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This is a Wowpedia essay. It is not a policy or guideline.
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Inspired by Wiki Spirit[dead link - archived copy] at Blackbox Window Manager wiki.
Wiki is about sharing
A wiki is a means to freely collect information about a certain topic from anybody, even passers by. In our case, the topic would be World of Warcraft.
In order to make the information as easy to modify as possible, there must be very few restrictions impending people to access it. This means that the ideal wiki allows absolutely everyone to simply step in and modify any page on a wiki site.
Yes, that's right, you included. If you notice something wrong on a page, such as a spelling error or incomplete or erroneous information, you can edit that page right now and fix it. It doesn't matter if you only fix a minor spelling error or write five new pages. Actually, the small touches are just as important as the big modifications (see Fix Broken Windows).
A wiki is about sharing as little or as much as you wish. No bounds, no obligation, just good will, common sense and a common topic to discuss.
Why do wikis work?
It's an ongoing discussion and you can read various opinions here: Why Wiki Works.
What keeps a wiki on track and prevents it from going off-topic? It's definitely the community behind it. By community we mean the people who care about the topic being discussed in all or parts of the wiki. If you care about World of Warcraft, you're already a part of this wiki's community.
If you're concerned about specific issues that may lower the quality of the content on this wiki, please read more about Wowpedia.
Enter the bad people
Unfortunately, there are bad people out there. This is a fact of life. How can a site which allows anyone to modify it defend against evil people?
In the first place, there are less occurrences of vandalism on wikis than you'd think. Most of them are not personal, but simply someone entering links to random sites. This is what we call "spamming the wiki".
Of course, there are simpleminded or spiteful persons out there. They might attempt to mess with the information in a wiki for all kind of negative reasons, or simply for the kind of urge that leads people to write nasty things on walls.
Some bad people are deterred from trying by the sheer lack of challenge. Some are put back by what looks like a live, well kept and rich wiki (you tend to take off your shoes when entering a nice, clean house.) Some lose interest after they try once or twice.
Bottom line: yes, you can edit this very page and delete everything on it right now, or write nasty words, or give false information. The only thing stopping you is yourself.
You can read a lot more points of view on wikis vs bad people in the Wiki Wipeout.
We keep a list of vandals here: Wowpedia:Known vandals
Forgive and forget
The main defence a wiki has is in its loyal community really believing in the "forgive and forget" principle. Let bad people do what they want. Undo their evil doings as they come and get on with your life. Don't hold grudges, keep it against them forever or attempt to retaliate. Fix what's wrong and move on.
Non-violence (Ahimsa)
From "forget" arises one of the important elements of the wiki spirit: Ahimsa*, or non-violence*.
Ahimsa is a Hindu set of ethics which means more than just non-violence. Among other things, it holds the belief than no matter what happens to you, you should never resort to violence. The strength and determination required to always maintain compassion and peace loving are much greater than those involved with revenge or retaliation. It takes a really strong person to not strike back when challenged.
Of course, writing a few words in a wiki doesn't mean you should become an Ahimsa adept. But the basic and most simple principle of it, non-violence, is an important guideline.
Increasing protective measures on the wiki may well lead to more determination from the part of the bad people, now that a challenge has arisen. At the same time it may keep well-behaved people from contributing. In the end, it may very well escalate to an arms race between administrators and bad people, while peaceful individuals will shrink back and avoid getting involved. The wiki as we knew it would be gone.
So when the wiki is tampered with we just use the tools available to us to restore the proper information. That's all. Should everything be lost we'll just recreate it again. It's Soft Security.
The beauty of forgetting (wabi-sabi)
The other main principle in the wiki spirit is the joy of being able to forget.
A wiki is a flame fluttering in the wind, not a carving in stone. Leave behind worries about losing it and appreciate what IS and what we have here right now as well as what we can add to it.
A wiki is not meant to be perfect, nor to last forever. The information found here is non-permanent, always changing, definitely lacking in various ways. It represents an ephemeral snapshot of the community's knowledge at a particular point in time.
That's why the wiki engine has the ability to forget. Pages that remain empty for extended periods of time, as well as old versions of pages, are simply removed. They no longer represent the information accurately and it is assumed that the community doesn't need them anymore. So we establish a certain safety interval and then they're gone.
This is close to what some people call the Asian ideal of beauty, or "wabi-sabi". Wabi-sabi is the beauty of the imperfect, the ephemeral, the incomplete. A true wiki is alive, always different, changing as the thoughts of the community change.
So, what is the wiki spirit?
Let me put it this way:
- "Oh wiki wiki wiki......Oh wiki wiki wiki......Oh wiki wiki wiki......Oh wiki wiki wiki......"
Or perhaps:
- "Oh look!...What?...A wiki!...Really? Oh wow, a wiki!...Not just a wiki! A WoW Wiki!"
If that put a smile on your face and made you a bit more inclined to forgive and forget, you're on your way to the wiki spirit.