User:AutomaticStrikeout/Adopt/Wikipolicy
We're cruising right along, moving into lesson number eight! Congratulations on making it this far.
Consensus
[edit]Consensus is the way that decisions are made in Wikipedia. You may see the odd !vote (a coding joke, ! means not - confirming that this is WP:NOTAVOTE and then promptly voting), but these should generally not be based upon weight of numbers, but rather the weight of arguments. Consensus should be created through discussion and any member of the community is welcome to enter in discussions. Yes, that means you. You have every right to put forward an opinion, but if your opinion can be based in policy it will hold a lot more weight.
Consensus applies to everything on Wikipedia, from simple article edits (see WP:BRD and the dispute resolution lesson) to large policy decisions. Consensus can also change. It does not necessarily remain the same, so if you see something you think is wrong, don't be afraid to raise it. When involved in a consensus discussion, be careful not to fall afoul of canvassing, something that is frowned upon. In other words, don't bring in more people to back you up.
There are a couple of exceptions to consensus. Anything decreed from Wikimedia foundation or WP:Office actions must be adhered too. Although these situations are rare, they are worth keeping in mind. Some of the things passed down in the past is that care must be taken over biographies of living people and copyright violations.
Community
[edit]The community includes anyone who writes and edits Wikipedia. This includes you, me and any user who clicks that little edit button. They need not be registered, which is why you see IP editors. Although some registered editors treat IPs like second-class citizens, they should not do so. It has been reported that the vast majority of Wikipedia was written by IP editors. Of course, this suggests that the vast majority of vandalism is also caused by IP editors, hence the disillusionment. You've already learned about vandalism in a separate lesson, so we don't need to worry about that at the moment.
Policy and guidelines
[edit]Most of what we do on Wikipedia is governed by policy and guidelines, but policies and guidelines were written down once and discussed at length. Oh yes, almost every policy and guideline is based on consensus, leading us right back to the start of this lesson. Policies don't change much, they describe how the community works and generally things remain relatively constant at the policy level.
Ignore all rules
[edit]What? Is this really right? Well, what the ignore all rules policy says is "If a rule prevents you from improving the encyclopedia, ignore it." This is the fifth pillar of Wikipedia. Sometimes people try to apply it, and it seldom works in their argument, but it's definitely worth keeping in mind. There is a good essay on how to apply this concept here. Originally, this policy was written by co-founder Larry Sanger. He phrased the policy like this: If rules make you nervous and depressed, and not desirous of participating in the wiki, then ignore them entirely and go about your business. There are an innumerable number of interpretations of this policy; over time I've begun to develop mine, and you'll have to develop yours, but that's the general gist of it.
Questions
[edit]Well, that's that. Do you have any questions on Consensus or policy?