The following concepts and terms are listed here as an aid in discussing and understanding our activity. It is a work-in-progress and will be developed in the light of experience.
And so these men of IndostanDisputed loud and long,
Each in his own opinionExceeding stiff and strong,
Though each was partly in the rightAnd all were in the wrong!
Aristotle suggested that man was a political animal. Some relevant allegories, analogies and findings follow:
- ants
- aquila non capit muscas
- beargarden
- behavioural despair test
- blind men and an elephant
- cat and mouse
- cat-burning
- cobra effect
- cock throwing
- crying wolf
- dæmon
- execution by elephant
- fox tossing
- goose pulling
- herding cats
- homo homini lupus
- many monkeys hanging at the circus see and do three wise peanuts
- molehill
- nitpicking
- pacu jawi
- pecking order
- pig wrestling
- pit of despair
- sheep voting
- stereotypes
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Consternation in the Beargarden -
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Laws
editPer WP:NOTLAW, Wikipedia is not governed by formal rules. It therefore evolves in accordance with the dynamics of human behaviour. These have been documented as a variety of natural laws and principles including:
- Acton's dictum
- Arrow's paradox
- Benford's law of controversy
- Brandolini's law
- Brooks's law
- Campbell's law
- Conway's law
- Dilbert principle
- Dunning–Kruger effect
- Gall's law
- Gell-Mann amnesia effect
- Gender-equality paradox
- Godwin's law
- Goodhart's law
- Hanlon's razor
- Hick's law
- Hutber's law
- Iron law of oligarchy
- Law of Jante
- Linus's law
- Paradox of fiction
- Parkinson's law
- Peter principle
- Pournelle's iron law of bureaucracy
- Putt's law
- Rule-following paradox
- Stockdale paradox
- Streisand effect
- Sturgeon's law
But there are other laws and principles, which are commonly not found here including:
.
- WP:ATD – Alternatives to deletion
- WP:BATTLE – Wikipedia is not a battleground
- WP:BEFORE – Before nominating: checks and alternatives
- WP:BURO – Wikipedia is not a bureaucracy
- WP:BITE – Please do not bite the newcomers
- WP:CENSOR – Wikipedia is not censored
- WP:CREEP – Avoid instruction creep
- WP:CSD – Criteria for speedy deletion
- WP:DELAFD – Deletion discussion
- WP:DEL-REASON – Reasons for deletion
- WP:DGFA – Deletion guidelines for administrators
- WP:IAR – Ignore all rules
- WP:IMPERFECT – Perfection is not required
- WP:NOTPAPER – There is no practical limit to the number of topics Wikipedia can cover
- WP:PRESERVE – Preserve information
- WP:PROD – Proposed deletion
- Ambiguity tolerance–intolerance
- Antisocial personality
- Attention seeking
- Auto-trolling
- Backbiter
- Biblioclast
- Busybody
- Carping
- Censor
- Compulsive hoarding
- Deletionist
- Dick
- False evidence
- Fanatic
- Flaming
- Griefer
- Grinding
- Hater
- Hun
- Iconoclast
- Inclusionist
- Jammer
- Jobsworth
- Liar
- Pedant
- Perfectionist
- Player killer
- Prig
- Prude
- Psychopath
- Punding
- Puritan
- Sadist
- Sniggling
- Sociopath
- Sockpuppet
- Stalker
- Stickler
- Troll
- Vandal
- Vexatious litigant
- Victim playing