Wikipedia talk:Explain your views

Why I propose this guideline
It's very simple. Often I find in articles with large amounts of debating such as *fDs, RfA and even just talk pages, there will be users who voice there views on the matter, but do not explain why. This simply leads to people ask the user why they feel that way, sometimes suspicion of sock puppetry, trolling or bad-faith, or the users vote pretty much being disregarded. I mostly intend this page for new users, as they are the least likely to have their opinions count. I think it will help if there is a guideline we can point all users to, so they can understand why they should explain their views.

This is my first attempt at a project page, so I hope for a lot of input in how it can be improved. Even if none of the original text remains but the message is still there I hope it can be approved as an official guideline. Paul Cyr 23:11, 15 May 2006 (UTC)

I support this completely
Hidden motives are horrible to deal with.--Urthogie 08:32, 16 May 2006 (UTC)

It looks to me like no more than common sense. I realise that common sense is sometimes in short supply, so there's no harm in formulating it as a policy. Runcorn 20:05, 18 May 2006 (UTC)

Changed to guideline
Well, it's been about a month since I made this proposal. The feedback has been 100% support. Although there has been little feedback, given that there are no objections, I think it's safe to list it as a guideline. Paul Cyr 20:40, 12 June 2006 (UTC)
 * Congratulations on the guideline. It's not easy to have such success.--Urthogie 13:57, 13 June 2006 (UTC)
 * Thanks! Paul Cyr 14:01, 13 June 2006 (UTC)

As an essay
Wouldn't this make more sense as an essay? I don't think it has enough meat to qualify as a guideline. —Centrx→talk &bull; 03:41, 22 June 2006 (UTC)
 * Essays are more designed to be an opinion. This is something people *should* follow.  Plus, there are a number of other guidelines that are just as short.  Remember, it's substance not quantity. ;) Paul Cyr 04:10, 22 June 2006 (UTC)


 * I agree with Centrx. This is not really actionable, so it's more appropriate as an essay.  &gt; R a d i a n t &lt;  17:44, 11 September 2006 (UTC)
 * It is actionable and instructive and therefore not an essay. Instead of saying your view, you say your view and provide justification.  If it wasn't actionable or instructive I'm sure those kids in highschool would like to have their English marked bumped up for not being able to do something the teacher said. Paul Cyr 01:54, 12 September 2006 (UTC)

Merging with Consensus
I don't see why this should be merged with consensus. Consensus is reaching an agreement, this guideline, such as Discuss, don't vote, are guidelines to follow for reaching consensus. Paul Cyr 18:24, 28 September 2006 (UTC)
 * It isn't merged with consensus, it's merged with the talk page guideline, which already contained most of this information. It is generally agreed upon that we shouldn't have additional guidelines if we can avoid it, since there's quite a lot of them already.  &gt; R a d i a n t &lt;  19:04, 28 September 2006 (UTC)