User:SebastianHelm/Sheep vote

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sheep vote is a vote on Wikipedia which seems to be cast just to go along with the flow. E.g., on RfA, this can typically be a vote such as "Support because x, y, and z are supporting."

Speculated reasons for sheep voting include:

• Agreeing with the previous voters' reasoning.
• Because everyone else has.
• Being nice.
• Making friends.
• Fear of retribution.
• Being a sock puppet.
• Just only trying to help someone break a voting record.

Sheep voting may also be tangentially related to or mistaken for editcountitis.

[edit] Wolf vote

The opposite of sheep vote is wolf vote. These votes are much rarer.

Speculated reasons for wolf voting include:

• Eating sheep (neutralizing their votes).
• Grumpiness.
• A desire for fame (also known as Herostratus vote).
• Eccentricity.
• The genuine belief that a candidate supported by support voter(s) X cannot possibly be worthy (Guilt by association)

[edit] Wikipedia policy

There is no policy preventing sheep or wolf voting, except by sockpuppets, although it is discouraged.