Always help out users

(English) This is an essay. It expresses the opinions and ideas of some Wikimedians but may not have wide support. This is not policy on Meta, but it may be a policy or guideline on other Wikimedia projects. Feel free to update this page as needed, or use the discussion page to propose major changes.

Always help out users! No matter what they're doing, whether they have vandalized, or if they haven't. You should treat them basically the same.

Helping out vandals

Think of it like rehab. So maybe someone used to live the WikiCrime life. If they want to change, and they are seeking help, you should always help them out. Another thing about helping a vandal out is do not yell at them. Say they vandalized a page, and you start yelling at them. You are being just as childish as they are/were, and you'll most likely get in trouble if you keep that up.

Vandal analogy

Sometimes vandals will seriously be like people in real life who used to be in prison and have done drugs. You'll hear people say "You know, I used to do drugs, and shoplift." But for Wikipedia it's "You know, I used to be uncivil, and vandalize pages."

Helping out everyday users

Literally every day a user asks for help from someone. If they ask you for help, try to help them. If you can't help them, direct them to a notice board.

Good example scenario

A user comes to and tells you about how someone has been being rude to him, and vandalizing his page. The user wants you to block them. Here's what you should do:

1. Tell them you'll refer to an admin.
2. Go to Admins' Noticeboard (that is on Wikipedia:Administrators'_noticeboard).
3. Report it there. Be sure to mention the user who did that, and a link to the talk page where the user asked you.
4. After you've done steps 2 and 3 go back to the talk page where it started, and give them a link.

Bad example scenario

(Please note, do not do this!) So you're on "pages with pending changes" (trolling of course), and the message box that says "You have a new message" pops up. There's a new user asking you to block a user because they've vandalized his user page, and been rude to him. You do this:

1. You act like an admin, and reply, "Okay, I'll handle it."
2. You go to the Admins' Noticeboard.
3. After the user gets blocked you go back to the user page.
4. You reply "I handled him all by myself. Oh yeah, nominate me for a bureaucrat. You have to do that."