Wikipedia:Essay directory

Privacy and security

• Editors willing to make difficult edits – support page for brave editors who face increased privacy/security risks from improving the encyclopedia
• How to not get outed on Wikipedia – for some editors of Wikipedia, having their "real life" identity discovered can be a major problem, threatening their well-being, careers, or even personal safety. There are a variety of steps you can take to help protect yourself from this happening.
• On privacy, confidentiality and discretion – Be careful about revealing and handling personal and/or private information, as your rights to privacy may not extend as far as you believe. If you're a younger editor, you might also want to read our guidance for younger editors.
• Personal security practices – intended as a guideline for user security concerns and practices on Wikipedia. It adapts some information from the Wikimedia foundation's privacy policy to address some personal security concerns that may arise in the course of editing Wikipedia.
• Protect your privacy – how-to guide
• Responding to threats of harm – Report all threats of harm (including empty threats) to emergencywikimedia.org.
• Staying safe on Wikipedia – Protect yourself by following common-sense best practices honed by those who are at higher risk while editing.
• Wikipedia is in the real world – Your activity here has real consequences, because Wikipedia is in the real world.
• Wikipedia welcomes but warns editors who strive for anonymity – There can be no absolute guarantee you can remain anonymous and still edit Wikipedia. But there are various ways you can safeguard your identity.
• Essays about accounts
  • User account security – Failing to use a sensible password can lead to temporary loss of editing access and may lead to permanent loss of privileged access.
  • Why create an account – you don't need to be registered to edit; however it does provide additional features and privacy.

• Essays for parents
  • Advice for parents – offers a brief introduction to Wikipedia for parents and legal guardians.
  • Protecting children's privacy – Editors younger than 18 should not put personally identifying information on any page. This includes real name, e-mail, home address, school and telephone number. Information of this type should be removed, and the editor who is under 18 should be told not to re-enter it on penalty of blocking. Editors should not knowingly attempt to elicit such information from those identifying as under 18.

About editors

• Competence is required – Sometimes editors have good intentions, but are not competent enough to edit in a net positive manner. They create work that others have to clean up.
• Disruptive user – examples of what would make someone a disruptive user.
• Editorial discretion – Common sense and Wikipedia policy dictates that editors must practice discretion regarding the proper inclusion of relevant and well-sourced content.
• Editor integrity – editors have a responsibility to uphold the integrity of Wikipedia and respect intellectual property rights of the sources they draw upon when they create and improve encyclopedia pages.
• Editors matter – Wikipedia's most important resource is its contributors. When considering the value of content in projectspace and userspace, don't just inflexibly apply policies and guidelines; think about the impact of the content on editors' feelings, and whether deleting the content may drive them away.
• Editors will sometimes be wrong – Individual editors, and even groups of editors, are sometimes wrong. Consensus at a given article may be at odds with the will of the community at large. Strive for "rightness".
• Expert editors – expert editors are important to Wikipedia.
• Ghostwriting – organizations and individuals bypassing the conflict-of-interest guideline by supplying approved drafts of articles about themselves.
• Here to build an encyclopedia – Wikipedians are here to build an encyclopedia, i.e., a neutral, reliable public reference work on notable topics. Users whose behavior suggests they are here for some other purpose risk being blocked or banned.
• Honor system – how editors are trusted to obey all the rules and do the right thing. There is no central authority and no police force, just the assumption of good faith.
• Levels of competence – All editors go through a series of levels in their understanding of Wikipedia.
• New account – a new account is a registered user which has too few contributions to obtain a definite reputation, or is registered too recently for it.
• Newbies aren't always clueless – Just because someone is new does not mean they have no idea what they are doing.
• Paid editing (essay) – some editors (usually for money) create or edit Wikipedia articles for an individual or entity.
• Retiring – sometimes active users decide to retire from or leave Wikipedia, and may return at any point.
• Single-purpose account – while many single-purpose accounts turn out to be well-intentioned editors with a niche interest, a significant number appear to edit for the purposes of promotion or showcasing their favoured point of view.
• User rights are not a golden ticket – user rights, as they appear in the log, do not denote a hierarchy of Wikipedians. Rollback, sysop, checkuser, oversight etc. are not special groups. While we call these privileges, they are not a measure of status.
• What administrators do – administrators are regular unpaid editors who have access to tools which give them the ability to protect pages, delete pages, and block users.
• Wikipedia is a volunteer service – The editors on Wikipedia are mainly volunteers. Editors can contribute as much as they want, and for however long they desire.
• Wikipedians – Anyone can edit Wikipedia and become a Wikipedian. There are currently 55,130,646 Wikipedia accounts, of which 271,284 have made at least one edit during the last month.
• You are not irreplaceable – Watch out for the feeling that you are indispensable to the project, to a certain article, or to a certain topic; it probably means you may be getting close to engaging in inappropriate Wikipedia behaviour (e.g., edit warring, Wikihounding other editors, acting like you own an article) that could lead to you being dispensed with from the project, via a block or ban.

Philosophy

• Articles are more important than policy – while familiarizing yourself with how things work on Wikipedia is good, what's even more important is writing good articles.
• Articles must be written – how articles should be created before they are linked in other articles.
• Avoid vague introductions – how the lead section of articles should summarize the contents of the article.
• Be a reliable source – the best way you can be a good source is by strictly adhering to the guidelines pertaining to them.
• Best practices for editors with close associations – suggestions for how to edit successfully, if you have a close association or involvement with the topic you are editing.
• Cohesion – how text and other information is organized and structured within articles.
• Concede lost arguments – how making explicit concessions when an argument is lost is good.
• Don't lie – how editors should refrain from lying at all times.
• Editing Wikipedia is like visiting a foreign country — editing in Wikipedia-land is going into a different world, from which you return (usually) a better person.
• Explanationism – the concept of Wikipedia's purpose as being, to some degree, based in explanations.
• Every edit must stand on its own feet – how small changes are good, but each change must improve the article and preserve its integrity.
• Honesty – how honesty is expected in all processes of Wikipedia, including content discussion, the dispute process and all other functions of the community.
• Gender-neutral language – how gender-neutral language should be used where this can be done with clarity and precision.
• Introduction to structurism – an editing philosophy emphasizing interconnection, organization, and uniformity as the best way to improve the usefulness of content across all Wikimedia projects.
• Most ideas are bad – how most proposals are bad and how to handle that point.
• News policy abuse – breaking news should not be covered by a new Wikipedia article.
• Not editing because of Wikipedia restriction – how some articles should not be written, although we'd like to write them.
• Oversimplification – how not to oversimplify material in the effort to make it more understandable.
• Paradoxes – explains the major conceptual contradictions within our project.
• Paraphrasing – how editors should generally summarize source material in their own words.
• Readers first – how, whenever we write something, we should always put our readers first.
• Responsible tagging – the best care should be taken to add only the most relevant and specific tags, and to leave an explanation on the talk page so that others can understand what the problem was/is.
• Statement of principles – by the co-founder of Wikipedia, Jimmy Wales, as updated by the community since then.
• Student assignments – students that edit Wikipedia as part of an assignment should improve Wikipedia without any serious violations of content norms.
• Snowball clause – you should use common sense and not follow a process for the sake of it; but, when in doubt, allow discussions to take place.
• Tagging pages for problems – "tags" (template messages) should be used to clearly identify problems with Wikipedia pages and to indicate to other editors that improvements are needed.
• Tendentious editing – how to recognize bad editing, how to avoid it, and how not to be accused of it.
• Time management – your time reading and editing Wikipedia may be limited. Thus, you should focus your editing toward the most enjoyable and productive goals.
• Too long; didn't read – the cause of excessive length, suggestions on how to reduce it, and a reminder to always exercise civility with other editors when paring.
• What "Ignore all rules" means – how most rules are ultimately descriptive, not prescriptive; they describe existing current practice.
• Words of wisdom – editors should remember that the goal is encyclopedic information, and should attempt to set aside their egos while they are here at Wikipedia.
• Writing about women – the subtle and more obvious ways in which titles, language, images and linking practices on the English Wikipedia can discriminate against women.
• Wikipedia is written by humans, for humans – humans come to Wikipedia expecting to see a human-written encyclopedia.

Development of Wikipedia

• 100K featured articles – the challenge of accomplishing the goal of 100,000 more Feature-quality articles.
• A navbox on every page – navigaton box templates can be useful as a tool for navigation.
• Acronym Overkill – articles should reflect acronym use in 3rd party sources.
• Adding images improves the encyclopedia – adding images to articles and essays is an easy way to improve the encyclopedia.
• Alternatives to the "Expand" template – better ways to say "this article needs more information" than using a template.
• Amnesia test – you should forget everything you know about the subject before editing.
• An unfinished house is a real problem – unfinished articles are not harmful; however, they should be made accurate and readable before saving.
• Articles have a half-life – the time it takes for a substance to degrade to half its former quantity and what to do about it.
• Avoid mission statements – why organizational statements generally should not be included in articles.
• Avoid template creep – why it is best not to overuse templates.
• Beef up that first revision – new page patrollers judge the articles by their first mainspace revisions; they prefer these to already contain basic context, assertion of notability, and sources.
• Build content to endure – take steps to ensure that content you write will not degrade or become outdated over time.
• Categories are different from articles – categories and articles serve different purposes in Wikipedia.
• Categories versus lists – the category system causes more problems than it solves.
• Categorising fiction – categorising fictional constructs on Wikipedia can be problematic.
• Common-style fallacy – Wikipedia has its own set of policies and guidelines for article content and naming, which are distinct from each other. Facts on a subject are drawn from reliable sources, but no particular subset of them dictates how Wikipedia must write. Style is a matter of Wikipedia community consensus, based on general-audience style guides, not mimicry of any particular genre (or trademark).
• Concept cloud – how brainstorming can help editors to overcome editorial struggles, and conceptualize, in a material way, the way an article is formed.
• Complete bollocks – articles that are obviously false should be treated differently from similar articles.
• Creating controversial content – how new articles or facts that are especially controversial can survive severe dispute.
• Don't demolish the house while it's still being built – how a short article should be marked as a stub, then edited, and expanded, rather than simply deleted.
• Don't hope the house will build itself – how a little planning and a little effort is all that is needed to prevent an article from being deleted.
• Don't include every update – newly released information is good, but can end up as clutter if everything goes into an article.
• Don't panic – you should always keep an eye on yourself when you are involved in a dispute.
• Don't overuse quotes – many articles use quotations to represent opinions of significant people. This is a mistake.
• Editing on mobile devices – the challenges of editing with smartphones.
• Editors are not mindreaders – how can someone distinguish the incomplete, unreferenced article you've just created but plan to improve from one that will never be improved?
• Featured articles may have problems – featured articles are not necessarily to be emulated; focus on our policies and guidelines.
• Give an article a chance – why it is best not to nominate newly created articles for deletion.
• How to contribute to Wikipedia guidance – the creation of new guidance and to the improvement or updating of existing guidance.
• Run an edit-a-thon – an "edit-a-thon" improves the encyclopedia and can be a great way to help new Wikipedians learn to edit.
• Ignore STRONGNAT for date formats – provides a rational argument for refusing editors who insist on using a date format that matches the most common style in a particular country.
• Keep it short and simple – rules and procedure pages should be simple and short, or else people will not read them.
• Let the dust settle – it is best to wait until things have calmed down before creating an article about current topics to Wikipedia. For breaking news, use Wikinews or current events.
• Merge Test – If a merge will result in an article too large to comfortably read or the deletion of encyclopedic content, it should not occur.
• Myth vs fiction – be careful when using the words "fiction" and "myth." While related, they are not interchangeable,
• "Murder of" articles – articles titled "Murder of [victim]" are a possible solution to the notability guidelines that would bar articles on the perpetrator or victim.
• Not everything needs a navbox – navigation-box templates can be useful as a tool for navigation, but use them sparingly.
• Nothing is in stone – how easy it is for Wikipedia to change, and how all Wikipedians should pay attention to the changes.
• Main article fixation – about how editors may insist that their contribution appear in the most prominent article.
• Pave the path – If you had trouble finding a page, add the redirects/links to it you were searching for to help the next editor.
• Permastub – some stub articles have no reasonable prospect for expansion.
• Potential, not just current state – why it is best to keep articles based on their potential notability and verification, not just how they look now.
• Presentism – judging historical events by current standards, should be avoided; explain what reliable sources have said regarding changed standards.
• Printability – editors decide whether or not any given type of article-namespace redirect is suitable for an offline, CD/DVD or print version of Wikipedia.
• Proseline – why articles being comprehensive and up-to-date is perfectly reasonable and okay to a point, but "proseline" (timelines) tends to degrade the quality of the articles.
• Pruning article revisions – for publicists who may want tips on legitimately reporting clients' achievements and have their articles stay in Wikipedia, not deleted.
• Put a little effort into it – when creating a new article, even if it is a stub, try to put in at least a little bit more than just the absolute minimum.
• Redirects are cheap – redirects take up minimal system resources, so it doesn't really hurt things if there are a few of them scattered around.
• Restoring part of a reverted edit – it is sometimes better to remove the content that is objectionable instead of entirely reverting an edit.
• Robotic editing – the manual performance of the same or similar edit to multiple, perhaps numerous pages.
• Specialized-style fallacy – Wikipedia has its own set of guidelines for article layout, content formatting, and page naming. Facts on a subject should be drawn from reliable sources, but how content is styled is a matter for the Wikipedia community, which strongly favors the style found in general-audience works over highly specialized ones, because of the breadth of our audience.
• Temporary versions of articles – reasons for and against temporary versions.
• There is a deadline – the preservation or survivability of the knowledge is at stake. Contribute it to Wikipedia before it's too late.
• There is no deadline – Wikipedia is a work in progress. Don't rush to edit; it's not a competition.
• The deadline is now – when an article contains unverifiable content, it needs to be corrected now before someone reads it and is misled by it.
• The world will not end tomorrow – an encyclopedia should not begin to move at lightning speed to keep up with the rat race of the outside world.
• Using sandboxes for article changes – advice on how to use sandboxes for rewriting existing articles
• Vital Direct – about development of vital articles.
• Walled garden – articles should have outgoing and incoming links to the wider encyclopedia.
• What an article should not include – some things rarely, if ever, should appear in the saved version of an article.
• Wikipedia is not being written in an organized fashion – Wikipedia grows organically, thus the quality of pages is varied.
• Writing better articles – advice on how to write an effective article, including information on layout, style, and how to make an article clear, precise and relevant to the reader.
• Wikipedia is not about YOU – Wikipedia is not the place to promote a topic with which you have personal involvement.
• Wikipedia is not a fan website – Wikipedia is a user-edited website, but it is an encyclopedia, not a fan website.
• Wikipedia is not a newspaper – Wikipedia is not a journal of current news.

Removal or deletion of content

• AfD is not a war zone – how articles for deletion (AfD) discussions should remain calm and civil, and editors should avoid adhering too strongly to either deletionism or inclusionism.
• AfD stats don't measure what you think - the agreement of a user's AfD !votes and AfD outcomes is not easy to interpret and is frequently used in misleading ways.
• Arguments to avoid in deletion discussions – arguments that should generally be avoided, or at the least supplemented with a better-grounded rationale for the position.
• Arguments to avoid in deletion reviews – all should try to make clear, solid arguments in deletion reviews, avoiding short one-liners or simple links.
• Arguments to avoid in image deletion discussions – the strongest arguments are those that explain clearly how they are based upon that policy.
• Arguments to make in deletion discussions – some arguments that have successfully saved articles from deletion in the past, or otherwise supported one's cause, and therefore, may support yours.
• Avoid repeated arguments – avoid repeating statements previously made in AfD discussions.
• Baby and bathwater – good-faith editors can mistakenly delete content that is actually properly sourced, and citations which are valid, by misunderstanding our sourcing-related policies and guidelines.
• Before commenting in a deletion discussion – there are several things you should be aware of before you comment in a deletion debate in order to best make your case.
• Content removal – when removing content from a page, it is important to be sure there is consensus to do so.
• Delete the junk – we don't need to keep an article with no merit in itself just because it might, theoretically, be possible to make a good article on the subject.
• Deletion and deletionism – the processes used on Wikipedia for removing articles, images, miscellaneous pages, user pages, stubs, and categories.
• Deletion by redirection – redirecting an article is often an appropriate course of action to be taken when an article clearly fails to meet the general notability guidelines for inclusion.
• Deletion is not cleanup – if an article on a notable subject can be improved through normal editing, do not put it through a deletion discussion.
• Does deletion help – whether or not articles add to a reader's knowledge without misleading or biasing them in any way is the main criteria for deciding to delete. It may sometimes be better to have an imperfect article than no article on a topic.
• Don't overuse shortcuts to policy and guidelines to win your argument – editors in the midst of a dispute should not offer links to policy, guideline, or essay pages in place of reasoned rebuttals.
• Do not write articles using categories – an example of how not to use categories to mention every aspect of the topic covered.
• Drafts are not checked for notability or sanity - draft deletion criteria are different to article deletion criteria.
• Field guide to proper speedy deletion – a quick guide to understanding the speedy deletion criteria, and how to apply it properly.
• Help, my article got nominated for deletion! – new editors who decide to be bold sometimes encounter the deletion process because the new article may be at odds with a Wikipedia policy.
• How to save an article proposed for deletion – the best ways to save an article that has been proposed for deletion.
• How to delete a page – how to ask for an article to be deleted, because only administrators can delete articles. Note that removing all text from a page does not delete it, it just leaves a blank page, which is discouraged.
• Identifying blatant advertising – to locate, identify, and respond to articles, pages, and content that are blatantly created as an advertisement or promotion.
• Immunity – the idea that an article cannot possibly be deleted, either because no one will dispute the fact that it belongs, or that it meets inclusion criteria so well, no one will dare think of deleting it.
• Introduction to deletion process – an overview of the guidelines and policies relevant to deletion, as well as the overall process.
• Liar Liar Pants on Fire – calling an editor a liar is not a valid argument in AfD discussions (or anywhere else, for that matter).
• Notability is not everything – notability is not the end-all be-all of deletion discussions. Articles with notable subjects may still be deleted if they are in serious violation of Wikipedia's content policies.
• NPOV deletion – Controversial, barely notable subjects are difficult to describe in a neutral fashion.
• Overzealous deletion – overzealous deletion goes against Wikipedia's "assume good faith" principle.
• Relisting can be abusive – editors should not relist a deletion discussion if a consensus has been firmly and recently established.
• Revert only when necessary – editors should revert vandalism upon sight, but revert an edit made in good faith only after careful consideration.
• So your article has been nominated for deletion – a tutorial for users whose articles have been nominated for deletion, with an eye toward users new to Wikipedia in general.
• Viewing deleted content – normally, only administrators have the right to view deleted material.
• Why was the page I created deleted? – how to find out why a particular page or file was removed, and what you can do about a deletion you disagree with.
• What to do if your article gets tagged for speedy deletion – why an article was tagged for deletion, and what your recourse is.
• When in doubt, hide it in the woodwork – when an event article of borderline notability that could potentially become notable in the future is nominated for deletion, the best solution is to transfer it out of article space without deleting it so it can potentially be re-added at a later date.

Civility

• A weak personal attack is still wrong – how the mild severity of a personal attack does not make the personal attack okay.
• Advice for hotheads – how argumentative, cantankerous and curmudgeonly personalities can avoid getting themselves into trouble.
• Accepting other users – how and why we work cooperatively with other users and assume good faith. Wikipedia is a collaborative project.
• Apologizing – we should not be afraid to apologize, and a reminder to apologize with sincerity.
• Civil POV pushing – how the dispute resolution process has a difficult time dealing with civil POV pushers.
• Compromise – how negotiation skills often assist editors in delicate situations.
• Divisiveness – why content on your userpage might be seen by some as "divisive", and how it is recommended that you expand and explain the content in question.
• Don't retaliate – how retaliation and reacting while mad can get you in bigger trouble
• Encouraging newcomers – why the more guidance you offer novice editors, the better they will get at using Wikipedia.
• Keep it concise – AfD discussions are best served by keeping your comments short. The closing admin isn't grading you by volume.
• Keep it down to earth – workable solutions that have a realistic chance at succeeding.
• Pearl-clutching – a type of civil point-of-view pushing.
• Thank you – we all like to be respected, and we all deserve respect.
• Truce – when in a dispute, attempt to reach a compromise or declare a truce.
• High-functioning autism and Asperger's editors – Autistic and Asperger's editors may have different wiring patterns in their brains, but that does not mean they can't contribute.
• How to be civil – editors should offer constructive comments, forgive other editors, be polite, and walk away if they have to.
• How to improve civility – you should treat your fellow editor as a respected and admired colleague, who is working in collaboration with you on an important project.
• Imagine others complexly – how civility issues, misunderstandings, and discomfort on Wikipedia can sometimes arise from a failure to imagine others complexly.
• Maintaining a friendly space – Wikipedia should strive to provide a respectful, transparent, and positive experience for everyone.
• Obsessive Compulsive Disorder editors – editors with OCD may have different wiring patterns in their brains, and you may have to learn how to interact well with them, but they can still make a valuable contribution to Wikipedia.
• Responding to incivility – how to respond to incivility in a productive and meaningful way.

Behavioural philosophy

• Admitting you're wrong – how you can make friends and influence enemies on Wikipedia by learning when to admit you're wrong.
• An uncivil environment is a poor environment – how being civil encourages others to be civil. Work towards building a collaborative workspace.
• Avoid instruction creep – why guidance that is too wordy and tries to cover all the bases and every conceivable outlying case tends to become counterproductive.
• Avoiding difficult users – since only a few users are difficult, they should just be avoided.
• Be the glue – how following WP:AGF can be a tactic that will let you either discover common ground when you're really facing good faith, or empirically establish that you aren't.
• Civility warnings – an explanation of best practice in leaving those notifications and warnings.
• Drama – creating and spreading drama disrupts and harms Wikipedia – and it may get you blocked.
• Don't be high-maintenance – editors should not threaten to quit, or otherwise make trouble, if you don't get your way.
• Editors' pronouns – respect the pronouns that editors request for themselves. Alternatively, just refer to everyone as they.
• Enjoy yourself – why editing should be fun.
• Expert retention – how the issue of how to attract and retain expert specialists, given the anarchic and often frustrating nature of Wikipedia, is one that many Wikipedians feel needs to be addressed.
• Expect no thanks – we should edit Wikipedia for the love of the project, not primarily with the hope of being thanked. However, a little more thanks would go a long way.
• Expressing thanks – common methods for communicating your thanks to other users.
• Failure – how failure is a good thing because people are prone to mistakes, and they learn as a result of them.
• Ignore personal attacks – if someone attacks you personally, you should ignore it, rise above it, and continue to comment solely on relevant content.
• Forgive and forget – how editors should stop fighting. Forgive others, apologize, and move on.
• It's not the end of the world – how if people disagree with you or revert your edits, it probably doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things.
• Muting difficult users – what to do when avoiding a difficult user does not work.
• Nobody cares – how lack of action by others can mean a lack of interest.
• Policy shopping – how it is best to present all justifications for a change at one time (not incrementally).
• Reasonableness – how reasonable people with good intentions can still disagree over matters of substance.
• Relationships with academic editors – Wikipedia is not a place to make an academic reputation, nor to post still-unpublished theories, and attempting academic defence of material is an emotional danger to one's self.
• Staying cool when the editing gets hot – how editors should remain calm when in an editing dispute. Respond politely and assume good faith.
• There is no seniority – The number of edits (or if the editor is a Wikipedia Administrator) does not mean that they are always right. Seniority does not add weight to arguments.
• Taking the road less traveled – doing things differently from others can often yield better results.
• The grey zone – how editors should not fall between the cracks.
• The last word – the importance that you always ensure that you get "The Last Word".
• The rules of polite discourse – how editors may need to take a "time out" and try to discuss the issue calmly.
• There is no Divine Right Of Editors – why no editor, administrator or otherwise, is superior or above the law.
• Wikipedia is not about winning – how everyone should work together to build a reliable encyclopedia, not try to prove themselves to be "better" than others.
• Writing for the opponent – how editors should represent all point of views neutrally and with due weight, even if you disagree with the view.
• You can search, too – search engines exist for a reason, and it is not the other editors' job to use one for you.

Sanctions

• Block on demand – how a self-requested block will be done by some, but not all, Wikipedia administrators.
• Don't lower the boom just yet – why administering sanctions with a light hand, combined with ongoing monitoring and coaching, can be more effective than coming down hard like a ton of bricks.
• Disruptive sanctions – how restricting an editor's ability to contribute to the encyclopedia is inherently a measure of last resort.
• Give 'em enough rope – why it may be better to just unblock them and make it clear that this is their last chance ... and see what happens.
• Guide to appealing blocks – understand, in full, the reasons of your block before requesting an unblock is your best bet.
• Hate is disruptive – there's nothing radical about sanctioning users for hateful speech or actions.
• I have been blocked – a block is a measure used to protect Wikipedia from possible improper activity in breach of editorial policies.
• Sanctions – sanctions act to limit or remove user privileges and may lead to blocks and bans.
• Sanctions against editors should not be punitive – administrative sanctions against editors are not punitive, and are imposed solely to prevent harm to the encyclopedia.
• Standard offer – discusses a process an editor that gets hit with a siteban or an indefinite block can do.
• Suicide by admin – refers to a set of actions by Wikipedia editors that lead to an editor being blocked indefinitely.
• Using the balanced editing restriction – discusses this subtype of the topic ban created in 2025.

Multiple accounts

• Clean start – how a user who is not under current restrictions or blocks may stop using their current account and start using a new one.
• Consequences of sockpuppetry – why the use of a second account, unless explicitly permitted by the rules, is a violation known to many as sockpuppetry.
• Dealing with sockpuppets – sockpuppetry is a problem at Wikipedia, and you can help make a difference by reporting them to the correct admin board and by proper conduct when dealing with them.
• Lurkers – why one should never assume a user is a sockpuppet; it can create bad feeling and violates our "Assume good faith" policy.
• Obvious sock is obvious – if it looks like a duck, swims like a duck and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck.
• Signs of sockpuppetry – there are many possible signs of sockpuppetry or other multiple account usage. Still, none of them are absolute proof sockpuppetry is occurring.
• Sleeper account – a sleeper account is still enabled and it is still possible to use it. However, any such use of an account must conform to Wikipedia guidelines, particularly those of sockpuppetry.

Neutral point of view

• Advocacy – Wikipedia is not a venue for raising the visibility of an issue or agenda.
• Academic bias – how and why Wikipedia articles may have an academic (scholarly) bias. This does not mean the articles take sides, and it is not a violation of WP:NPOV.
• Activist – advice for determining if an article is being unduly influenced by activists, as well as advice on how to deal with the various problems caused by violations of Wikipedia's policies.
• An interest is not a conflict of interest – a conflict of interest can be cited as a cause for some other violation, but the existence of a conflict of interest by itself is not a policy violation.
• Avoid thread mode – don't "However" a position in the middle of stating its case.
• Be neutral in form – how being neutral in both content and in form is an asset.
• Coatrack – articles about one thing shouldn't mostly focus on another thing.
• Controversial articles – controversial articles, by their very nature, require far greater care to achieve a neutral point of view.
• Criticism – articles should include both positive and negative viewpoints from reliable sources, without giving undue weight to particular viewpoints, either negative or positive.
• Describing points of view – article should represent the POVs of the main scholars and specialists who have produced reliable sources on the issue.
• Let the reader decide – you should not consider a statement neutral just because you agree with it.
• Endorsements (commercial) – how commercial endorsements of goods, services, businesses, companies, nonprofits, and famous persons present special editorial challenges that require particular care.
• External criticism of Wikipedia – how criticism of Wikipedia from professors and journalists may be biased.
• Neutral and proportionate point of view – Wikipedia does not aim for the midpoint between them. Rather, it gives weight to each view in proportion to its prevalence in reliable sources.
• NPOV dispute – when adding {{Citation needed}} and {{Dubious}} templates to articles, editors should address the issues on the talk page, pointing to specific issues that are actionable within the content policies, namely NPOV, Verify, OR and BLP.
• Partisanship – how Wikipedia's coverage of political issues needs to adhere to NPOV in the face of partisanship.
• Systemic bias – how systemic bias created by the shared social and cultural characteristics of most editors results in an imbalanced coverage of subjects and perspectives on the encyclopedia.
• What is fringe? – how fringe theories range from theories that almost qualify as alternative mainstream theories to things that have just barely too many scientific chops to be called pseudoscience.
• We shouldn't be able to figure out your opinions – your editing trends should not reveal your personal beliefs.
• Why Wikipedia cannot claim the Earth is not flat – ten types of arguments commonly used by advocates of fringe concepts, and advice for the neutrally-minded editor or administrator on how to defuse them.

Verifiability and sources

• Allowing forensic crime data – how, under certain circumstances, forensic crime data may be used as primary sources on crime articles.
• Applying reliability guidelines – which policies and guidelines are the most relevant to evaluating a particular source.
• Assessing reliability – there are a number of ways in which you, as a reader, can assess the reliability of a given article.
• Bare URLs – why it is preferable to use proper citation templates when citing sources.
• Blind men and an elephant – reliable sources may be considered credible ... until newer reliable sources contradict them.
• But there must be sources! – why you shouldn't just insist there must be sources out there somewhere. Prove it by providing them.
• Cherrypicking – when selecting information from a source, include contradictory and significant qualifying information from the same source.
• Children's lit, adult new readers, & large-print books – children's sources, adult new reader sources, and abridged large-print media are questionable and need checking for reliability before being cited.
• Citation overkill – when citing material in an article, it is better to cite a couple of great sources than a stack of decent or sub-par sources.
• Cite tendentious texts directly – any text which takes a side on a difficult or controversial question – especially in cases where the text represents an extreme viewpoint – should be cited directly.
• Citing textbooks – there are several situations in which textbooks should be completely avoided as your primary source of information about a subject.
• Clones – websites that contain information that is directly copied from Wikipedia cannot be used to establish notability or verify the accuracy of any information on Wikipedia.
• Combining sources – articles should be based on reliable sources without implying any conclusions derived from improper synthesis.
• Conflicting sources – if two reliable sources offer contradicting information on a subject and none of them can be demonstrated unreliable, then an article should cite both.
• Dictionaries as sources – dictionaries and glossaries present a special challenge in determining whether one is primary, secondary, or tertiary.
• Evaluating sources – when using primary sources, editors should stick to describing what the sources say. Any interpretive claims, analyses, or synthetic claims require a secondary source.
• Fruit of the poisonous tree – if an otherwise reliable source attributes information to an unreliable source, then that information is likewise unreliable.
• Handling original research – material for which no reliable, published source exists is called "original research." There are various ways to deal with it.
• Identifying and using primary and secondary sources – the best way to identify and correctly use primary and non-primary sources.
• Identifying and using self-published works – a guide to identifying and correctly using self-published sources.
• Independent sources – independent sources are not necessarily "neutral" in the sense of being even-handed. An independent source may hold a strongly positive or negative view of a topic or an idea.
• Inaccuracy – addresses what editors should do with concerns about potentially inaccurate source material.
• Interviews – interviews generally count as primary sources, but commentary added to interviews by a publication can sometimes count as secondary-source material.
• Law sources – some law sources may not be reliable. Others may be very complicated to use.
• Link rot – how there are steps to be taken to reduce or repair its effect, and why it is not good to delete cited information solely because the URL to the source does not work any longer.
• Mine a source – how articles with "citation needed" tags often already have sufficient sources that simply have been under-utilized.
• More seasoning doesn't mean more flavor - What makes a source "good" and why less info isn't always worse info.
• Objective sources – you should be mindful that a reliable source to you may not be to others. Try to obtain objectively reliable sourcing.
• Offline sources – even though Wikipedia is an online encyclopedia, there is no distinction between using online versus offline sources.
• Open government data – Wikipedia often uses open government data, but official does not systematically mean reliable, and often involves a conflict of interest. With increasing amounts of open government data, how should this be handled?
• Party and person – explains the commonly misunderstood distinctions between "secondary source" and "third party".
• Perennial sources – sources that editors frequently discuss on Wikipedia. Some of these are currently deemed reliable, some are currently deemed unreliable, and some may be reliable in some circumstances.
• Perennial websites – describes websites that editors frequently inquire about, and how some are accepted, some are currently opposed for inclusion, and some depend on the circumstances.
• Potentially unreliable sources – analyses specific examples of sources that might initially appear to be reliable, yet may not be.
• POV and OR from editors, sources, and fields – how editors, sources, and fields can have a point of view and original research, and how even edits can have a POV, as long as the article in Wikipedia does not.
• Reliable sources and undue weight – how an article should not give undue weight to any aspects of the subject, but should strive to treat each aspect with a weight appropriate to its significance to the subject.
• References dos and don'ts – describes good and bad things about sources.
• Significant coverage – if a topic has received significant coverage in reliable sources that are independent of the subject, it is presumed to be suitable for a stand-alone article or list.
• Sourcing content about newer phenomena – some subcultures have been around for a long time and there is significant published material from which to describe these long-term subcultures on Wikipedia.
• Templates do not excuse citations – why "citation needed" templates are not an excuse to make as many claims as you can without verification.
• Tertiary-source fallacy – dictionaries, encyclopedias, and style guides do not magically trump other sources, policy, and reasoning.
• The answer to life, the universe, and everything – why articles generally require significant coverage in reliable sources that are independent of the topic.
• Third-party sources – every article on Wikipedia must be based upon verifiable statements from multiple third-party reliable sources with a reputation for fact-checking and accuracy.
• Trivial mentions – how notability requires significant coverage by reliable sources. Trivial mentions are not enough.
• Use of tertiary sources – how tertiary sources differ from secondary ones because they themselves do not provide significant analysis, commentary, or synthesis.
• Using sources – references must be reliable sources, used in accordance with the three core content policies.
• Verifiability, and truth – it is not enough for encyclopedic content to be verifiable via reliable sources. It must also conform to known, objective facts.
• Verifiability, not truth – how editors may not add (or delete!) content solely because they believe it is true (or false!).
• Verifiable but not false – a guide to limiting false information in Wikipedia.
• Verification methods – explains common methods that Wikipedia editors use to make their articles verifiable.
• Verifying different types of statement – describes what is required to verify different types of statements on Wikipedia.
• Videos as references – it's okay to cite movies, documentaries, TV programs and other video as references.
• Video links – how videos on user-submitted sites can sometimes be used as references or external links, but copyright infringement and unreliability will rule out the use of many of these videos.
• When to cite – when a source may or may not be needed.
• You are not a reliable source – quick list of reasons editor statements do not support content.
• You don't need to cite that the sky is blue – although citing sources is an important part of editing Wikipedia, do not cite already obvious information.