A couple of days ago I was reading an article on Wikipedia and I wasn't sure what an icon meant, so I went looking for it in the Help section. Naturally, I never found the icon because I got distracted looking at all the other interesting things under Help. See, I'm such a geek that I not only read the encyclopedia, but I read the rules of the encyclopedia!

Anyway, one of the things I found was the Etiquette section, which, given the events of the last couple of months, struck me as being filled with incredible wisdom. It made me so happy I decided to post a condensed version here, not as rules for etiquette in this blog, but to think about how different the world would be if we followed them everywhere.

Follow up:

* Assume good faith.
* Remember the Golden Rule: Treat others as you would have them treat you – even if they are new. We were all new once…
* Be polite, please.
* Work towards agreement.
* Do not ignore questions.
* Concede a point when you have no response to it, or admit when you disagree based on intuition or taste.
* Be prepared to apologize. In animated discussions, we often say things we later wish we had not. Say so.
* Forgive and forget.
* Recognize your own biases and keep them in check.
* Give praise when due. Everybody likes to feel appreciated, especially in an environment that often requires compromise. Drop a friendly note on users' talk pages.
* If you are arguing, take a break. If you are mediating, recommend a break.
* Remind yourself that these are people with whom you are dealing. They have feelings and probably have other people in the world who love them. Try to treat others with dignity.
- adapted from Wikipedia

I especially like the first point: assume good faith. Yes, it's quite Jane Bennet of me. One of the main problems in the recent crisis was that there wasn't an assumption of good faith on all parts, and it led to a great deal of hostility and pain.

A few years ago, I took a workshop on narrative voice in fiction. Part of it involved analyzing my own narrative voice. What I discovered is that the main characteristic of my voice is an assumption that everyone is behaving the way they do for a reason that seems good to them, and nobody is out to hurt other people (except Joe Westing, but as you get to know Joe better, you'll realize it's even true of him). I love all my characters and I want my readers to love them, too, and I think that comes through.

So I think I'll adapt Wikipedia's rule for my narrative voice: Assume Good Faith. I like the world better that way.