Wikipedia:Strongly Discouraged



Some Wikipedia guidelines and policies use the phrase Strongly Discouraged.

The chart below maps this phrase into the standard terminology used in Request for Comments from the Internet Engineering Task Force and the Internet Society. These terms are: "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT", "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "NOT RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL". These terms are the Best Current Practice for writing about requirements. They were codified in March 1997 by Scott Bradner in RFC 2119: Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate Requirement Levels.

In these terms, strongly discouraged means SHOULD NOT. In the words of the RFC, while there may exist valid reasons in particular circumstances when the particular behavior is acceptable or even useful, the full implications should be understood and the case carefully weighed before implementing any behavior described with this label.

In other terms, it does not mean "discouraged but I can do it, so its allowed and I can do it without concern."

Strongly discouraged in Policies

 * Blocking policy - "the practice of off-wiki "block-shopping" is strongly discouraged"
 * What Wikipedia is not - "Almost everything on this page made it here because somebody managed to come up with some new bad idea that had not previously been anticipated. (See WP:BEANS—it is in fact strongly discouraged to anticipate them.)"

Strongly discouraged in Behavioral Guidelines

 * Conflict of interest -
 * "COI editing is strongly discouraged."
 * "If you have a conflict of interest: you are strongly discouraged from editing affected articles; ..."
 * "If you receive, or expect to receive compensation (whether money, goods or services) for your contributions to Wikipedia: you are very strongly discouraged from editing affected articles"
 * (Note: While COI editing in all forms is a SHOULD NOT, specific disclosure of paid editing is a MUST.  The Terms of use states "you must disclose your employer, client, and affiliation with respect to any contribution for which you receive, or expect to receive, compensation.")
 * Signatures - "having an uncivil signature is strongly discouraged"
 * Talk page guidelines - "Readers can read your prior posts, and repeating them, especially lengthy posts, is strongly discouraged."

Strongly discouraged in Content Guidelines

 * Autobiography - "Writing an autobiography on Wikipedia is an example of conflict of interest editing and is strongly discouraged."
 * Fringe theories - " Attempts by such inventors and adherents to artificially inflate the perceived renown of their fringe theories, such as sock puppetry in AfD discussions, is strongly discouraged."

Strongly discouraged in Essays

 * False consensus - "The recruitment of editors for the purpose of influencing a survey, performing reverts, or otherwise attempting to give the appearance of consensus is strongly discouraged."
 * Advocacy - "Speculating on the real-life identity of editors is strongly discouraged to prevent outing, a serious form of harassment."
 * Student assignments - "Good article and DYK nominations are strongly discouraged for a number of reasons"
 * Reverting - "Attempts to circumvent the three-revert rule, such as making a fourth revert just after 24 hours, are strongly discouraged and may trigger the need for remedies, such as an editing block on one's account."
 * Notability (periodicals) - "Articles about periodicals that are not yet published are strongly discouraged and such articles are only accepted under criteria other than those provided in this guideline, typically because the anticipation of the periodical is notable in its own right."
 * WikiProject Schools/Article guidelines - "The mass creation of short school articles is strongly discouraged and can even cause authors to be blocked for disruptive editing."

Strongly discouraged in Information pages

 * Manual of Style/Icons - "The insertion of logos as icons into articles is strongly discouraged: While illustration of a logo may be appropriate at the main article on the topic to which the logo pertains, use of logos as icons is not useful to our readers, and often presents legal problems."


 * Requests for adminship/Nominate - "If you nominate yourself, keep in mind that canvassing for support (asking other editors to vote in your favor) is strongly discouraged."


 * Perennial proposals - "Removal of warnings other than to archive them is strongly discouraged, but does constitute definitive proof that the warning was seen, and can still lead to escalated warnings."