A wiki break, wiki holiday, wiki vacation or wiki absence is a period when even a Wikiholic is parting from his editing or collaboration on a wiki for a longer period of time.
Wiki breaks are the result of the decision of the wiki person departing, not the enforced disability to edit on a wiki such as blocking or banning, which would be in every sense of the word involuntarily.
A mix of wiki break and banning is the SuicideBySysop. If one has inherently decided to leave but somehow knows that one would not have the strength to stay away, one enforces ones own decision by allowing oneself to collide with one or more restrictive or overworked Sysop to ensure one gets banned! By that way, one might draw a good amount of attention, disrupt the work of the wiki, may get a feeling of revenge and eventually regret after one succeeded. From the outside, SuicideBySysop is indiscernible from getting banned.
The pain involved varies from user to user. Some find it easy to endure, whereas others find the separation agonizing.
The degree of coercion also varies. Some remarkable individuals are actually capable of taking a voluntary wiki holiday: they are to be admired for their strength of character. Others still are forced into it through circumstances beyond their control: it is often at such times that wikiholics discover their condition. Sometimes, a wiki break can be a Template:W, by which one expresses hurt feelings.
| reasons to take a wiki break | source of reason | occasions to come back |
|---|---|---|
| you are going on a journey | your life | you came back from travelling |
| you are a student and have exams or other pressing school work | your life | your exams are over// holidays |
| you marry | your life | honeymoon is over |
| you (get) divorced | your life | you decide that your divorce has left you more time to be a wiki person |
| you are neglecting your work and job | your mind | |
| you get addicted to a new video game that you obsess over for the next few days | your life | you defeated the 'Boss' several times |
| you find yourself repeatedly assuming bad faith | your mind | you learned what J. Krishnamurti meant saying: "To keep observation separate from evaluation is the highest form of human intelligence". |
| you are stressed to the point that it affects your editing | your mind | you've done all the relaxing you can do and besides, all that talk about relaxation and thinking clearer is baloney anyway |
| you have a new girlfriend or boyfriend | your life | you find out your new girlfriend or boyfriend is a wiki person, too |
| your old girlfriend or boyfriend wants you to spend more time with them | your life | especially when you find that now you've been spending a lot of time discussing, fighting over and making up with said friend |
| you have to look for a job | your life | what you where looking for was money actually; after you 'found' it, they found you; after you've been arrested and suddenly find yourself with nothing else to do while serving time in jail |
| you find yourself making minor edits, in order to use the recent changes page as a discussion | your mind | you found somebody in real life who really cares for you |
| you have to move to a new home | your life | you have finished moving |
| you have neglected to pay your Internet bill and have been barred from accessing the internet | your mind | you decide to give up smoking so that you can pay your Internet bill |
| you are injured or sick | your life | you've recovered from your sickness |
| your wiki stress is making it hard to work | your mind | you've let go of all your wiki stress |
| you need time to relax and think, so that when you do return to your wiki, you'll hopefully be refreshed | your mind | you finished the last self-improvement book and are eager to try it out in your not so real life first |
| your time on your wiki is having a drastic effect on your life outside of your wiki | your mind | you've decided to take a break from your wiki break |
| your computer has broken down | your life | since your computer is broken, you find yourself at the library or other publicly accessible computer every day, editing your wiki, or you get a new one |
| there is an emergency in your area | your life | you survived and your computer too :-) |
| it takes you several hours to make and perfect a single edit, because you're worried your edit will be corrected by someone else | your mind | |
| you find yourself checking your watchlist compulsively throughout the day to defend your edits against vandals and other ne'er-do-wells | your mind | |
| you're giving up editing your wiki for Template:W, Template:W or a similar religious observance | your life | your religious observances have been inspiring |
| you have been grounded by your parents, business partner or significant other from using the computer | your mind | you found a way around that |
| you have got a baby | your life | your baby grew up |
| you are addicted | your mind | you are cured from being a wiki addict (it may never happen, most likely, you will never recover) |
| you become disillusioned with the project, or haven't received any satisfaction out of editing the wiki but don't wish to depart forever | your mind | |
| you find yourself suffering from Adminitis | your mind | you feel like it |
| your relatives invaded/occupied 'visited' your house | your mind | your relatives (thankfully) left your house |