User:Universal Life/Wikipedia Principles

Ignore all rules and Use common sense. - "If a rule prevents you from improving or maintaining Wikipedia, ignore it." There are no strict rules in Wikipedia, as it is not a bureaucracy. However in order to describe best practice, clarify principles, resolve conflicts and otherwise further our goal of creating a free, reliable encyclopedia, the community has developed some policies and guidelines. These policies and guidelines have not been carved in stone, they're open for discussion.


 * Policies explain and describe standards that all users should normally follow.
 * Guidelines are meant to outline best practices for following those standards in specific contexts.
 * Essays are usually the opinion or advice of an editor or group of editors, sometimes as a means of summarising existing policies and sometimes as suggested guidelines for which widespread consensus has not been established. Thus two contradicting essays might exist at the same time.
 * Principle is a more encompassing word, including policies, guidelines, essays and other principles, such as the founding principles of Wikimedia.
 * Policies and guidelines should always be applied using reason and common sense. The principles and spirit of Wikipedia's rules matter more than their literal wording, and sometimes improving Wikipedia requires making an exception to a rule.

The Spirit of Wikipedia Policies
To understand the spirit underlying the Wikipedia policies, it is useful to read policies below:
 * Wikipedia is a free encyclopaedia.
 * As it is an encyclopaedia, like all standard encyclopaedias, it should be neutral, verifiable and it should not include original research. These three policies are called core content policies.
 * We, as part of the Wikipedia editor community, should interact with each other in a respectful and civilian manner.

Few sentences from Jimmy Wales, the founder of Wikipedia, to better understand the spirit of the principles: ''What it really means is that, ideally, our rules should be formed in such a fashion that an ordinary helpful kind thoughtful person doesn't really even need to know the rules. You just get to work, do something fun, and nobody hassles you as long as you are being thoughtful and kind. What we want to avoid is a situation in which people are blasted for petty offenses with rules that they could never have guessed at in the first place. Yes we have style standards for example, but if someone doesn't adhere, we just fix it and leave them a friendly note, rather than yelling at them for breaking a rule.''

Trifecta
Still another way to express, how simple it is to understand the spirit of Wikipedia, we should see the essay called Trifecta. Essays are not binding but this essay is plain good common sense and in a way, it expresses the foundation principles of Wikipedia.

Wikipedia is an encyclopedia created by the community through collaboration, and these three basic characteristics suggest three basic guiding principles for editors. Other principles, policies, and guidelines can be viewed as more elaborate formulations of these three simple points.
 * Remain neutral: Wikipedia is an encyclopedia, and ought to just tell people about stuff, clearly, simply and honestly. Don't let your head get in the way of the project. Look at Neutral point of view (NPOV), Verifiability, Citing sources, No original research, Biographies of living persons and the Deletion policy to see how this idea plays out in various policies and guidelines.
 * Don't be inconsiderate: Wikipedia is a community, and editors ought to treat each other – and the encyclopedia itself – with a certain level of pleasant, polite respect. Yes, we're almost all anonymous; yes, things go wrong; yes, the system is crocked up sometimes, but don't be inconsiderate, even when annoyed. This is explained in our Civility policy, as well as in other essays like Keeping your cool, Assume good faith and No personal attacks. And remember unregistered editors are human too.
 * Ignore all rules: Wikipedia is collaborative, so collaborate! Rules are fine when they're helpful, but rules are not a substitute for working things out with other editors and getting things done.  See Consensus, Be Bold,  the Bold, Revert, Discuss cycle, avoid instruction creep, the snowball clause, What Wikipedia is not, and similar.

Fundamental Principles of Wikipedia in Summary
The fundamental principles of Wikipedia has been summarised in the form of five pillars.


 * BluePillar.svg Wikipedia is an encyclopedia.
 * It incorporates elements of general and specialized encyclopedias, almanacs, and gazetteers. Wikipedia is not a soapbox, an advertising platform, a vanity press, an experiment in anarchy or democracy, an indiscriminate collection of information, or a web directory. It is not a dictionary, a newspaper, or a collection of source documents; that kind of content should be contributed instead to the Wikimedia sister projects.


 * GreenPillar.svg Wikipedia is written from a neutral point of view.
 * We strive for articles that document and explain the major points of view in a balanced and impartial manner. We avoid advocacy and we characterize information and issues rather than debate them. In some areas there may be just one well-recognized point of view; in other areas we describe multiple points of view, presenting each accurately and in context, and not presenting any point of view as "the truth" or "the best view". All articles must strive for verifiable accuracy: unreferenced material may be removed, so please provide references. Editors' personal experiences, interpretations, or opinions do not belong here. That means citing verifiable, authoritative sources, especially on controversial topics and when the subject is a living person.


 * YellowPillar.svg Wikipedia is free content that anyone can edit, use, modify, and distribute.
 * Respect copyright laws, and do not plagiarize sources. Non-free content is allowed under fair use, but strive to find free alternatives to any media or content that you wish to add to Wikipedia. Since all your contributions are freely licensed to the public, no editor owns any article; all of your contributions can and will be mercilessly edited and redistributed.


 * OrangePillar.svg Editors should interact with each other in a respectful and civil manner.
 * Respect and be polite to your fellow Wikipedians, even when you disagree. Apply Wikipedia etiquette, and avoid personal attacks. Find consensus, avoid edit wars, and remember that there are articles on the English Wikipedia to work on and discuss. Act in good faith, and never disrupt Wikipedia to illustrate a point. Be open and welcoming, and assume good faith on the part of others. When conflict arises, discuss details on the talk page, and follow dispute resolution.


 * RedPillar.svg Wikipedia does not have firm rules.
 * Rules in Wikipedia are not carved in stone, as their wording and interpretation are likely to change over time. The principles and spirit of Wikipedia's rules matter more than their literal wording, and sometimes improving Wikipedia requires making an exception to a rule. Be bold (but not reckless) in updating articles and do not worry about making mistakes. Prior versions of pages are saved, so any mistakes can be corrected.

All the Principles
For those who are interested to learn, here is the complete list of all Wikipedia principles. They are categorised and numbered according to their importance.

'''Important note:Principles are not independent of each other. They are parts of a whole, thus they should apply always in cooperation not in contradiction. Don't forget what is the aim or the spirit of Wikipedia and you can always apply your benevolent commonsense to any existing problem or conflict.'''

List of All the Principles
See List of all Wikipedia Principles.