The policies and guidelines are the rules everyone has to follow for publishing an article correctly. The breach of any of the following rules will result in a ban (temporary or permanent). Although there’s a closed list of policies and guidelines, Wikipedia itself recommends using common sense above everything.

Core content policies[editar]

Neutral point of view: You have to be partial in every thing you write, showing different points of view.

Verifiability: Information must have a reliable source. Everyone who reads it must have the opportunity to search if it comes from a reliable source.

No original research: All material must come from a source you can not put your own thoughts.

Five pillars[editar]

Wikipedia is an encyclopedia: Wikipedia mixes features from specialized encyclopedias, almanacs and gazetteers. Wikipedia is not a soapbox, an advertising platform, a vanity press, a dictionary or a newspaper.

Wikipedia is written from a neutral point of view: Wikipedia's main preoccupation is to be always neutral on each of their articles, without giving a personal opinion or saying if something is good or bad.

Wikipedia is free content that anyone can use, edit, and distribute: There are no owners of the articles because in wikipedia everybody can apport different information to any article.

Wikipedia's editors should treat each other with respect and civility: Respect other people's opinions and do not use the platform for editing wars. Be open to other people's ideas and discuss them on the talk pages:

Wikipedia has no firm rules: Wikipedia’s rules are not firm rules, which means that sometimes there are exceptions to those rules that are required for improving Wikipedia. Making mistakes is normal, don't worry Wikipedia has a saved version of almost every page.

Contents[editar]

This are the rules everyone should follow for a correct usage of Wikipedia.

Be clear: There’s no problem telling people what they must or should do, without generalities. Be direct and specific. Also, try not to use not-appropriate or quasi-legal language.

Be as forthright as possible: Avoid using non-essential words. As visual help, you can use images or hyperlinks.

Emphasize the spirit of the rule: You may expect users to use common sense. If the spirit of the rule is clear there’s no more to do.

Avoid overlinking: Using hyperlinks is great in a good measure, but only for clarifying concepts.

Try not to contradict other user’s articles: If you see “Earth is plain” and “Earth is not plain” simultaneously, you might be disconcerted. For this reason, when there are big differences between articles, the editors should discuss it on a talk page to have a uniform and common version.

Civility[editar]

Obviously in a page where everyone can share something there is going to be disagreements between all the opinions people publish. Some editors dislike people changing their work although it’s incorrect and that leads to conflict between editors.

Here are some tips to be more civic while using Wikipedia:

Try not to get too intense: Passion can be misread as aggression, so take great care to avoid the appearance of being heavy-handed or bossy. Nobody likes to be bossed about by an editor who appears to believe that they are "superior"; nobody likes a bully.

Avoid condescension: No matter how frustrated you are, do not tell people to "grow up" or include any language along the lines of "if this were kindergarten" in your messages.

Explain yourself: Insufficient explanations for edits can be perceived as uncivil. Use good edit summaries, and use the talk page if the edit summary does not provide enough space or if a more substantive debate is likely to be needed.

Incivility consists of personal attacks, rudeness and disrespectful comments. Especially when done in an aggressive manner, these often alienate editors and disrupt the project through unproductive stressors and conflict.

This are some features of incivility:

Direct Rudeness: Insults, personal attacks; included racism, religious slur etc.

Other uncivil behaviors: Lying, deliberately pushing others to the point of breaching civility even if not seeming to commit such a breach themselves.

Dealing with Incivility:

First of all, consider whether you and the other editor may simply have misunderstood each other. Clarify, and ask for clarification.

Explain, clearly but kindly, exactly what you felt was uncivil. Sometimes it helps to let the other editor know how their edit made you feel. Editors are not mind-readers. ("That made me feel..." is much less likely to incite more anger or resentment than "Your post was...")

If none of this is working, and the other person is not damaging the project or being uncivil or unkind to other editors, either walk away or request dispute resolution from uninvolved editors.

What Wikipedia is not[editar]

Wikipedia is a free online encyclopedia with practically unlimited information, an online community decides what to be excluded in wikipedia in order to build a high quality encyclopedia.

Wikipedia is not a paper encyclopedia: There is no limit of the number of topics that Wikipedia can have because is an online encyclopedia project. We can find much more info in Wikipedia than in a paper encyclopedia.

Wikipedia is not a dictionary: If you are looking for a dictionary, Wikipedia is not the correct place. Wiktionary an online dictionary and the sister project of Wikipedia. In Wikipedia we can find definitions in the first part of the article, but all of them are followed by encyclopedic content.

Wikipedia is not a crystal ball: Wikipedia is not an encyclopedia of rumors, speculations and presumptions. Neither a way to predict the future. Expected future events can only bge included if the event is notable and it's almost certain to take place.

Wikipedia is not a newspaper: Wikipedia is not a primary source where you can find the latest news. News will be uploaded to Wikipedia in form of article and with more encyclopedic content. Wikisource and Wikinews are used for that.

Wikipedia is not censored: Wikipedia can show content that some readers can consider offensive. Content will be removed if it violates wikipedia policies.