Wikipedia talk:Avoid using wikilinks

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Note to confused people: this is a spinoff from Wikipedia talk:Avoid using meta-templates.

[edit] Move to guideline status

I'd like to move this piece to a guideline so that when people think it's a stupid idea and try to refute it, I have some muscle to back it up with. Who's with me? - Omegatron (User:Omegatron) 20:15, Apr 3, 2005 (UTC)

Everyone who disagrees with Wikipedia:Don't disrupt Wikipedia to illustrate a point is with you. But wouldn't you know it, I'm just not one of them. I do agree with it, even though it's (gulp) not even a guideline!

"State your point; don't prove it experimentally." Yeah, we get it. It's very funny. The arguments for avoiding meta-templates are invalid because they look very silly when you apply them to wikilinks. Trying to push too hard for a proposal to become a guideline is silly too, as you so eloquently demonstrate. This analogy is allowed to be inaccurate in places because it's satire, so it's all valid in the end, and it gives us a chance to have a good laugh at the original proposal, which is constructive because it's funny.

There, now that that's over with, let's proceed by not assuming that people you want to convince are obtuse and won't accept any argument unless you spoonfeed it through demonstration. How about it? JRM 22:54, 2005 Apr 3 (UTC)

Oh, c'mon, it's not a disruption. People would actually take this seriously? Check out m:Friends of gays should not be allowed to edit articles, m:How to deal with Poles, m:Uncreationism, etc. - Omegatron 00:53, Apr 4, 2005 (UTC)

That's why I tagged it as humor. And I do agree it's a very mild disruption at worst (people probably aren't too likely to come across this and take it for real). There's no RFC coming in the foreseeable future. :-) The fact remains that talking about the flaws of something it is more effective than using the Wikipedia namespace for private pranks. Had you used your userspace, I would have just shrugged my shoulders, but pages in here are intended to be a little more constructive to the project than that.

The articles you cite are all satires intended purely to amuse people, and they were started or moved to Meta for good reason: they're comments on Wikipedia as a whole, not attempts at discrediting particular proposals or contributors. This one hit a little too close to people's homes for that, don't you think? JRM 01:18, 2005 Apr 4 (UTC)

Hmmm... I find that analogies are much more effective in some instances, like this one. - Omegatron 01:30, Apr 4, 2005 (UTC)

You win. Looks like someone took it seriously.  :-\ *Scolds self* - Omegatron 20:21, Apr 14, 2005 (UTC)