User:Sangdeboeuf

I like to imagine a future where all people have the tools and opportunities to learn anything at any time of life and to share their knowledge with others. I value independence of thought and so believe the desire to learn is essential to responsible citizenship. I hope that my contributions reflect Wikipedia's basic principles of neutrality, civility, and encyclopedic content.

Fun

 * Principle of Some Astonishment

Wikipedia's purpose
Contributing to Wikipedia:


 * "Our purpose is to create a web-based, free content encyclopedia of all branches of knowledge, in an atmosphere of mutual respect and cooperation. The goal of a Wikipedia article is to create a comprehensive and neutrally written summary of existing mainstream knowledge about a topic. Editors are encouraged to be bold in editing in a fair and accurate manner with a straightforward, just-the-facts style. Articles should have an encyclopedic style with a formal tone instead of essay-like, argumentative, or opinionated writing.  The five pillars is a popular summary of the most pertinent Wikipedia principles"

Biographies of living persons



 * "Wikipedia articles that present material about living people can affect their subjects' lives. Wikipedia editors who deal with these articles have a responsibility to consider the legal and ethical implications of their actions when doing so. In cases where the appropriateness of material regarding a living person is questioned, the rule of thumb should be "do no harm."  This means, among other things, that such material should be removed until a decision to include it is reached, rather than being included until a decision to remove it is reached"




 * "Lead images should be natural and appropriate representations of the topic; they should not only illustrate the topic specifically, but also be the type of image used for similar purposes in, and therefore what our readers will expect to see. Lead images are not required, and not having a lead image may be the best solution if there is no easy representation of the topic."
 * "Lead images should be of ; an alternative image that accurately represents the topic without shock value should always be preferred."

Using sources
Editing policy:


 * "Although reliable sources are required, when developing articles on the basis of sources, avoid copying or closely paraphrasing a copyrighted source. Wikipedia respects others' copyright. You should read the source, understand it, and then express what it says in your own words"
 * "Unsourced content may be challenged and removed, because on Wikipedia a lack of content is better than misleading or false content"

Verifiability:


 * "Readers must be able to check that any of the information within Wikipedia articles is not just made up"
 * Wikipedia's contents "determined by previously published information rather than the beliefs or experiences of its editors"
 * '"Use sources that directly support the material presented in an article and are appropriate to the claims made"
 * "Sources must support the material clearly and directly"




 * "Summarize source material in your own words as much as possible"
 * "Sources themselves do not need to maintain a neutral point of view. Indeed, many reliable sources are not neutral. Our job as editors is simply to summarize what the reliable sources say"

No original research:


 * "The best practice is to research the most reliable sources on the topic and summarize what they say in your own words, with each statement in the article being verifiable in a source that makes that statement explicitly."
 * "Source material should be carefully summarized or rephrased without changing its meaning or implication. Take care not to go beyond what is expressed in the sources, or to use them in ways inconsistent with the intention of the source"




 * "Original images created by a Wikipedian are not considered original research, [...] Image captions are subject to this policy no less than statements in the body of the article"

Manual of Style/Lead section:


 * "Leads are usually written at a greater level of generality than the body, and information in the lead section of non-controversial subjects is less likely to be challenged and less likely to require a source; there is not, however, an exception to citation requirements specific to leads [...] The presence of citations in the introduction is neither required in every article nor prohibited in any article"

Policies and guidelines:


 * "The policies, guidelines, and process pages themselves are not part of the encyclopedia proper [...] It is therefore not necessary to provide reliable sources to verify Wikipedia's administrative pages, or to phrase Wikipedia procedures or principles in a neutral manner, or to cite an outside authority in determining Wikipedia's editorial practices"

Style of writing
Neutral point of view:


 * "Avoid stating opinions as facts" and "Prefer nonjudgmental language"
 * "Strive to eliminate expressions that are flattering, disparaging, vague, or clichéd, or that endorse a particular point of view"

Manual of Style/Lead section:


 * "A good lead section cultivates the reader's interest in reading more of the article, but not by teasing the reader or hinting at content that follows"
 * "The lead section should briefly summarize the most important points covered in an article in such a way that it can stand on its own as a concise version of the article. The reason for a topic's noteworthiness should be established, or at least introduced, in the lead (but not by using subjective 'peacock terms' such as 'acclaimed' or 'award-winning' or 'hit')"

Copyrights
Copyrights:


 * "[I]f you know or reasonably suspect that an external Web site is carrying a work in violation of the creator's copyright, do not link to that copy of the work"

Trivia and fringe viewpoints
Five pillars:


 * Wikipedia is not "an indiscriminate collection of information"

What Wikipedia is not:


 * "A Wikipedia article should not be a complete exposition of all possible details, but a summary of accepted knowledge regarding its subject. Verifiable and sourced statements should be treated with appropriate weight"

Neutral point of view:


 * "An article should not give undue weight to any aspects of the subject [...] discussion of isolated events, criticisms, or news reports about a subject may be verifiable and impartial, but still disproportionate to their overall significance to the article topic"
 * "Undue weight can be given in several ways, including but not limited to depth of detail, quantity of text, prominence of placement, and juxtaposition of statements"




 * "While content must be verifiable in order to be included in an article, verifiability alone is not a reason for inclusion, and does not guarantee that any content must be included in an article [...] The onus to achieve consensus for inclusion is on those seeking to include disputed content"
 * "Any exceptional claim requires multiple high-quality sources. Red flags that should prompt extra caution include [...] surprising or apparently important claims not covered by multiple mainstream sources; challenged claims that are supported purely by primary or self-published sources or those with an apparent conflict of interest"

Article cleanup



 * "Consider adding a tag such as,  or  instead; this may be preferable if the article has some useful content"
 * "Consider making the page a useful redirect or proposing it be merged rather than deleted. Neither of these actions requires an AfD"

Using talk pages
Consensus:


 * "The quality of an argument is more important than whether it represents a minority or a majority view. The arguments 'I just don't like it' and 'I just like it' usually carry no weight whatsoever"
 * "Limit article talk page discussions to discussion of sources, article focus, and policy"




 * "Focus on article content during discussions, not on editor conduct; comment on content, not the contributor"

Page moves



 * "While long-term significance is a factor, historical age is not determinative"
 * "Being the original source of the name does not make a topic primary"
 * Exceptions exist in practice; see for instance and

Separating text w/footnotes
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List templates
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Bulleted list • entry1

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Useful templates
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