Wikipedia:Wikipedia is for readers

Once upon a time, the first pillar of Wikipedia read Wikipedia is an encyclopedia written for the benefit of its readers.

But for the benefit of its readers was removed without discussion some years ago, and there is some resistance to putting it back.

Why people want it as a principle

 * It's helpful to new and old editors alike
 * It's self-evident and uncontroversial

Why people don't want it in 5P1

 * The fact that it's been gone for so long without discussion indicates consensus to remove it
 * It's off-topic for 5P1
 * It's self-evident so it doesn't belong in any policy
 * It will just lead to trouble
 * It's no help to anyone

See wt:Wikipedia is for readers.

Discussions

 * Village pump (proposals)/Archive 17 January 2008
 * Village_pump_(policy)/Archive_147 2018 discussion, including a straw poll about restoring the phrase to 5P1, with 11 !votes in support and 7 !votes in opposition (plus one split support/oppose !vote)

Other essays

 * Reader A reader is... the sole reason for which Wikipedia exists... The majority of visitors are readers so it is important that pages and articles are optimised for this readership.
 * Readers first
 * Dear Reader

Information pages

 * Purpose