Say what you like about Catholics (and I sometimes have) - this is something we need around here.
Definition
Penance is about remediation of the harm you have caused and teaching yourself to do better in the future.
- penance
- n. the sacrament by which absolution is conveyed, involving contrition, confession, and (smacks lips) satisfaction.
Penance List
- Pointlessly extending a ThreadMode debate - two HailWikis
- Creating a page in ThreadMode initially - six HailWikis
- Typing MeToo! - three HailWikis
- Feeding a troll - seven HailWikis
- Making a DeletedButWelcomeToWiki type of page - one HailWikis
- Mis-spelling the name of a page - two HailWikis
- Using a plural WikiWord (e.g., UnitTests rather than UnitTests) - two HailWikis
- Creating a new plural WikiWord - eight HailWikis
- Misspelling "misspelling" (it isn't hyphenated), "publicly", and "penance" on this page - three HailWikis
- Creating a page which you know is sorta but not really OnTopic - two HailWikis
- Insulting a wikizen - thirty HailWikis
Remember, it's not the penance that brings forgiveness, but the confession.
AnonymousCoward confesses
I humbly and publicly confess that I was the AnonymousCoward who accused KeithBraithwaite of being ironic and thus English in an early, unrefactored fragment of ImaJavaProgrammer. I thus directly caused the long historical rant in EnglishOrBritish. Have mercy and please duly refactor countless previous offences in laying down my WikiPenance. As I now recite the WikiPrayer... -- AnonymousCoward
Every edit I do as a WikiGnome is penance for my non-gnome contributions.
One of the nicer rules about penance, at least in Christianity, is that you're not allowed to point out the sins of others. You must mind your own sins and they must mind theirs. Repentance has to come from within. You can't tell someone to repent. That's just not in the spirit of true penance.
See also: WikiSinRank