 | This is an essay. 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: If you know enough about Wikipedia to tell someone not to bite you, you aren't a newcomer. |
Don't bite the newcomers is an important principle of Wikipedia. It helps us to retain new users as the one thing that cannot be undone on Wikipedia is scaring someone off. Unfortunately, sometimes this essay is used as a way to avoid criticism of one's own actions.
As a basic rule, anyone who is able to appeal to WP:BITE, either implicitly or explicitly, knows enough about Wikipedia that they can't be considered a newcomer. If you are citing bite to tell people to cut you some slack, you should consider the content of what they are saying, and not the tone, because there's a very good chance you've passed the stage where the community is going to consider you a new user and tolerate any number of mistakes.