Just Correct Dont Point

A good rule that I have to remind myself to follow:

When reading Wiki, you may encounter a mistake (a clear factual error, or a misspelling, etc.) such as the following.

 ...BjarneStroustrup, the inventor of the Java programming language, said in an interview...

You can correct inaccuracies, add more-complete information, remove redundant statements, clean up vandalism, and fix links yourself. The best thing to do is simply to correct the error and no other comment, as follows.

 ...BjarneStroustrup, the inventor of the C++ programming language, said in an interview...

This is better style than

 ...BjarneStroustrup, the inventor of the Java programming language, said in an interview...
 Hey, BjarneStroustrup invented C++ and not Java.

No need to point fingers, berate the original poster, or add a comment. You don't need permission, and you don't need to explain. Adding a note to the page complaining about an inaccurate or incomplete statement wastes everyone's time. Even if such a comment is free of unnecessary invective, it still clutters up the page. So do statements that point out others' mistakes. Simply fixing the problem usually takes less time than does whining about it, and the result is much more valuable. The best way to ReFactor an error is to remove it completely.

This does 'not apply to:

Also, use caution in ThreadMode speech; as you are messing with the words of an individual and not text which is community property.

Contrast DisagreeByDeleting.


And note how easily a good Wiki convention illustrates a good AgileDevelopment convention, too!


Somewhat similar to RefactorByCondensingQuestionAnswerPair.


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