 | This page contains material that is kept because it is considered humorous. Such material is not meant to be taken seriously. |
 | This page in a nutshell: WikiGoblins are non-malicious, but ignorant, newcomers. Even though they may be doing something bad, they should be treated with understanding. |
The WikiGoblins are creatures who quite often unbecomingly, and quite often illegally, spraypaint Wikipedia with their graffiti, much to the dismay of the rest of the Wikipedia fauna. Even when they are vandals, they are very seldom driven by a genuine intention to thwart the Wikipedia project: instead they act based on curiosity of what will happen with their spraying, or are having a bad day. Some WikiGoblins spraying is in fact graffiti art, of much value to the community. But just because it does not fit in with the usual standards, it gets removed without any explanation. This will scare away these timid creatures.
The best way to immediately deal with a WikiGoblin’s antics is to direct them to the sandbox, where they may spray their graffiti in peace. If nurtured by patient editors, such as WikiShepherds, they can become helpful contributors just like anyone else.