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User:Daniel Mietchen/Talks/SOL 2012/What is Wikipedia

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What Wikipedia is...

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  • Wikipedia is an online encyclopaedia.
  • Unlike most paper encyclopaedias Wikipedia is not limited by size, but it is not indiscriminate; the subject of every new article must be notable.
  • Wikipedia is also an online community of people interested in building a high-quality encyclopedia.
  • Wikipedia is free.
Logos of Wikimedia projects, with Wikidata missing.
Logos of Wikimedia projects, with Wikidata missing. Counterclockwise, starting on top: Wikimania, Wikibooks, Meta-Wiki, Wikiquote, Wikispecies, MediaWiki, Wikimedia Incubator, Wikiversity, Wiktionary, Wikinews, Wikisource, Wikimedia Commons, Wikipedia. Not yet included is Wikidata.
Logo of the Wikidata project.
Logo of the Wikidata project, a collaboratively editable database from where information can be pulled into infoboxes and other data elements in Wikimedia projects, regardless of language.
Overview of Wikimedia projects
  • Wikipedia is one of several Wikimedia projects for collaborative curation of knowledge.


What Wikipedia is not...

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  • Wikipedia is not a soapbox or a promotional tool.
  • Do not edit for the purpose of advocacy, advertising, promotion or to reveal THE TRUTH! All articles should be written from a neutral point of view and free from bias.
  • Resist the urge to add material about yourself, your friends or your family: doing so will result in an inherent conflict of interest and could backfire.
  • Wikipedia is not a publisher of original thought or a crystal ball.
  • Wikipedia is not a scientific journal, a textbook, or an instruction manual.
  • The purpose of Wikipedia is to present facts, not to teach subject matter. Inform, don't instruct. Describe, don't proscribe.
  • Articles should be written for intelligent laypeople, not for academics. Avoid jargon and use apposition to describe technical concepts in simple terms.
  • Exception: Wikipedia articles drafted in collaboration with journals
  • Wikipedia is not a social networking site.
  • Joining Wikipedia's thriving community can be socially rewarding, but remember that discussion pages are for promoting effective collaboration, not dating or blogging.
  • Wikipedia is not a political experiment in democracy, bureaucracy, anarchy or any other system.
  • Its primary (but not exclusive) method of determining consensus is through discussion, not voting.
  • Wikipedia has key policies and guidelines that editors are expected to respect, but rules are not the purpose of the community.
  • If a rule prevents you from improving or maintaining Wikipedia, ignore it..... but breaking rules simply to prove a point is bad form.