User:Slakr/Sandbox/Why you shouldn't vandalize

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This is an essay; it contains the advice and/or opinions of one or more Wikipedia contributors. It is not a policy or guideline, and editors are not obliged to follow it.

Welcome to Wikipedia. In case you feel that certain things shouldn't be on here or otherwise feel that it might be fun to change them, consider the following reasons of why you shouldn't vandalize Wikipedia:

When you want info on the United States, don't you want something to be there?
When you want info on the United States, don't you want something to be there?
  • The next time you have a project, do you want false information? A lot of students use Wikipedia for school projects and research. When your time comes to rely on the accuracy of Wikipedia's facts, do you want an A or an F? Do you truly want others to fail?
  • Don't you want others to realize how bad something is? Several people come to Wikipedia on smear campaigns or find certain things offensive or rude. If you blank it out, how is everyone else going to know how bad it is if they can't read it for themselves? Don't you want people to have the freedom to realize for themselves how insidious something is?
  • Don't you want all sides of the story? Some people arrive with the intention of removing things they don't agree with. But, if you do that, how is everyone else going to have the freedom to come to the same conclusions you have on their own? Should you be the only one who had that opportunity to discover the truth?
If you're blocked you can't undo stuff.
If you're blocked you can't undo stuff.
  • When you have trouble in a subject, don't you want help? We've got a great help desk to answer tough questions and guide people in the right direction, but frequently questions will go unanswered for longer periods of time as the math wiz Wikipedians are too busy fixing vandalism to help you out on Algebra or a similar subject. As a result, good people like you are more likely to fail difficult assignments.
  • It's a waste of time. There are plenty of Wikipedians who have no life, and they will find and revert your vandalism in less time than it takes for you to add it, because they have lots of cool gadgets to help them do so. Even worse, when the day comes that you actually do need to change something (like someone's incorrect info on your favorite actress's or band's article), you'll find you'll be unable to do so because you're blocked. That'd totally suck.