User:Eloquence/Comment policy
All my edits here on Wikipedia are in the public domain. This includes my comments, so you are technically allowed to do with them as you wish. However, in the interest of Wikiquette, I ask you to respect my comment policy. This primarily concerns editing and refactoring, so if you are not interested in that, please ignore the text below. If you are the type of person who likes to edit other people's comments - this page is for you. If you refactor a large amount of comments and mine is among them, there's no need to inform me about it.
Summarize[edit]
In general, please do not summarize my comment unless other parts of the thread are also summarized. I can be long-winded, but usually there's a reason for what I say. The details may become less important later, so refactoring is OK, but please don't cut my comments down to size unnecessarily and selectively, especially when the discussion is still in progress.
Remove personal attacks[edit]
If I forget my manners and insult another user directly, please do remove that part of my comment. This does not include comments which insult a very large set of people, which I may occasionally make out of frustration. If you remove part of my comment, please do not strike out the attack - just get rid of it. You can leave a "[...]" in place, or substitute it with text surrounded by [square brackets], e.g. "This is pretty stupid. => [I think this is a bad idea.]"
Improve my comments[edit]
This is an experiment. I may change this part of my policy later, but while this text is here, I alone am responsible for any harm that results.
If you feel that anything I say can be expressed with more eloquence, in style or substance, please do edit my comment. If my comment is older than a week, please notify me about your change.
Please do not distort the meaning or the message of my comments. If you disagree with what I say, then please do not edit my comment, but write your own. If you think that something I said is offensive, then try to find some less offensive way to say it.
When I say "improve", I mean saying what I said, but better. This refers primarily to style, but if you think that I forgot an important point in an argument, and you are certain that I would agree, go ahead and add it. Spelling and grammar are always fair game.
However, if I do revert your edit, then I ask you to accept that. Furthermore, if I tell you that I do not want you, specifically, to edit my comments, I ask you to accept that as well.
Please do not add inline signatures (e.g. "Also, the Church prohibited Bible-reading to laymen in the Middle Ages--Dogmaster3000"). If you want to be given full credit for your edit, please write your own comment.
Support and Oppose comments[edit]
I may sometimes deliberately choose not to format Support or Oppose comments in bold. This is because I want them to be read as contributions to a discussion, rather than as votes to be counted. I also feel that the bold text indicates a strong, inflexible opinion, when in reality I am almost always willing to listen to counter-arguments. I would appreciate it if you would respect this formatting choice, and encourage you to make the same choice whenever you make a Support or Oppose comment that includes a justification. I think it leads to a healthier discussion culture.
Citation and copying[edit]
Please do not misattribute my comments. If you want to copy my comment elsewhere and for some reason do not want to cite me by name, please remove the signature and attribute it to "a Wikipedia user" (or something similar). Otherwise you can cite me as Eloquence, Erik Möller or Erik.
If you cite me outside Wikipedia, I would appreciate being told about it. If you write an article, that may be a good idea in any case, as I am usually fairly responsive and may be able to add useful information to my original comment.
How to reach me[edit]
Whenever I am referring to personal communication, you can use: