Explanatory essay about Wikipedia:What Wikipedia is not
| This page in a nutshell:
The editors on Wikipedia are mainly volunteers. Editors can contribute as much as they want, and for however long they desire.
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Wikipedia is a
volunteer
service. But, what exactly does this mean?
- Almost all contributions are made in the free time of their contributors.
- There are no set crews or teams working on articles on any topic, just those who come along and volunteer information at any time they wish.
- You are never required to take any action or post any edit that you personally disagree with. Even if there is a clear consensus against your view, the most you can be required to do is to let others take the actions that they support.
- Anyone can take a break for any period of time or drop out whenever they like.
- You can always stop working on one group of articles, take up working on another for a while, then resume the previous one, with no expectations from others.
- You have the right to quit and never return, and in most cases to
vanish
?no questions asked, no explanation needed.
- There is no minimum or maximum anyone can contribute.
- There is no deadline
.
There are various reasons why one does not immediately improve pages to meet certain standards, or even to prevent deletion. If an editor states an intention to make an improvement that will take more time, this should be respected.
Researching topic
[
edit
]
Sometimes, an improvement will require time for researching information on the topic at hand. This may include finding and studying books, newspapers, journals, or websites, choosing the most appropriate sources, or summarizing material in encyclopedic form. Rome was not built in a day; neither is Wikipedia.
Other Wikipedia activities
[
edit
]
Many editors are busy with creating or editing a series of articles or other materials, or making other improvements to Wikipedia. Others are happier working in behind-the-scenes areas of the project, such as removing vandalism. An unrelated matter may have to wait.
Busy life
[
edit
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Some people may be dedicated to Wikipedia as their number one cause in life. For most editors, however, editing Wikipedia is akin to a hobby that ranks lower in personal importance than editors' personal lives and their employment, family, health and other factors. Real life usually takes priority over editing Wikipedia.
Because Wikipedia is completely voluntary, under no circumstances are editors obliged or expected to make any edits, respond to any messages, or to otherwise have any involvement. Please don't presume you have offended a fellow editor who has not responded to your message, or that they are insulting you:
assume good faith
and remember life may be complicated. By drawing negative inferences from their lack of editing, you might be making it less attractive for them to productively contribute to the project in the future.
Stress
[
edit
]
Sometimes Wikipedia
can be stressful
. When this happens, sometimes the best thing to do is
take a break
. If you're not
enjoying editing
, then it is time to take a break ? don't be a
wikipediholic
. Remember, if things don't go your way,
it's not the end of the world
.
Play
[
edit
]
Editing Wikipedia is a labour of love, and each editor, more often than not, has more than one hobby or activity competing for their available bandwidth. How an editor chooses to manage their available bandwidth, with respect to time allocation, is entirely up to them. An editor may find themselves editing for hours each day. An editor’s involvement may be sporadic and only transpire when the mood strikes. A healthy "editing-life" balance is fundamentally important. This balance looks different for each individual and is subject to change at any time. For example, an editor who has, for the last several years, been spending an average of 10 hours each week editing Wikipedia, may discover a new hobby they wish to dedicate those 10 hours to. Or, perhaps the unexpected onset of a competing priority(s) takes precedent of an individual’s time. The key takeaway remains the same: Each Wikipedia editor is a volunteer, and it is their collective effort that allows for this model to work. Everyone pitches in when and how they see fit, so long as their efforts are in accordance with the terms and conditions of volunteering their services.
- Administrators and other users with advanced permissions are generally expected to maintain a
minimum level of activity
and be available to
account for their actions
, or to resign the tools.
- Editors sometimes question whether users who disappear suddenly after being brought to ANI may be trying to evade scrutiny ("
ANI flu
")
- Many editors subscribe to a "clean up your own mess" philosophy, whereby experienced editors who make errors with fallout are expected to participate in the cleanup of those errors.
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- Adminitis
- Ain't no rules says a dog can't play basketball
- Akin's Laws of Article Writing
- Alternatives to edit warring
- ANI flu
- Anti-Wikipedian
- Anti-Wikipedianism
- Articlecountitis
- Asshole John rule
- Assume bad faith
- Assume faith
- Assume good wraith
- Assume stupidity
- Assume that everyone's assuming good faith, assuming that you are assuming good faith
- Avoid using preview button
- Avoid using wikilinks
- Bad Jokes and Other Deleted Nonsense
- Barnstaritis
- Before they were notable
- BOLD, revert, revert, revert
- Boston Tea Party
- Butterfly effect
- CaPiTaLiZaTiOn MuCh?
- Complete bollocks
- Counting forks
- Counting juntas
- Crap
- Don't stuff beans up your nose
- Don't-give-a-fuckism
- Don't abbreviate "Wikipedia" as "Wiki"!
- Don't delete the main page
- Editcountitis
- Edits Per Day
- Editsummarisis
- Editing Under the Influence
- Embrace Stop Signs
- Emerson
- Fart
- Five Fs of Wikipedia
- Seven Ages of Editor, by Will E. Spear-Shake
- Go ahead, vandalize
- How many Wikipedians does it take to change a lightbulb?
- How to get away with UPE
- How to put up a straight pole by pushing it at an angle
- How to vandalize correctly
- How to win a citation war
- Ignore all essays
- Ignore every single rule
- Is that even an essay?
- Mess with the templates
- My local pond
- Newcomers are delicious, so go ahead and bite them
- Legal vandalism
- List of jokes about Wikipedia
- LTTAUTMAOK
- No climbing the Reichstag dressed as Spider-Man
- No one cares about your garage band
- No one really cares
- No, really
- No sorcery threats
- Notability is not eternal
- Oops Defense
- Play the game
- Please be a giant dick, so we can ban you
- Please bite the newbies
- Please do not murder the newcomers
- Pledge of Tranquility
- R-e-s-p-e-c-t
- Requests for medication
- Requirements for adminship
- Rouge admin
- Rouge editor
- Sarcasm is really helpful
- Sausages for tasting
- The Night Before Wikimas
- The first rule of Wikipedia
- The Five Pillars of Untruth
- Things that should not be surprising
- The WikiBible
- Watchlistitis
- Wikipedia is an MMORPG
- WTF? OMG! TMD TLA. ARG!
- What Wikipedia is not/Outtakes
- Why not create an account?
- Yes legal threats
- You don't have to be mad to work here, but
- You should not write meaningless lists
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