Wikipedia:Lamest edit wars


An unidentified clerk (centre) tries to bring an end to a great edit war involving dozens of respected editors. At her feet, three bewildered newcomers are seen caught in the middle of the dispute.
Two editors at each other's throats, while engaging in an edit war. Soon a referee will pull them apart and decide their fates at WP:AN3.
A very lame edit war, started by the addition of one sentence, taking place. Two editors are seen personally attacking one another near the bottom left. Note that some editors are fighting in groups of two people or more, and note the large number of casualties.

Occasionally, even experienced Wikipedians lose their heads and devote every waking moment to edit warring over the most trivial things, wasting time debating topics of no practical value, or wrestling over questions whose answers hold no practical consequence. This page documents our lamest examples. It isn't comprehensive or authoritative, but it serves as a showcase of situations where people lose sight of the big picture and obsessively expend huge amounts of energy fighting over something that, in the end, isn't really so important.

Edit warring is believed by some to be important, possibly due to the historical regularity and frequency of the occurrence of these wars. A careful and scholarly study of available archeological evidence has even suggested that edit wars may have recurred on a regular basis going back all the way to the beginning of recorded history, even before the advent of proper writing circa 2001 C.E. (see Wikipedia). In some earlier instances of edit warring, dating back from before the good old days, participants would simply brandish their swords and fight a battle, or later, their guns and fight a duel.

In modern times, physical combat has been outlawed and replaced by the careful citing of personal attacks, strategic 3RR templating and canvassing, timely notices on WP:AN/I, accusations of incompetence, and (in some cases) marking the changes as a minor edit. Truly, the revolutionary Wikipedia outlook has changed the way things get done. It has changed them from actually getting done to never getting done. On the other hand, nobody gets dispatched (so far!).