Wikipedia:No climbing the Reichstag dressed as Spider-Man
- "WP:SPIDER" redirects here; see also Wikipedia:WikiProject Spiders.
Sometimes even the most saintly of Wikipedia editors become involved in disputes over content. These may become heated, and sometimes degenerate into incivility or even revert wars. Edit wars traditionally result in an article's being protected on the wrong version by a passing administrator. In extreme cases where the issues are of paramount importance, editors may be tempted to climb the Reichstag building dressed as Spider-Man in order to promote their cause. This is strongly discouraged and will result in a definite block from editing Wikipedia, to last until the heat death of the universe.
Intent of the decree
This decree is intended to stop content disputes from escalating to the extent of scaling public buildings dressed as popular comic book characters. Note that climbing the Reichstag dressed as Spider-Man is an absolute limit – not an entitlement! Users scaling any public building dressed as any popular comic book character may be blocked for disrupting Wikipedia to make a really stupid point. Even threatening to do so is generally viewed as unacceptable. Wikilawyering about how high up the Reichstag you climbed (or about what qualifies as a "popular" comic book character) is right out.
Review
Editors who believe that another user is on the verge of climbing the Reichstag building dressed as Spider-Man may place a request at the Administrators Noticeboard (Reichstag Climbing). Many administrators from the Rouge Admin Cabal will honour requests if asked (spammed on Talk pages at least 7 times), and will enforce blocks if warranted. Or unwarranted, we don't care too much actually. Maybe we'll just block people at random. That'll teach 'em!
What the...?
Look, if you have been linked here from a Talk page or a Wikipedia debate such as articles for deletion, it's probably an indication that someone thinks you are taking things a bit too seriously. Perhaps you should have a nice cup of tea and a sit down. It is pretty certain that all conflicts can be amicably resolved before the publication deadline. And if they can't be resolved before the deadline, let the deadline pass.
See also
- Alain Robert
- Stegophily
- Publicity stunt
- Wikipedia:Staying cool when the editing gets hot
- Wikipedia:No angry mastodons
- Wikipedia:Don't be a fanatic
Official corollaries to the official cabal decree
No jumping off the Reichstag dressed as Spider-Man
It's not a good idea to believe anyone who tells you that because you're dressed as Spider-Man, your superpowers will prevent you from injury when you jump off the top of the Reichstag. Similarly, it's never a good idea for anyone to delete the main page simply because they believe a fellow admin who mentions that a new software feature now prevents them from doing it. If you survive the fall, you will only end up in the village stocks.