Wikipedia:Principles

The English Wikipedia does not have a single, definitive statement of the community's values and principles. Over the years, several editors have written summaries of these values and principles as well as essays expressing their ideas about what is important. Below is a list of some of these popular pages:

Shortcuts

Wikipedia:Five pillars: Perhaps the most popular, this was written as a simple summary for new editors.
User:Jimbo Wales/Statement of principles: One of the oldest, this statement of principles was written by Wikipedia cofounder Jimmy Wales.
Wikipedia:Trifecta: This three-point simplified ruleset was the precursor to the Five Pillars page.
Wikipedia:Core content policies: Brief summary and a bit of background on our core content policies.
Wikipedia:Wikipedia is an encyclopedia: Blunt and to the point laying out of what Wikipedia is
Wikipedia:Wikipedia in brief: Focuses on the encyclopedic nature of the project.
Wikipedia:Simplified ruleset: A longer page with more detail.
Wikipedia:Ethics: A list of various ethical codes
Wikipedia:Ethical Code for Wikipedians
Wikipedia:Purpose: Wikipedia's purpose
User:Andrewa/creed: What Wikipedians believe
Wikipedia:Pledges: Specific principles individual Wikipedians pledge to uphold
Wikipedia:Product, process, policy: The three Ps
Wikipedia:Here to build an encyclopedia: Behaviors that build, or destroy, the project.
Wikipedia:Eight simple rules for editing our encyclopedia
Wikipedia:Ten simple rules for editing Wikipedia
Wikipedia:Historical archive/Rules to consider

All of these pages are intended to be informative and helpful to editors. None of these pages themselves are official policies or guidelines of the English Wikipedia community (see WP: local consensus for details).

Further reading `(external links)`

External video
Jimmy Wales: The birth of Wikipedia, 2005 TED (conference), 20 mins.

Mission statement – The Wikimedia Foundation
Wikimedia values – The six values of the Wikimedia Foundation
In a nutshell, what is Wikipedia? And what is the Wikimedia Foundation? – The Wikimedia Foundation
Wikimedia founding principles – Principles generally supported by all of the Wikimedia communities
Wikimedia Ethics – Principles of ethics in-regards to online media

Wikipedia principles

Five pillars
Statement of our principles

Jimbo's statement
Historic principles

Simplified ruleset
Synopsis of our conventions

Wikimedia principles
Common to all projects
(in Meta-Wiki)

Principles
Other essays on Wikipedia's principles

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Philosophy	Articles must be written Avoid vague introductions Be a reliable source Cohesion Concede lost arguments Dissent is not disloyalty Editing Wikipedia is like visiting a foreign country Editors will sometimes be wrong Eight simple rules for editing our encyclopedia Explanationism Here to build an encyclopedia Not editing because of Wikipedia restriction Paradoxes Paraphrasing POV and OR from editors, sources, and fields Product, process, policy Purpose Systemic bias Reasonability rule The role of policies in collaborative anarchy The rules are principles Ten Simple Rules for Editing Wikipedia Tendentious editing Trifecta Wikipedia in brief Wikipedia is a community Wikipedia is an encyclopedia
Construction	100K featured articles A navbox on every page Advanced article editing Advanced table formatting Advanced template coding Advanced text formatting Alternatives to the "Expand" template Amnesia test An unfinished house is a real problem Autosizing images Avoid mission statements Bare URLs Be neutral in form Beef up that first revision Cherrypicking Citation overkill Concept cloud Creating controversial content Criticisms of society may be consistent with NPOV and reliability The deadline is now Dictionaries as sources Don't demolish the house while it's still being built Don't get hung up on minor details Don't hope the house will build itself Don't panic Editing on mobile devices Editors are not mindreaders Encourage the newcomers Endorsements (commercial) Featured articles may have problems Give an article a chance How to run an edit-a-thon Inaccuracies in Wikipedia namespace Inaccuracy Law sources Link rot Minors and persons judged incompetent "Murder of" articles Not every story/event/disaster needs a biography Not everything needs a navbox Not everything needs a WikiProject Nothing is in stone Permastub Potential, not just current state Printability Publicists Put a little effort into it Restoring part of a reverted edit Robotic editing Sham consensus Temporary versions of articles There is a deadline Walled garden What an article should not include Wikipedia is a work in progress Wikipedia is not being written in an organized fashion The world will not end tomorrow
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Deletion	Adjectives in your recommendations AfD is not a war zone Arguments to avoid in deletion discussions Arguments to avoid in deletion reviews Arguments to avoid in image deletion discussions Arguments to make in deletion discussions Avoid repeated arguments Before commenting in a deletion discussion Content removal Delete the junk Does deletion help? Don't overuse shortcuts to policy and guidelines to win your argument Follow the leader How to save an article proposed for deletion I just don't like it Immunity Identifying blatant advertising Identifying test edits Liar Liar Pants on Fire Nothing Overzealous deletion Relisting can be abusive What to do if your article gets tagged for speedy deletion Why was the page I created deleted? Wikipedia is not Whack-A-Mole
About essays	Avoid writing redundant essays Difference between policies, guidelines and essays Don't cite essays as if they were policy Finding an essay For every essay, there is an equal and opposite essay Quote your own essay Value of essays
Related subjects	About policies and guidelines Guidelines Policies Wikipedia is a volunteer service
Essay directory

See also

Further reading (external links)

Further reading `(external links)`