User:Pythoncoder/Rules

Wikipedia may seem like it has a lot of rules, but these are the important ones:

1. Ignore all rules. "If a rule prevents you from improving or maintaining Wikipedia, ignore it." This is arguably the most important rule on Wikipedia. It is a policy on Wikipedia, and according to cofounder Jimbo Wales, "always has been". A corollary is that the spirit of the rules is more important than the letter.
2. Neutral point of view. Wikipedia isn't a place for putting opinions in articles.
3. Information must be verifiable. Any information added to an article must come from a reliable source. Make sure to cite those sources too, or information you add might be removed or slapped with the tag.
4. No original research. Wikipedia is not a place to add new information or interpretations of things.
5. Be bold. If you see a mistake, fix it. If you see some way to improve Wikipedia, do it. Unless the page is protected, in which case you should make an edit request... as boldly as possible. If your edit gets reverted, seek consensus on the page's talk page instead on whether the edit should be made (this is called the bold, revert, discuss cycle).
6. Don't edit war. Explain why you made an edit by using an edit summary. If necessary, explain further on the article's talk page. If you revert an edit 3 times in 24 hours, you may be blocked.
7. Don't be a jerk. Treat other editors with civility. Remember that Wikipedians are people too. Don't call anyone a jerk either.
8. Assume good faith. Assume other editors have good intentions, unless they do something to convince you otherwise.
9. Ask for help. There are many places to do this, including the help desk, the teahouse and the talk page of the article you're editing. Just make sure to sign your posts on discussion pages with ~~~~!

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