Wikinews:Assume good intentions/alt

As with all projects involving diverse groups of people, mistakes and misunderstandings will happen from time to time. It is important not to over-react to such events until you have all the facts. Thus we have this simple guideline to help minimize drama between editors. Basically, if someone does something that either negatively affects, or potentially negatively affects the project, assume they had the best of intentions when doing that action. That doesn't mean allow people to do anything on the basis that it might be a good thing, just that assume whomever did it was a good person with good intentions, no matter how bad the action is. Here's the process broken down step by step:

Step 1: Badness happens
Somebody does something bad. Nobody is perfect, put a lot of people together, and bad things will evntually happen. Perhaps a good person accidentally did something that negatively affected Wikinews, perhaps the action was done by a troll who wants to destroy Wikinews from the inside out. Its best to treat both situations similarly instead of making assumptions about the motives of others.

Step 2: badness is reverted (if appropriate)
We're a wiki - Almost everything can be reverted. If the bad thing is false information, revert it. Just because a good person tried to do a good thing that backfired does not mean it should not be reverted. If something is questionable, it should also be removed (depending on the situation of course. Always use common sense). If it was really good, it can be re-added later

Step 3: figure out the why
Now the hard part, figuring out what happened. This is where this policy comes into play. If there is doubt as to the intentions of the user, assume they were good. If you can't assume they were good, assume they were stupid. Only assume malice if you there is no other alternative. Most people in the world are good people, and well some aren't - much more damage can be done by assume a good person is evil, than assuming an evil person is good. Especially in a wiki environment where everything can be reverted, and a flagged revs environment where stuff has to be approved before going live.