User:Dirk Franke/IGB-2

2. The five pillars of Wikipedia
	Let’s move on to the values that form the core of Wikipedia: the five pillars of Wikipedia. Wikipedia is an online encyclopedia. While this may seem obvious, it may be helpful to think about what Wikipedia is NOT: It’s not an advertising platform, no personal website, neither an experiment in anarchy nor democracy, not just a collection of random data, and not a search engine. It’s not a dictionary, no newspaper, no book or instruction manual, and not just a collection of documents. (There are some sister projects of Wikipedia, which are dedicated to these other functions, though.) So what is Wikipedia then? It is a place where you can find a good summary of what's already known about a topic. Wikipedia has a neutral point of view. Video: On Wikipedia, Facts matter (4 minutes) Splinter Article: A Brief History of NRA Employees Editing Wikipedia for Fun and Possibly Profit (8 minutes) Wikipedia articles should document and explain the major points of view about a topic in a balanced and impartial manner. So keep to the facts! Don’t debate or attempt to persuade readers Don’t share personal your experiences or opinions Don’t share your own analysis of the information you find Some times this may be difficult, since there can be a variety of factual information about a topic. So, some articles contain multiple points of view. It is important that each view is presented accurately and together with relevant context and no view is presented as „the truth“. Anything you add to an article should be based on a published source of information. That means you should cite published, authoritative sources that people trust whenever you add information. Im my personal - not quite neutral - point of view, this is the most important of all principles governing Wikipedia. Wikipedia is free content that anyone can edit, use, modify, and distribute. Wikipedia‘s content is free to use for anyone. So, please make sure that it is ok to share content freely when contributing it to Wikipedia. Copying and pasting copyrighted material into Wikipedia isn't just plagiarism, it's a copyright violation, too. You have to attribute facts to reliable sources, but you must use your own words when you do. Editors should interact with each other in a respectful and civil manner. Don't panic if someone else edits your work, or removes your contributions. This is part of the process! Every article has a talk page where you can interact with the other Wikipedia editors who are working on the same article. If you have a disagreement, keep some core Wikipedia values in mind: If you don’t agree with someone’s edit, don’t just “change it back.” That’s an edit war, and it could get you both blocked! Act in good faith and assume good faith of other editors. It’s difficult to read tone in an online communication. Remember that regardless of how you think another editor's behavior comes across, it’s still critical that you reply in a polite and respectful manner. Always be mindful of the community around you. Wikipedia does not have firm rules. OK, you just read a bunch of rules. So what does this last one mean? Rules in Wikipedia are not carved in stone. Their wording and interpretation are likely to change over time. The principles and spirit of Wikipedia's rules matter more than their literal wording, and sometimes improving Wikipedia requires making an exception to a rule. Be bold (but not reckless) in updating articles. Dive in, and don’t panic about making mistakes. Prior versions of pages are saved, so any mistakes can be corrected. The most important thing to do is communicate: make transparent to others what you are up to and tell the other editors what you’d like to do, what you’ve done, and why. Wikipedia editing is about using your best judgement, and you may be asked to explain your decisions. Explaining why you decided to do something, is part of being a respectful member of a diverse community of people. Think of it this way: You aren’t going to break Wikipedia! Some Questions Now you learned about the five pillars of Wikipedia. Please keep these in mind whenever you are editing Wikipedia. In order to dive deeper in your understanding of the five pillars, please answer the following questions and type your answers below your name into the etherpad. 1. What practical implications does the principle „Wikipedia is an online encyclopedia“ have for your own contributions to the project? 2. Why is a neutral point of view so important? How do you know whether the idea of a neutral point of view was honored? 3. Why is it useful that all Wikipedia content is published using a free license? 4. How are you able to tell that a community is acting mindful and respecting each other? What would you do to ensure that your contributions are preceived as respectful?
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