Wikipedia:Humour police

The humour police is a term used by those in favour of a little colour and a witticism or two in articles to describe those who aren't.

All Wikipedians think that articles shouldn't resort to silliness. However there are definitely two schools of thought on how lacking in H₂O the content should be. Many think that, as an encyclopedia, the content should be very dry, and will actively remove any vaguely humorous passage like "... conservationists have kicked up a bit of a stink about the declining number of skunks in ..." Those in favour of humour note that it is common practice in many worthy tomes such as the Financial Times and The Economist to inject a little. Those opposed say it devalues the professionalism of the project; however, since the entire Wikipedia is the embodiment of Open Source and thus completely un-professional (what can you do about an encyclopedia the content of which is contributed by its users?) their argument may be considered a rather weak one.

You might well come across talk page statements such as "I have put something somewhat funny into some articles, but I won't list it here else the humour police will remove it." Meanwhile enjoy the ubiquitous, as Bob Ross put it, happy little accident.

April Fools

The two viewpoints on how much humour Wikipedia should harbour usually comes to a head on April Fools day. Should the front page contain intentionally misleading but funny content? Should all the humour be restricted to one fictitious entry? In 2005, this was debated well before, during and after April Fools day. And it seems destined to be debated in this manner in years to come.