Wikipedia:Don't template the regulars

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.

Shortcuts

This page in a nutshell: When dealing with experienced users, it is generally more effective to write them a short personal message than to apply a standardized template. Mandated templates like {{Alert}} are excluded.

Wikipedia offers many user talk templates to warn users about possible violations of vandalism ({{uw-vandalism}}), the three-revert rule ({{uw-3rr}}), and other policies and guidelines. You should use these templates carefully.

These templates explain the various policies to new editors. When novice editors breach policies, it is quite possible (if we assume good faith, which we must) that they are unaware of them, and educating them is helpful. On the other hand, most editors who have been around for a while are aware of these policies. If you believe that they have broken (or are about to breach) one, it may be the result of some disagreement over the interpretation of the policy, or temporarily heated tempers. In such situations, the "did you know we had a policy here" approach can be counterproductive in resolving the issue, as it can be construed as being patronising and uncivil. (Whether new editors also find having policies explained to them by template message to be patronising and unhelpful is an open question.)

A very small number of templates, such as the Arbitration Committee's {{Alert}} template, are mandatory and must be "placed unmodified" for an alert to be valid. As a result, these templates are not covered by this essay.