Wikipedia:ANI's discuss rule
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The Administrators' noticeboard and the incidents noticeboard both have a "discuss rule" requiring that users making a grievance discuss the matter with the editor their grievance is about before posting the matter on either of these boards. There is only one purpose to this rule, and that is to help established editors avoid taking responsibility for their actions. This works as follows:
- You discuss it with the editor first
- The editor will react aggressively and abuse and insult you. They'll call you a kid or whiny. If you are polite in your message, the editors' friends will accuse you of being patronizing. If you are a dick, well then you are being uncivil. When you eventually take the issue to a noticeboard, these editors will use either of these excuses (you were patronizing or uncivil) to boomerang the thread.
- You do not discuss with the editor
- The thread will boomerang against you because 'uninvolved editors' (aka, the editors friends who will defend them no matter what the circumstance and with determination) will blame you for not discussing it with the editor and giving them a chance to fix it. However, we all know that the issue has been repeatedly brought up to the editor in question and they'll continue to ignore it or react aggressively when the issue is brought up.
Either way you slice it, this rule's purpose serves the established editor with a lot of friends. It is not at all a problem solving or dispute resolution rule of any sort.