User talk:S.P.Q.R. Praetorian

Messages to vandals

I reverted your comment to a vandal. That attitude is not a good one to take, either here or on Wikipedia. Vandals should be greeted with {{subst:test}}, as Makanyane did. In fact I copied the template more or less verbatim from Wikipedia's Template:Test. Wikipedia's vandalism policy page links to an extensive list of such templates, which generally have in common that they tend to be polite for the first few warnings.

Many people don't understand the idea of a wiki, wonder how it could be that anyone could edit, and try it out with whatever comes to mind (frequently something nonsensical, silly, or insulting). You should assume good faith and not leap to the conclusion that first-time vandals are malicious. Someone who repeatedly vandalizes despite being warned, of course, has demonstrated malice and needs to suffer appropriate repercussions, but that's a different case. You may want to look at the Wikipedia essays "Do not insult the vandals" and "Avoid the word 'vandal'".

By the way, I'm going to be watching you. Please behave so you don't have to be blocked here also. —Simetrical (talk • contribs) 12:00, 27 January 2008 (CST)