Articles about living persons, which require a degree of sensitivity, must adhere strictly to Wikipedia's content policies. Be very firm about high-quality references, particularly about details of personal lives. Contentious material that is unsourced or poorly sourced should be removed immediately.
Generally avoid uploading non-free images; fully describe images' sources and copyright details on their description pages, and try to make images as useful and reusable as possible.
Articles may not contain any unpublished theories, data, statements, concepts, arguments, or ideas; or any new interpretation, analysis, or synthesis of published data, statements, concepts, arguments, or ideas that, in the words of Wikipedia's co-founder Jimbo Wales, would amount to a "novel narrative or historical interpretation."
Articles should cite sources whenever possible. While we cannot check the accuracy of cited sources, we can check whether they have been published by a reputable publication and whether independent sources have supported them on review. Any unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
Rudeness or insensitivity, whether intentional or not, can distract from and interfere with our work. Dispute resolution forums are available when civil, reasoned discussion breaks down.
Any user who is not subject to editing sanctions may abandon their account and start fresh under a new one, as long as the new account is not used in an improper manner.
The first step to resolving any dispute is to talk to those who disagree with you. If that fails, there are more structured forms of discussion available.
If someone challenges your edits, discuss it with them and seek a compromise, or seek dispute resolution. Do not start fights over competing views and versions. Reverting any part of any single page more than three times in twenty-four hours, or even once if long-term edit-warring is apparent, can result in a block on your account.
Do not stop other editors from enjoying Wikipedia by making threats, nitpicking good-faith edits to different articles, repeated annoying and unwanted contacts, repeated personal attacks or posting personal information.
Do not make personal attacks anywhere in Wikipedia. Comment on the content, not on the contributor. Personal attacks damage the community and deter editors.
Although you retain some rights under Wikipedia's copyright provisions, pages that you create and edit belong to the community. Others can and often do mercilessly edit "your" material.
Do not use multiple accounts to create the illusion of greater support for an issue, to mislead others, or to circumvent a block. Do not ask your friends to create accounts to support you or anyone.
Vandalism is any addition, deletion, or change to content made in a deliberate attempt to compromise the integrity of the encyclopedia. It is inappropriate behavior for an online encyclopedia.
A Wikipedia article, page, category, redirect or image that exists primarily to disparage its subject is an "attack page". These pages are subject to being deleted by any administrator at any time.
Articles, images, categories etc. may be "speedily deleted" if they clearly fall within certain categories, which generally boil down to pages lacking content, or disruptive pages. Anything potentially controversial should go through the deletion process instead.
Deleting articles requires an administrator and generally follows a consensus-forming process. Most potentially controversial deletions require a three-step process and a waiting period of a week.
As a shortcut around the Articles for Deletion ("AfD") process, for uncontroversial deletions an article can be proposed for deletion, but only once. If no one contests the proposed deletion within seven days, an administrator may delete the article.
As a shortcut around the Miscellany for Deletion ("MfD") process, for uncontroversial deletions a Wikipedia book can be proposed for deletion, but only once. If no one contests the proposed deletion within seven days, an administrator may delete the book.
Articles that are unsourced biographies of living persons can be proposed for deletion through a special process. If no one contests the proposed deletion within seven days, an administrator may delete the article. In order to contest the proposed deletion, at least one reliable source supporting at least one statement in the article must be added.
Administrators, like all editors, are not perfect beings. However, in general, they are expected to act as role models within the community, and a good general standard of civility, fairness, and general conduct both to editors and in content matters, is expected. When acting as administrators, they are also expected to be fair, exercise good judgment, and give explanations and be communicative as necessary.
Extremely disruptive editors may be banned from Wikipedia. Please respect these bans, do not bait banned users, and do not help them out. Bans can be appealed to Jimbo Wales or the Arbitration Committee, depending on the nature of the ban.
Pages can be protected against vandals or during fierce content disputes. Protected pages can, but in general should not, be edited by administrators. In addition, pages undergoing frequent vandalism can be semi-protected to block edits by very new or unregistered editors.
These are policies with legal implications. Outside of policies, such as those below and the office actions policy, Wikipedia does not censor itself of content that may be objectionable or offensive, or adopt other perennial legal proposals over content, so long as the content obeys the law of the United States. Legal issues are raised by filing a formal complaint with the Wikimedia Foundation.
Editors who advocate or attempt to pursue or facilitate inappropriate adult–child relationships, or who identify themselves as paedophiles, are to be blocked indefinitely.
Relates to material copied from sources that are either not public domain, or are not compatibly licensed without the permission of the copyright holder. Wikipedia has no tolerance for copyright violations in our encyclopedia, and we actively strive to find and remove any violations.
It is Wikipedia policy to delete libelous revisions from the page history. If you believe you have been defamed, please contact us. It is the responsibility of all contributors to ensure that material posted on Wikipedia is not defamatory.
Use dispute resolution rather than making legal threats, for everyone's sake, as we respond quickly to complaints of defamation or copyright infringement. If you make legal threats, or take legal action over a Wikipedia dispute, you will be blocked from editing, so that the matter is not exacerbated through other channels. If you do take legal action, please refrain from editing until it is resolved.
The Exemption Doctrine Policy for the English Wikipedia. The cases in which you can declare usage of a non-free image, audio clip, or video clip as "fair use" are quite narrow. You must specify the exact use, and only use the image or clip in that one context. Only use non-free content as a last resort.
Editors must disclose their employer, client, and affiliation with respect to any contribution for which they receive, or expect to receive, compensation.
Relates to the basis of using Wikipedia content in your own publications. Most of Wikipedia's material may be freely used under the CC BY-SA and GFDL licences. Which means you must credit the authors, re-license the material under CC BY-SA or GFDL, and allow free access to it.
Programs that update pages automatically in a useful and harmless way may be welcome, as long as their owners seek approval first and are careful to keep them from running amok or being a drain on resources.
CheckUser is a tool allowed to be used by a small number of editors who are permitted to examine user IP information and other server log data under certain circumstances, for the purposes of protecting Wikipedia against actual and potential disruption and abuse.
Editors in good standing whose editing is disrupted by unrelated blocks or firewalls may request IP block exemption, which allows editing on an otherwise-blocked IP address.
If you disagree with an edit that was made referencing a volunteer response ticket number as a reason, or in the edit summary, please follow the steps listed at "Wikipedia:Volunteer response team#Dispute resolution".
While all users are asked to maintain a strong password, some users with advanced permissions are required to do so and the strength of their passwords may be audited by the Wikimedia Foundation.
