User:Coppertwig/Unblocking

This page is an essay by Coppertwig, not official policy or anything like that.

Advice for people making unblock requests

From the little I've seen, the majority of successful unblock requests are based on convincing people there will be a change in behaviour, rather than arguing that the block was unjust.

People who are about to be blocked or who have just been blocked are often experiencing feelings such as stress, anger or desperation. Unfortunately, these feelings often lead to the kinds of behaviour or choice of words that are not ideal for convincing people they're good collaborators and a benefit to the project. It's a good idea to avoid any rash actions, maybe avoid doing anything at all on-wiki for a period of time, calm down, assume that the admins are acting in good faith, and figure out how to re-establish a positive relationship with the community. It's probably worthwhile to take time to carefully edit things like unblock requests. Taking a break before final editing can often lead to finding changes in wording to make it more civil.

See also

• Wikipedia:Guide to appealing blocks
• User:Coppertwig/Techniques for handling emotions when editing

On-wiki behaviour

Responding to requests

Because Wikipedia is a wiki populated by volunteers, almost everything is done by request, not demand. I think the standard is that almost all requests are fulfilled. Given the consensus system, it's important to get along with others and I think it's a good idea to comply with requests unless there are strong reasons not to. A corollary of this is not to make requests that will be perceived as unduly demanding by the other person – although be bold and ask if it will help improve the wiki or make your editing experience significantly more enjoyable.

In my opinion, usually the only proper way to respond to a request is one of the following:

1. Comply with the request.
2. State that one intends to comply later.
3. Ask for the reason for the request (and respond with one of the other possibilities in this list after receiving the reason).
4. Turn the request down, with three parts:
   1. Explicitly turn it down, e.g. "no".
   2. Express regret, e.g. "I'm sorry"; and
   3. State a reason for not complying.

If it's a request to do something, one can usually argue that since one is a volunteer, one doesn't have to spend time doing any particular thing if one doesn't want to. But if it's a request not to do something, there's little excuse not to comply. Sometimes what sounds like an (unreasonable) request from one editor turns out to be considered later to be an expectation of the community, and one can get in trouble later for not having complied. In effect, perhaps there is an expectation that one will comply with requests in general, at least if there's no obvious or stated reason not to. When you refuse to comply with a request, you're going against the wishes of at least one other editor, therefore your actions don't have complete consensus (though the opposite action may not have consensus either).