You are a Wikipedia editor. Wikipedia lacks an editor-in-chief or a central, top-down mechanism whereby progress on the encyclopedia is monitored and approved. Instead, active participants monitor the recent changes page and make copyedits and corrections to the content and format problems they see. So the participants are both writers and editors.
In a community-built encyclopedia, it seems a bit strange to say that there is a goal, but indeed there is a vision its creators had in mind that most of us share:
- Our goal with Wikipedia is to create a free encyclopedia--indeed, the largest encyclopedia in history, both in terms of breadth and in terms of depth. We also want Wikipedia to become a reliable resource.
Acheiving that goal requires policies to ensure that we work toward it, and these will be discussed here.
How policy has been formulated
Wikipedia policy has been formulated for the most part by habit and consensus, particularly over the initial months of Wikipedia's existence. Hence, the statements on this page and pages adjoining it are intended for the most part to be descriptive of existing community norms that have developed over time. Issues are still formulated and debated on talk pages, the Meta-Wikipedia, and the Wikipedia-L mailing list. Everyone who is interested in Wikipedia policy, news, and social life should be subscribed to that mailing list.
Generally-accepted policies
The following policies are generally accepted and considered important by the project's founders and its participants:
- Copyrights (Important legal issues)
- Editing policy (How to edit articles)
- Naming conventions (How to title articles)
- Disambiguation (How to resolve title conflicts)
- Neutral point of view (Avoiding bias)
- Etiquette (Getting along with fellow writers)
- Most common Wikipedia faux pas (Common mistakes made by newcomers)
- What Wikipedia is not (Keeping your eye on the goal)
- Administrators (A bit of management)
Specific rules and guidelines to consider
These rules and guidelines have been suggested by various participants
- Ignore all rules
- Be bold in updating pages
- Always leave something undone (or make omissions explicit)
- Explain jargon
- Integrate changes
- Delete patent nonsense (or give the author a chance)
- Establish context
- Define and describe
- Build the web
- Don't use external links where we'll want Wikipedia links
- Cite your sources (and use proper references)
- Always fill summary field
- Follow highlighting conventions
- Make only links relevant to the context
- Use color sparingly
- Use subheads sparingly
- Use short sentences and lists
- Balance parts of a page
- Avoid statements that will date quickly
- Pay attention to spelling
- Don't include copies of primary sources
- Warn readers about spoilers
- Make articles useful for readers (and consider the audience in writing)
- Look for an existing article before you start one
- Check your facts
- Make smart use of soft line breaks
- Avoid making your articles orphans
- Use other languages sparingly
- Avoid profanity
- Contribute what you know or are willing to learn about (and create stubs responsibly)
- Sign your posts on talk pages
- No personal attacks (and move personal debates to e-mail)
Other essays and discussions about Wikipedia
- The Meta-Wikipedia site contains many articles about Wikipedia and related topics in a more editorial style.
- Creating how-to articles in Wikipedia.