User talk:Irningston

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Revision as of 01:16, 10 May 2013 by CRCulver (talk | contribs)
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I am happy to see your recent additions on Costa Rica, but please don't write in the first person on Hitchwiki ("no one I spoke to had ever heard of 'Cuatros bomberos'"). Hitchwiki aims to offer generalized advice independent of any one editor. If you absolutely must specify that something was personal experience, write in the third person and link to your username. (Also, please be careful to use correct spelling and grammar.) Thanks! CRCulver (talk) 00:16, 8 May 2013 (CEST)

Where are you getting this from, about the prohibition against first person? I see first person used throughout hitchwiki, and I find it very useful. Are there community agreed-upon policies and guidelines you are referring to? -- Irningston (talk) 23:43, 8 May 2013 (CEST)
That articles should be written in 3rd person has been the consensus for years now. See e.g. here. Hitchwiki is full of tips in the first-person because many hitchhikers sign up for an account and start posting their advice without learning the preferred style first. I and other editors try to give new editors a heads-up when we can, but there's not always someone around to clean up the first-person edits they've already made. First person is decidely not useful on a wiki site: any article can have multiple editors, so the reader has no idea who "I" refers to. That's why it's better to write in the third person and link to your username. CRCulver (talk) 02:28, 9 May 2013 (CEST)
I don't see how one edit by one person a few years ago represents consensus. Just because no one changed it doesn't mean there's consensus there. Has there been discussion around this issue? That page, for example, doesn't even have a Talk: page. So there was obviously no discussion there.
While you don't see the usefulness of first person on a wiki site, there's room for debate. Certainly all of the editors who create new accounts and edit in the first person seem to disagree with you. -- Irningston (talk) 22:00, 9 May 2013 (CEST)
Consensus is determined by those who actually stick around and discuss the matter, not people who create accounts, make a few hasty changes without researching Hitchwiki style, and then disappear. I've asked User:guaka, the founder of Hitchwiki, to post here. He'll attest too that a preference for third-person writing goes back years. CRCulver (talk) 02:16, 10 May 2013 (CEST)