 | This is an essay. It contains the advice or opinions of one or more Wikipedia contributors. This page is not an encyclopedia article, nor is it one of Wikipedia's policies or guidelines, as it has not been thoroughly vetted by the community. Some essays represent widespread norms; others only represent minority viewpoints. |
The goal of Wikipedia is to create an encyclopedia through the efforts of multiple independent editors editing in a cooperative and collegial manner.
Encyclopedias are not places for philosophical discourse on matters of sex, religion, economics and politics, nor for presenting personal opinions about anyone or any topic. Wikipedia restricts articles to material previously written or discovered by others, and not written or discovered by editors.
To that end, Wikipedia has developed policies and guidelines - many of which are couched in less-than-obvious language. This essay seeks to explain some of the rationales as best it can.