Wikipedia:Avoid unnecessary pings
 | This is an essay. It contains the advice or opinions of one or more Wikipedia contributors. This page is not an encyclopedia article or a Wikipedia policy, as it has not been reviewed by the community. |
 | This page in a nutshell: Pings can be annoying. |
You don't have to ping other users every chance you get. Nothing on Wikipedia is usually that important. You might be annoying whomever you are pinging.
Most people involved in debates on Wikipedia have the discussion pages on their watchlists or are "subscribed" to the topic, so you don't have to ping someone each time you reply to them. It is also very unnecessary to ping someone just to say you agree with them. Take the following example from Wikipedia:Articles for deletion for instance:
Keep: Passes [[WP:GNG]]. John Smith (talk) 12:02, 28 April 2026 (UTC)
Keep: Passes [[WP:GNG]] per [[User:John Smith]]. WikiUser101 (talk) 12:25, 28 April 2026 (UTC)
{{ping|John Smith}} I agree. BestWikipedianEver (talk) 14:02, 28 April 2026 (UTC)Please stop pinging me. John Smith (talk) 15:06, 28 April 2026 (UTC)
John Smith does not need to know that anyone, specifically, is agreeing with him. He certainly doesn't need two big red pings just for !voting in an AfD. Please use Template:No ping in such an instance or just write out John's username without a link. If you're disagreeing with someone at an AfD, that is more worthy of a ping but most people have the AfDs they participate in on their watchlists anyway.
A ping is like someone knocking on your door or calling you (you have to answer this minute!). Consider writing a letter instead.