Wikipedia:A nice cup of tea and a sit down
- "WP:TEA" redirects here. If you are looking for the Teahouse, please note that Wikipedia:Simple talk serves this purpose.
- Note that drinking tea is only a metaphor; if you are living in the heat you can take a nice cold drink; if these aren't your style, you can sit around a fire and drink beer. Or if you're not into any of these drinks, maybe a nice hot cocoa will do. Or water. Go ahead and imagine any drink you'd like.
A nice cup of tea and a sit down is a chance to say what you like about other people who edit Wikipedia or their changes. As Thumper's mother said: If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. That rather reasonable idea is the main rule on this page. The goal is to make goodwill and maybe help the dispute resolution processes that occurs on other pages – or, if we're lucky, stop or avoid disputes at all.
Of course, this page should not replace talking about people directly on their talk pages, or on article talk pages. A nice cup of tea and a sit down is for when things have gone far ahead that, and there is a need for some more formal and serious niceness.
If you get the urge to say something like "I think that such-and-such has worked really hard on Wikipedia, but...", you should stop there. The rule of thumb when making a compliment is to "stop at the but/however/although". Just giving compliments, please.
When you're done pouring, you may want to leave the {{tea}} template on their talk page, so they know that their tea is ready.
What A nice cup of tea and a sit down is for
change- Saying nice things about other editors, especially those with whom you are currently unhappy
- Saying what you like about a person or their changes.
- Taking a break from arguments on other pages
What A nice cup of tea and a sit down is not for
change- Dispute resolution
- Mediation or arbitration
- Arguing
- Newbie biting
- Fooling around
- Baiting
- Irony or sarcasm in any form
- Anything that is not 100% positive