Forum:Limit usage of warning templates

Warning templates such as Vandalism or Bad Image are intended to provide a quick method of messaging and informing users of potentially improper actions on their talk pages.

Of late, their usage has skyrocketed, and they are often employed three times or more on the same talk page. I take issue with this for a few reasons:


 * 1) Generic warnings can only be so effective. If the first warning with a template did not work, it will probably not do any better the second time around. Administrators should be more direct and stern with a user (depending on the severity of the action) if the user did not change their behavior after being warned via a template. Delivering a more personal warning can ensure that.
 * 2) These are not Bingo stickers. A user getting three or four warning templates on his or her talk page should not be the way to determine when to block him/her. Attempt all open communication with users until it can be concluded that they have no interest in changing their ways and are acting in bad faith. Then, and only then, should a block be considered.
 * 3) Impersonal communication can come across as hostility. As with my concerns in changing the blocking guidelines to include "bad image" users, slapping several warning templates on a user's page for edits or uploads made in good faith can scare potentially valuable contributors away. Particularly with these users who are adding benign content, administrators should try to make the message as accessible and direct as possible, rather than get muddled up in bureaucracy and remove these people from our community because they did not understand what they were doing wrong.

To that end, all I would propose is the addendum of a guideline to the blocking guidelines with recommendations on proper usage of these warning templates, and when (and when not) to use them. 22:41, August 7, 2012 (UTC)