Wikipedia:The "wiki way" to document and preserve the "sum of all human knowledge"

The "wiki way" to document and preserve the "sum of all human knowledge"

See also: WP:PRESERVE, WP:Editing policy § Try to fix problems, and WP:Ownership_of_content § Ownership_and_stewardship

This essay is inspired by the following quote from a thread at User talk:Andrevan/Archives/65#"That is the wiki way" (format is tweaked):

"See also The wiki way. I believe the "wiki way" actually dates to the original wiki or earlier. Like this quote from Mark Janssen:

"The wiki way is about radical collaboration while preserving everyone's contribution. The idea is to add and refine, rather than delete another's input. Subtract only when a greater synthesis is made that simplifies the conversation."

Ward Cunningham also has a book called that from 2001 or so."

This shows respect for WP:PRESERVE, a very important, and often neglected, policy that is directly opposed to WP:IDONTLIKEIT. It is in keeping with our purpose to build (add), rather than break down (delete), the encyclopedia. Basically, it means that content and sources should be tweaked or moved, rather than deleted. Don't trash the work of editors who have, in good faith, worked hard to build Wikipedia. Find a way to use that content and the sources somewhere at Wikipedia. At the very least, park that content on the talk page where other editors might find a good way to use it.

If you don't like something, resist the impulse to delete it or nominate it at AfD or MfD. Keep your fingers away from that "delete" key! Try everything else first.

Our purpose here is to give free access to "the sum of all human knowledge" that is mentioned in reliable sources.

• "Imagine a world in which every single person on the planet is given free access to the sum of all human knowledge. That's what we're doing." — Jimmy Wales [1]
• "A free encyclopedia encompassing the whole of human knowledge, written almost entirely by unpaid volunteers: Can you believe that was the one that worked?" — Richard Cooke [2]
• "If I go looking for info, and Wikipedia doesn't have it, then Wikipedia has failed." — User:Baseball Bugs [3]

That literally means ALL information, not just facts. That includes opinions, beliefs, lies, conspiracy theories, pseudoscientific nonsense, etc. We document the existence of it all.

We are inclusionist by nature. If it has been said or written in a RS, it becomes potential content here. That doesn't mean we will include it, just that we should consider its suitability for inclusion. It might be suitable for one spot, but not another. Although we don't treat different types of "human knowledge" in the same way, we still document its existence. If a topic is never mentioned in any RS, then it's not notable enough for an article or mention.

• "You start talking about the long term — about being one of the first large information sources on the web that is truly free. You start talking about what will happen if this works; that because it's free, it's going to be the default resource for a whole lot of people, and you start to get a little bit awed by the responsibility to build it properly, and keep it open, and keep it sane, and most of all, to get the facts right, because this work is going to be a base on which many unforeseeable future projects will be built." — User:CatherineMunro

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