest Wikipedians who don’t give a hoot about one pillar or another, and feel free to violate those pillars because (1) they never promised otherwise, and (2) they are able to get away with it. Anythingyouwant (talk) 01:16, 27 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

If there is credible evidence that cynicism is less efficacious than naivete in predicting human behaviour, I'd like to see it. AndyTheGrump (talk) 01:21, 27 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

ok, who or what is this about? ltbdl☃ (talk) 01:21, 27 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

The cynic in me (i.e. most of me, sadly) thinks it is mostly about wishful thinking. AndyTheGrump (talk) 01:25, 27 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Honesty Can Be Cultivated, Despite Cynicism. In any event, honesty does exist among both cynics and non-cynics; Wikipedia could do a much better job of harnessing it. To the extent it exists, asking people to make and keep a promise is far from futile. Anythingyouwant (talk) 01:39, 27 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Back in the 1960s I was what was then known as a Wolf Cub. I was required to regularly recite "I promise that I will do my best, to do my duty to God and to the Queen, to help other people, and to keep the Cub Scout Law". I am now an atheist, and (in the not-in-favour-of-monarchy sense) a republican. Does that make me dishonest? AndyTheGrump (talk) 01:46, 27 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I hope not, it’s up to you. You’re not a Wolf Cub anymore, and doubtless your promise in the 1960s no longer applies. Anythingyouwant (talk) 02:15, 27 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]