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This page contains material which is considered humorous. It may also contain advice.
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{{short description|Humorous Wikipedia essay}}
{{Humorous essay|WP:DDMP|WP:IDIOT}}
{{nutshell|There are jokes, and then there are "oh, hell no" situations.}}
[[File:Bomba atomica.gif|thumb|200px|[http://movie-sounds.org/war-movie-sound-clips/sound-clips-from-dr-strangelove-1964/as-you-know-the-premier-loves-surprises Just the fact that you ''can'' push the button doesn't mean you ''should''.] ]]

[[Wikipedia:Village stocks#Maxim for the "Doesn't do anything anyway" award|One admin]] was discussing the '''deletion of the [[Main Page|main page]]''' in [[WP:IRC|IRC]] and asked if the technical ability to delete pages with over 5,000 revisions, like the main page, had ever been re-enabled. Another admin (jokingly) commented that he had tested it and found that the main page still couldn't be deleted. The first admin thought he would test it for himself. The main page got deleted.<ref>[[Wikipedia:Administrators' noticeboard/IncidentArchive363#I deleted the Main Page|"I deleted the Main Page"]]. Wikipedia:Administrators' noticeboard/IncidentArchive363. Retrieved 21 February 2010.</ref>{{efn|This was not, by a long stretch, the first time the Main Page was deleted. See its {{URL|1=https://en.wikipedia.org/enwiki/w/index.php?title=Special%3ALog&type=delete&user=&page=Main+Page&year=&month=-1&tagfilter=&subtype=delete|2=deletion log entry.}} Some resulted from the involved administrators' accounts being compromised. For example, the deletion as of 05:08, December 8, 2007 – which resulted in a {{URL|1=https://meta.wikimedia.org/enwiki/w/index.php?title=Special%3ALog&type=&user=&page=User%3AEye_of_the_Mind%40enwiki&year=&month=-1&tagfilter=&hide_tag_log=1&hide_thanks_log=1|2=desysopping}} – was apparently the account being used by a relative after the admin failed to log off, and the incident as of May 7, 2007 was the result of a password hack.}}

You might think you are having a laugh, but sometimes, the joke is missed. If you find yourself having to say "jokes do not come across well here", you are best off having avoided the joke in the first place.

In other words, do not even joke about causing disruption – someone may miss that it was meant in humor or sarcasm and act on it.

== Historical context ==
== Historical context ==
As honored in the [[Wikipedia:Village stocks#Maxim for the "Doesn't do anything anyway" award|village stocks]], this succeeds the admin who [[Wikipedia:Village stocks#Scientizzle for the Baby and Bathwater award|locked the servers for half an hour by deleting]] the [[WP:SAND|Sandbox]], necessitating the restriction of deletions for articles with over 5,000 edits. It is followed by the editor who [[Wikipedia:Village stocks#east718 for the "It seemed like a good idea at the time..." award|used a bot to add 1,200 useless edits to the Main Page]], hoping to bring it up to the 5000-edit level where it would not be deletable. Fortunately, the English Wikipedia Main Page now enjoys a ''[[sui generis]]'' immunity to deletion in the software.<ref>[http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikien-l/2008-February/089554.html Fwd: Re: Deletion of large pages] Tim Starling, WikiEN-l Mailing List, February 4, 2008.</ref><ref>[https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/source/mediawiki-config/browse/master/wmf-config/CommonSettings.php;14aaa8d1fa8401ddb52f7e248bdc816fa1a2aa91$1829-1845 The code that implements the protection]</ref>
As honored in the [[Wikipedia:Village stocks#Maxim for the "Doesn't do anything anyway" award|village stocks]], this succeeds the admin who [[Wikipedia:Village stocks#Scientizzle for the Baby and Bathwater award|locked the servers for half an hour by deleting]] the [[WP:SAND|Sandbox]], necessitating the restriction of deletions for articles with over 5,000 edits. It is followed by the editor who [[Wikipedia:Village stocks#east718 for the "It seemed like a good idea at the time..." award|used a bot to add 1,200 useless edits to the Main Page]], hoping to bring it up to the 5000-edit level where it would not be deletable. Fortunately, the English Wikipedia Main Page now enjoys a ''[[sui generis]]'' immunity to deletion in the software.<ref>[http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikien-l/2008-February/089554.html Fwd: Re: Deletion of large pages] Tim Starling, WikiEN-l Mailing List, February 4, 2008.</ref><ref>[https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/source/mediawiki-config/browse/master/wmf-config/CommonSettings.php;14aaa8d1fa8401ddb52f7e248bdc816fa1a2aa91$1829-1845 The code that implements the protection]</ref>

Revision as of 22:26, 2 August 2019

Just the fact that you can push the button doesn't mean you should.

One admin was discussing the deletion of the main page in IRC and asked if the technical ability to delete pages with over 5,000 revisions, like the main page, had ever been re-enabled. Another admin (jokingly) commented that he had tested it and found that the main page still couldn't be deleted. The first admin thought he would test it for himself. The main page got deleted.[1][a]

You might think you are having a laugh, but sometimes, the joke is missed. If you find yourself having to say "jokes do not come across well here", you are best off having avoided the joke in the first place.

In other words, do not even joke about causing disruption – someone may miss that it was meant in humor or sarcasm and act on it.

Historical context

As honored in the village stocks, this succeeds the admin who locked the servers for half an hour by deleting the Sandbox, necessitating the restriction of deletions for articles with over 5,000 edits. It is followed by the editor who used a bot to add 1,200 useless edits to the Main Page, hoping to bring it up to the 5000-edit level where it would not be deletable. Fortunately, the English Wikipedia Main Page now enjoys a sui generis immunity to deletion in the software.[2][3]

See also

Following this incident, the vulnerability was addressed. If a person tries now, they should receive a message that says "you can't delete or move the main page". This is not an excuse to try to delete the Main Page. It might work! (We mean the deletion might work‍—‌not the excuse.)

Notes

  1. ^ This was not, by a long stretch, the first time the Main Page was deleted. See its deletion log entry. Some resulted from the involved administrators' accounts being compromised. For example, the deletion as of 05:08, December 8, 2007 – which resulted in a desysopping – was apparently the account being used by a relative after the admin failed to log off, and the incident as of May 7, 2007 was the result of a password hack.

References

  1. ^ "I deleted the Main Page". Wikipedia:Administrators' noticeboard/IncidentArchive363. Retrieved 21 February 2010.
  2. ^ Fwd: Re: Deletion of large pages Tim Starling, WikiEN-l Mailing List, February 4, 2008.
  3. ^ The code that implements the protection
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