User:Scarian/Genre trolls

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"Genre trolling" has been around since Wikipedia first began accepting music orientated articles.

Definition[edit]

The colloquially accepted definition of a "genre troll" is a user who makes continuous genre changes to suit their own point of view despite being told not to do so. This, of course, violates numerous policies.
A genre troll tends to reply to discussion with things like: "Of course they're (whatever genre)! Haven't you heard them?!" - This is a subjective argument that has no basis on Wikipedia.

The problem[edit]

Users come to Wikipedia to view music related articles. They look at the infobox, see the genres, decide it's wrong and then change the genre. They move onto a different article and repeat the process. This may start as an isolated change but then snowball into dozens of articles within minutes. Many music fans may subjectively see a band to be a different genre than a source suggests and rely firmly on their own knowledge thinking it to be of equal, if not greater, worth than anyone else's. This is perfectly fine and natural; there are a lot of self-professed "music moguls" out in the world. But the problem is that everyone believes they know more than the next person; which, undoubtedly, causes great conflict.

Solution[edit]

Because many of these "genre trolls" are new users; a gentle note about their edits may be enough to help guide them in a more policy abiding direction.
Failure to heed the note and a seemingly perpetual stream of genre changes should be followed up with a sterner warning to prevent further disruption.
Continued genre changing will result in a block from an administrator.

Solution 2[edit]

As I wrote above, one of their main arguments would be something subjective like this; that type of reasoning can be effortlessly undermined by finding a reliable source and then providing it to the user. Of course, persistent refusal to adhere to evidence would result in Steps 2 and 3 being executed above.

Previous solution(s)[edit]

Removal of the genre field entirely (See archives 9-14 of WT:WikiProject Music... yes, archives 9 through 14)

In the same discussion, Alf suggested umbrella genre terms; if there is a seemingly unresolvable genre dispute, this is usually the best method of putting matters to rest.

Definition[edit]

The problem[edit]

Solution[edit]

Solution 2[edit]

Previous solution(s)[edit]

See also[edit]