Wikipedia:Assume high intelligence

To assume high intelligence should be a fundamental principle on Wikipedia. Although we may not know many of the other people who edit Wikipedia articles alongside us, it is likely that they have a curiosity about life that derives from high cognitive ability.

The purpose of this policy is to address a perceived gap left by Assume good faith, which allows us to assume that someone had good intentions, but lacked the brains to implement them, potentially leading to implied insults and degeneration of the social environment of Wikipedia.

When examining other people's edits, it is important to remember that they, like us, sometimes make mistakes in spite of "knowing it, really", and that it is possible that they are aware of the mistakes they've made, but were not able to correct them before somebody else did. This can be due to any number of reasons, including slow connections, network failure, computer failure, inefficient peripheral devices, and sudden demands of our real life environments.

Things to avoid
Sometimes, when an editing debate gets heated, one may send talk page messages which question another editor's intelligence, education or training. These types of messages can easily become uncivil and disrespectful. If you are puzzled by another editor's removal of text or images, rather than sending a snarky message suggesting that they are not intelligent or don't understand Wikipedia, why not simply ask: "I was wondering why you removed text or images on Jan 30?". Just eliminate the "you obviously are not intelligent" comments. : )