Wikipedia:Cabals: Difference between revisions
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{{dablink|WP:CABAL redirects here. You may be looking for [[Wikipedia:Words of wisdom#On_Wikipedia_and_the_Cabal|Wikipedia:Words of wisdom – on Wikipedia and the Cabal]], where it used to redirect.}} |
{{dablink|WP:CABAL redirects here. You may be looking for [[Wikipedia:Words of wisdom#On_Wikipedia_and_the_Cabal|Wikipedia:Words of wisdom – on Wikipedia and the Cabal]], where it used to redirect.}} |
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{{Essay|WP:CABALS|WP:CABAL}} |
{{Essay|WP:CABALS|WP:CABAL}} |
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{{nutshell|Two or more people who agree with you constitute a ''[[WP:CONSENSUS|consensus]]''. Two or more people who disagree with you constitute a ''cabal''.}} |
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{{nutshell|If Cabals exist anywhere, they might on Wikipedia too.}} |
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A '''[[cabal]]''' is a number of people united in some close design, usually to promote their private views and interests in a church, state, or other community, often by intrigue. On [[Wikipedia]] the term is often used loosely to describe real or imagined collectives of [[WP:USER|users]] who have chosen to group inside or outside of the mainspace or ''Wikipedia:'' project space in order to pursue an interest. Whether any given cabal actually exists usually is impossible to determine conclusively. Often the existence of a cabal is posited by a group holding opposite views to those of the supposed cabal. |
A '''[[cabal]]''' is a number of people united in some close design, usually to promote their private views and interests in a church, state, or other community, often by intrigue. On [[Wikipedia]] the term is often used loosely to describe real or imagined collectives of [[WP:USER|users]] who have chosen to group inside or outside of the mainspace or ''Wikipedia:'' project space in order to pursue an interest. Whether any given cabal actually exists usually is impossible to determine conclusively. Often the existence of a cabal is posited by a group holding opposite views to those of the supposed cabal. |
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Revision as of 23:10, 12 August 2010
 | This is an essay. It contains the advice or opinions of one or more Wikipedia contributors. This page is not an encyclopedia article, nor is it one of Wikipedia's policies or guidelines, as it has not been thoroughly vetted by the community. Some essays represent widespread norms; others only represent minority viewpoints. |
 | This page in a nutshell: Two or more people who agree with you constitute a consensus. Two or more people who disagree with you constitute a cabal. |
A cabal is a number of people united in some close design, usually to promote their private views and interests in a church, state, or other community, often by intrigue. On Wikipedia the term is often used loosely to describe real or imagined collectives of users who have chosen to group inside or outside of the mainspace or Wikipedia: project space in order to pursue an interest. Whether any given cabal actually exists usually is impossible to determine conclusively. Often the existence of a cabal is posited by a group holding opposite views to those of the supposed cabal.
Types of cabals
Cabals can be roughly divided into four types:
- Secret cabal – This type of cabal is restricted in its membership and secretive about its functions or existence. The aims of such groups may be disruption of the project, promotion of its members to become Wikipedia functionaries, or canvassing and/or meatpuppetry and/or tag teaming, possibly to impress a specific point of view on the encyclopedia. While conspiracy theories abound about how much influence such groups have over the encyclopedia, social groups are a fact of life, and some users have been known to use off-wiki means (IRC, e-mail, external websites, etc.) to coordinate their actions on-wiki.
- Editor cabal – This type of cabal went through discussion on Wikipedia. In August 2005, a group was formed called Esperanza with the idea of fellowship and strengthening WikiLove.[1] The main concern about Esperanza was that it was bureaucratic and elitist and this was a strong concern when the group was brought to Mfd.[2] In December 2006, the group was disbanded.
- Joke cabal – Wikipedia is often accused of operating hierarchical cabals which most editors would not know the existence of. To satirize the theory a number of editors formed joke cabals. Some examples are The Bathrobe Cabal, The Rouge Admin Cabal and The Penguin Cabal. They can offer light relief to editors especially after periods of heavy editing.
- Secret page cabal – This is a variety of joke cabal where users create secret or hidden pages in their userspace for other users to find. The existence of such pages remains controversial.
Conclusion
Joke cabals and secret page cabals are generally tolerated until they affect the project, at which point the matter often is taken up at one of the administrative noticeboards. Wikipedia pages used by individuals who are solely here to socialize, not contribute, may be raised at WP:MFD.
See also
References
- ^ Signpost Introducing Esperanza 19/09/05
- ^ "This highlights a perennial and worrying problem about Esperanza: that they constantly set themselves apart. They say they give Wikipedians hope – but who has any interaction with Esperanza who isn’t Esperanzan? Why is there even a special term for someone who's in Esperanza? This organization ought to be deleted because they’re targeting new and vulnerable users, who then see everything on Wikipedia through green-tinted lenses, and it is not good. It does lead to superiority complexes, regardless of what the front page says. Esperanzans, at least the active ones, see themselves as Esperanzans first and foremost. We have to delete Esperanza for their own good, to show them what Wikipedia is like outside the wall of their sub-culture" (from the Esperanza MfD)