WikiPenance

Last edit May 7, 2006

Say what you like about Catholics (and I sometimes have) - this is something we need around here.

Definition

Penance is about remediation of the harm you have caused and teaching yourself to do better in the future.

penance: n. the sacrament by which absolution is conveyed, involving contrition, confession, and (smacks lips) satisfaction.

Penance List

Pointlessly extending a ThreadMode debate - two HailWikis
Creating a page in ThreadMode initially - six HailWikis
Typing MeToo! - three HailWikis
Feeding a troll - seven HailWikis
Making a DeletedButWelcomeToWiki type of page - one HailWikis
Mis-spelling the name of a page - two HailWikis
Using a plural WikiWord (e.g., UnitTests rather than UnitTests) - two HailWikis
Creating a new plural WikiWord - eight HailWikis
Misspelling "misspelling" (it isn't hyphenated), "publicly", and "penance" on this page - three HailWikis
Creating a page which you know is sorta but not really OnTopic - two HailWikis
Insulting a wikizen - thirty HailWikis

Remember, it's not the penance that brings forgiveness, but the confession.

AnonymousCoward confesses

I humbly and publicly confess that I was the AnonymousCoward who accused KeithBraithwaite of being ironic and thus English in an early, unrefactored fragment of ImaJavaProgrammer. I thus directly caused the long historical rant in EnglishOrBritish. Have mercy and please duly refactor countless previous offences in laying down my WikiPenance. As I now recite the WikiPrayer... -- AnonymousCoward

Every edit I do as a WikiGnome is penance for my non-gnome contributions.

One of the nicer rules about penance, at least in Christianity, is that you're not allowed to point out the sins of others. You must mind your own sins and they must mind theirs. Repentance has to come from within. You can't tell someone to repent. That's just not in the spirit of true penance.