Wikipedia:POV railroad

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.

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This page in a nutshell: Steam-rolling a disagreeing editor with Wikipedia policy and guideline violations is against Wikipedia's code of conduct.

Point of View (POV) railroading is the use of bullying tactics to discredit an editor with an opposing viewpoint or to eliminate them from a discussion. Railroading tactics can include frustrating the editor, hostility that discourages them from participating, or creating a false narrative that misrepresents actual events or edits in order to discredit the editor. These tactics are used to win an argument or take control of an article or topic area by focusing on the editor rather than the edits and editing process.

Tactics

False narratives

A false narrative is a fabrication of a "story" about another editor in an attempt to discredit them, damage their reputation within the community, frustrate, or bait them. Unsubstantiated accusations of canvassing or conflict of interest (COI), labeling an editor as a point-of-view pusher, or accusing them of being a sock puppet or meat puppet of a banned user are common false narratives. Editors may also misrepresent actual edits (including their own) or take diffs out of context to support a skewed version of events that supports their false narrative.

Policy misuse

Editors may attack or discredit another editor using a distorted interpretation of Wikipedia's behavioral policies and guidelines. They may quote policies in misleading ways, by citing them out of context, with extreme interpretations and without relevant disclaimers and exceptions. In other cases, a "policy bomb"—known as "alphabet soup"—may be used to overwhelm an editor with accusations of violations so numerous and so vague that the targeted editor feels intimidated.

Pile-ons

False narratives and canvassing can be used to recruit multiple editors who "pile-in" to support a viewpoint or editor, resulting in the opposing editor being outnumbered, and feeling intimidated, helpless or under attack. A group of editors with a similar viewpoint may create a clique in which they rely on each other to support a point-of-view and act together to eliminate editors who do not share their POV.

Incivility

POV railroading also occurs on a one-to-one basis and may involve a condescending, patronizing, sarcastic and insulting tone. It may include the insertion of hidden text and repeatedly reverting edits without discussion or explanation (peremptory deletions). Baiting and goading opponents until they become angry and uncivil is another POV-railroading tactic.

Brand, discredit and ban

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WP:SMEAR

POV railroading may be performed in attempts to malign or destroy the reputation of targeted editors by labeling, shaming, branding and discrediting them in a progressively more prejudiced and misleading manner, until the targeted editor leaves a topical or discussion area out of frustration or tiredness, or is potentially blocked or banned.

Tactics can include continuously and exclusively referring to a user in a negative manner, the continuous use of personal attacks that escalate in severity over time and the casting of aspersions in a generalized manner, without providing any actual qualification for the claims, such as diffs, instead basing claims upon proof by assertion. Another tactic is to continuously mislabel the target as a disruptive editor in various venues such as the Administrators' noticeboard/Incidents, in deliberate attempts to mischaracterize entirely normative, civil and functional actions as deviant.

POV railroading is sometimes performed to create and maintain an ongoing smear campaign against users in multiple areas of Wikipedia. Such attacks may be stated in a highly exaggerated and personalized manner, whereby the railroader attempts to manipulate public opinion against their target through appeals to emotion, rather than facts. Attacks are typically stated from an entirely subjective and biased point of view, are typically stated using intentional open-ended overgeneralizations, and are typically performed per severe ulterior motives.

A user engaging in POV railroading may alert other like-minded users to their cause both on- and off-wiki in attempts to recruit confederates. Furthermore, if blocked or banned, the target may be used as a scapegoat for problems in articles. If additional opponents show up, the POV railroader may accuse new editors of being sock-puppets or meat-puppets of the sanctioned editor.

Adverse effects

POV railroading is an insidious form of bullying that discourages new editors and increases attrition amongst veteran editors. It amplifies Wikipedia's systemic bias (whether that bias be of a gender-based, ethnicity-based, region-based, country-based etc. nature) and creates content bias in article and topic areas. Lastly, it gives Wikipedia an undesirable reputation as a place where aggression and gaming the system are permitted, valued and rewarded.

Prevention and resolution

Beg for forgiveness: Beg for forgiveness. Forget about your self-esteem. You are nothing. If even that fails and you are punished, be prepared that, 1) the batch of shame will be with you forever, and 2) those scary memories / feelings will come up every time you come across the words (or edits you want to make but cannot) that are related to (restricted by) your topic ban / block.
Leave this place forever and never come back.
For the bystanders: Do careful assessment. If you are an administrator or editor active in dispute resolution and come across a conflict, keep an open mind on every case. Take time to examine the diffs carefully and in depth, and look at the talk page to see the context of those diffs. Make sure the alleged offender is not being bullied, goaded or taunted by more experienced editors who may be gaming the system.