Edit conflict:I, too, would like to object to the use of warnings and blocks for socialising. The use of these conflates the act of socialising with vandalising - we are, in a sense, treating people who socialise as vandals. I feel that the two acts should remain separate and not be confused with each other. Vandalism is an act of harm to the wiki directly, while socialising is done with no ill intention, and only affects the wiki's image if done in ridiculously large quantities. The solution to the last (which appears to be the situation) should be to cut it back, not to punish all harshly (I do think a ban is far too harsh for a minor infringement).
This is not to say that I disagree with having less socialising on the wiki - I do think we should focus on the mainspace - but I believe that using such stringent methods is inappropriate, and user unfriendly. A community that says "If you socialise here, we will ban you" is not one I would wish to edit. To give a personal example, one of the things that attracted me to the FF wiki was the community there. I enjoyed having a vehicle to talk to people about linguistics and mathematics, both subjects I enjoy. Both the community and the main space are important parts of a wiki.
Additionally, what would be considered "socialising" and the level which would result in a warning or ban is highly subjective. Is talking about one's opinion on KH socialising? Strategies for bosses? Clarifying a plot point, or showing someone a self-created KH fanart? These are equally as likely to lead to an extensive conversation as any off-topic conversation.
Also take into account why the wiki is used, and not other sites, the IRC or email. The answer is accessibility, and the wiki as a base. Obviously, the users socialising here have met each other over the wiki - and thus will use it as their main means. A discussion on the wiki is viewable to the audience which the poster wishes to affect most, and is open to participation from said audience. It also allows one to cross time zones - it is difficult for some users to discuss with others on instant chat when they live far apart, while talk pages solve this problem. Not all users will have the same accounts such as Facebook, Myspace, MSN etc. Others will have objections or computer issues to socialising sites or the IRC. Email lacks the open participation of wiki discussions. All in all, the wiki constitutes a superior form of communication for these users than the alternatives suggested above.
Ideally, the solution would be self-moderation, for users to use their own discretion in having discussions. That is another reason why I disagree with the use of blocks: because I believe that self-moderation is a better choice, one which affirms one of the basic tenets of the wiki - assume good faith. We should have faith in our fellow users here, in their ability to keep their socialising in control. Wishful thinking? Perhaps, but is the solution which we should have.
Sword-Chucks, yo!— 16:42, January 24, 2010 (UTC)
This sounds fair enough.
Although I understand what everyone is saying about this, and how it is against the rules to post conversation on talk pages, I completely disagree with it. I need to ask, just to clarify, where exactly does it say we cannot have conversation on talk pages? Also, the link to the IRC is broken, the last time I checked, so not everyone can get on. I just got a message from someone who said that they had no idea what the IRC was, thus backing up my point.
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