Wikipedia:Things that should not be surprising
This page is intended as humor. Its purpose is to point out certain things that should be obvious. |
What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.
—Ecclesiastes 1:9 |
Some things can be surprising about Wikipedia.
Some things, given some thought, should not be.
Some examples of things that should not be surprising:
People[edit]
- The fact that sometimes people who aren't vandals get blocked because someone doesn't like them.
- The fact that sometimes people who aren't vandals get blocked because they were behaving like assholes.
- The fact that not all users are on Wikipedia 24/7 (≈ 3.429) and thus may not be able to respond immediately to personal requests.
- The fact that idiots are just as common on Wikipedia as anywhere else.
- The fact that people with mental disorders are just as common on Wikipedia as anywhere else.
Articles[edit]
- The fact that naked people exist, and might be used to illustrate an article about, say, nudism.
- The fact that any page will never be 100% correct (except List of Pokemon characters).
- The fact that articles about ongoing ethnic feuds are subject to ongoing feuds between ethnic groups.
- The fact that some articles are crap.
- The fact that sports teams hope to make the playoffs.
Seriousness[edit]
- The fact that some people are way too serious about the tone of articles.
- The fact that some people are too silly when writing or editing articles.
- The fact that some people are way too serious about themselves.
- The fact that sometimes the internet is serious business.
- The fact that sometimes the internet isn't serious business, but some people refuse to believe it.
Vandalism[edit]
- The fact that vandals get blocked.
- The fact that vandalism on widely watched articles gets quickly reverted, while vandalism on minor stubs is slower to be reverted.
- The fact that people will vandalize anything and everything.
- The fact that there is much more vandalism while the schools are in session.
Disagreements[edit]
- The fact that people can edit war about some really stupid things.
- The fact that people can argue over the smallest things.
- The fact that people can argue over the dumbest things.
- The fact that a large portion of the back end of Wikipedia is dedicated to resolving disputes.
- The fact that being a dick doesn't resolve conflicts.
Conflicts of Interest[edit]
- The fact that you most likely are not notable.
- The fact that sometimes people edit their articles to make themselves look better.
- The fact that sometimes corporations edit their articles to make themselves look better.
- The fact that sometimes people edit articles to make their enemies look worse.
- The fact that IP addresses can be traced back to their owners.
Miscellaneous[edit]
- The fact that people behave as if Articles for Deletion and Requests for Adminship are votes, and yet loudly declare they aren't votes.
- The fact that the MediaWiki software can be fucking weird sometimes.
- The fact that the "edit this page" link actually lets people edit pages.
- The fact that shit happens.
- The fact that shit OFTEN happens.
- The fact that either way you look at it, you're screwed.
And Finally[edit]
- The fact that Wikipedia is an encyclopedia.
- The fact that a page documenting obvious facts exists somewhere.
- The fact that people will actually look up and read a page documenting obvious facts.