172.58.241.103

Welcome!

Hello, 172.58.241.103, and welcome to Wikipedia! I hope you like the place and decide to stay. Here are a few links to pages you might find helpful:

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Please remember to sign your messages on talk pages by typing four tildes (~~~~); this will automatically insert your username and the date. If you need help, check out Wikipedia:Questions, ask me on my talk page, or , and a volunteer should respond shortly. Again, welcome! Mathglot (talk) 01:42, 17 March 2024 (UTC)

About using the word vandalism

Hi, IP 172, and thanks for your contributions. I noticed you added Talk page discussions at Talk:Manasseh I#Reverting vandalism and Talk:Obadiah (Khazar)#Reverting last month's vandalism after reverting another editor at those articles. Removing unsourced material from Wikipedia is a net positive, so thank you for those edits. Thanks also for starting discussions at both Talk pages, to explain in further detail about the reasons for your reverts, which are helpful to other editors, especially as you are a new editor.

However there is one small detail to keep in mind for future discussions of this sort: please do not use the word vandalism about another editor's actions for now, until you have more experience at Wikipedia. The actions by the other editor, while perhaps ill-considered, were not vandalism in Wikipedia's definition of the word. There is a very specific meaning for the word vandalism here, and adding unsourced material, possibly even false or fictional unsourced material, is not necessarily vandalism in Wikipedia terms. What vandalism is here, is the intentional addition of false or misleading information to a page, with the intention of knowingly disrupting the encyclopedia. Addition of completely false content, even debunked misinformation is not vandalism *if* the editor believes it is accurate and they are trying to improve the article, even if they are terribly mistaken. Please keep that in mind going forward.

The Talk page section headers above could have been something like, == Reverting uncited material == in both cases, or == Reverting uncited material from last month == for example. As no one has responded yet in those discussions, you can still alter those two section headers, and I recommend you do so, because as they stand now, they come off as overly aggressive, and there isn't any actual vandalism going on by the other editor. Another key principle at Wikipedia, is to assume good faith on the part of other editors; they may disagree with your or me, but if they are trying to improve an article, even if the way they are doing it seems wrong or is wrong, nevertheless they are due the respect that any editor deserves and an assumption on the part of others that they are trying to do good work. When there is disagreement about content, then by all means, start Talk page discussions, as you have done (kudos for that!). If you *truly* believe someone is vandalizing an article, do not deal with it yourself (beyond just politely fixing or removing the problematic material), instead, ask for admin help in dealing with it; see WP:AIV. But that should be the last resort, not the first one. Feel free to contact me if you have questions, or try the WP:Tea house or Wikipedia:Help desk. Once again, welcome to Wikipedia! Mathglot (talk) 02:04, 17 March 2024 (UTC)

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