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Please remember to sign your messages on talk pages by typing four tildes (~~~~); this will automatically insert your username and the date. If you need help, check out Wikipedia:Questions, ask me on my talk page, or , and a volunteer should respond shortly. Again, welcome!-- Biografer ( talk) 04:37, 22 July 2018 (UTC)
Hi. Removing other peoples comments is bad form. Please don't do that. Thanks. Kleuske ( talk) 17:44, 22 July 2018 (UTC)
- Hi. I didnt remove anyones comments. Would you like to cite them, please? The only alterations Ive done was to improve the content and quality of articles, as per the spirit of a wiki. If youre referring to the Mohr-Mascheroni theorem talk page comments, those were my own comments, which I made prior to holding a wikipedia account, and deleted them as they were no longer applicable. I had 5 originally and deleted 3 of them, leaving two, and all five were signed at my own IP address.
Please dont make assumptions about other peoples intentions, competence, motivations, and please dont levy insulting language against them such as accusing them of "bad form". And please dont revert their changes without inquiry. A cursory glance at the article and a read of the comments would have been sufficient to deduce that those comments werent applicable anymore. If you fancy yourself mathematically-inclined in any way, inquiry and reason is a part of the game. You should adopt those traits for yourself. NicholasSweeten ( talk) 20:38, 22 July 2018 (UTC)
- See WP:REDACT one shouldn't even remove one's own comments from an article talk page if they've been there for more than a short time. Striking out or adding a comment is fine. Deleting discussions including comments from others from ones's own user page is fine. It's usual to put :'s before a reply, one more than what's being replied to. Dmcq ( talk) 15:37, 24 July 2018 (UTC)
- With respect, I think I have a right to edit and delete my own comments. Especially if they are not applicable any longer. Look, this is a Wikipedia. The entire point is that other authors can edit and delete content. That is the whole premise of the wiki system. If I can alter encyclopedic content, I should be able to edit my own commentary on a talk page. This is particularly true if those comments hadnt even been acknowledged or responded to yet; changing my July 22 comment now would be unethical. NicholasSweeten ( talk) 15:47, 24 July 2018 (UTC)
- Please follow the guidelines in WP:TALK and do not delete them without a very good reason, e.g. they libel someone and you wish to retract. That is a very well established guideline and going around ignoring it and doing one's own thing will only lead to misunderstandings and trouble as you have found out above. Dmcq ( talk) 16:00, 24 July 2018 (UTC)
- What trouble have I found out? None. I am not going to "do as you say". I havent done anything wrong. This is my talk page (which I didnt even initiate), and I was libeled by someone who wouldnt take the time to investigate their own accusations. Calling out libel is not in itself libel. I havent violated any guidelines by editing my own comments, any more than I have in editing wikipedia articles.
- What is the argument, exactly? That, I guess, I can edit encyclopedic content in an article that other people wrote, but I cant edit my own commentary on a talk page? Is that the jest of it? Funny, I have never seen struck out redactions in the body of an article before. Pretty sure outright deletions occur all the time. Of other peoples work. I think if you dont want "trouble" you might want to just leave this page and dont come back. Seems to me the only thing upsetting you is the fact that I respond in kind.
- Wikipedia isnt my life or career. Im not going to read 500 pages of every single guidebook and user reference there is just to make a few reasonable edits here or there. Berating me for editing my own, unacknowledged, un-responded to, no-longer-applicable comments on the talk page of a wiki is unnecessary, unreasonable, absurd, and arguably beyond the scope of reasonable, civil encyclopedic discourse. Not to mentioning utterly failing to grasp the nature of the website.
- If I havent got the right to make edits then this isnt a wiki, and if I havent got the right to regulate my own speech then I have no desire to participate anyway in a left-leaning propaganda site. So if you feel it necessary to file a complaint, please do, but dont bring it up with me. NicholasSweeten ( talk) 16:08, 24 July 2018 (UTC)
- If you feel that strongly over somebody pointing out the talk page guidelines then yes I must agree that Wikipedia probably is not for you, you'd be even more annoyed about lots of other things and get into personal arguments with other editors. Sorry about that. Dmcq ( talk) 16:54, 24 July 2018 (UTC)
- I appreciate the information. I dont appreciate the mentality. Of belligerence, rigidity, conformity to unnecessary standards. Im fine with you pointing out guidelines. I just dont think they are applicable, and if they are then I think they are ill-formed and abusively implemented. Im willing to have that discussion. Im not willing to put forth the effort to defend my right to edit my own commentary. When it comes to that, I will keep doing what I do without regard. I will keep editing where necessary as per the fundamental principles of the wikipedia. If Im in violation of an ACTUAL rule, please do let me know. NicholasSweeten ( talk) 17:07, 24 July 2018 (UTC)