 | This is an essay on civility. It contains the advice or opinions of one or more Wikipedia contributors. This page is not an encyclopedia article, nor is it one of Wikipedia's policies or guidelines, as it has not been thoroughly vetted by the community. Some essays represent widespread norms; others only represent minority viewpoints. |
 | This page in a nutshell: Sometimes, the best way to end a dispute is to walk away from it. |
WP:Desist can be cited whenever there is a dispute on Wikipedia and you want to put an end to it. While it doesn't have the same bang for the buck as "Fuck off", it can still be cited as a shorthand (and more polite) way of just telling troublesome editors to drop it and let it go. WP:Desist will mean the following (in the words of Jimbo):
| “ | Look, I feel as if our interaction isn't helping the encyclopedia. I'm going to back away from this issue now, and I would appreciate if you would do the same. Let's avoid each other for now, as clearly this isn't a good situation. | ” |
| — Jimmy Wales, at 13:35, 18 August 2016 (UTC) | ||
If an editor wants to immediately end a silly dispute and essentially show a troublesome editor the door (without uttering an expletive and having to spend days or even weeks answering to people moaning about incivility), you can simply say: "Please [[WP:Desist|desist]]. We're done here."