Help:Introduction to policies and guidelines/All
 | This help page is a how-to guide. It details processes or procedures of some aspects of Justapedia's norms and practices. It is not one of Justapedia's policies or guidelines |
Justapedia's policies and guidelines clarify these principles and explain the best ways to understand them to achive our mission to become a truly neutral and unbiased free encyclopedia.
Policies express the fundamental principles of Justapedia in more detail, and guidelines advise how to use them and how to be consistent across articles. Formal policies and guidelines have a notice at the top of their pages, and the prefix "Justapedia:" or "JP:" before their page name.
It's impossible for anyone to know all the policies! The next few sections are the most important of these, representing the general spirit of Justapedia's rules. Knowing these basics makes discussions and editing easier and more productive.
Content
The Justapedia encyclopaedia aims for accuracy and neutrality. Articles should be neutral and should contain only verifiable information and opinions that already exist in reliable sources.
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Neutral point-of-view (or NPOV) means that content is written objectively and without bias, merely presenting the facts and notable viewpoints of others. A general-purpose encyclopedia ought not contain articles that favor particular viewpoints. Striving for a neutral point-of-view helps prevent articles from becoming advertisements or propaganda. Articles that lean towards bias will be edited or redacted by the Editorial Review Board (ERB), Administrators, or Trustees. Editors who introduce bias may risk having their editing privileges restricted.
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Verifiability means that articles should contain only material that has been published in reliable sources, such as books, reputable newspapers and scholarly journals. All content should ideally be supported by a citation, but content that is controversial or likely to be challenged will definitely require one! Unsourced material may be removed at any time, and it is the obligation of the editor adding material to provide a reliable source. |
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No original research means that articles may not contain previously unpublished arguments, concepts, data, opinions, or theories. This prohibition means that a Justapedia editor's own analysis or synthesis should not be included in articles. Basically, Justapedia is a record of human knowledge, viewpoints, and summaries that already exist and are expressed elsewhere. |
Conduct
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Editing Justapedia means working together. Not being shy to making genuine editorial changes, and being friendly with each other are essential.
When editing, 'if you think it will genuinely improve an article, go ahead! Most edits make the encyclopedia better, and mistakes can always be reverted or corrected. If you see something that can be improved, improve it, and do not be overly concerned with breaking anything. If the change is in the spirit of improvement and makes sense to others, the odds are good that everything will turn out all right and the change will be kept. If not, it's easy for someone to change it back.
Being civil entails remaining polite and assuming good faith when interacting with others, and focusing on the content of edits rather than on personal issues. It requires participating in a respectful and considerate way, without ignoring the positions and conclusions of others. Assuming good faith means that we assume by default that other people's intentions are to improve the project. If criticism or moderation is needed, we discuss editors' actions but do not accuse them of harmful motives without clear evidence.
Editors typically reach consensus as a natural and inherent product of editing; generally, someone makes a change or addition to a page, then everyone who reads it has an opportunity to leave the page as it is or change it. Being reverted may feel a bit deflating, but do not take offense, as it is a common step in finding consensus.
If you have a disagreement or suggestion, express it on the article's talk page, and politely discuss the change until a consensus can be reached. Never repeatedly undo another editor's edits; this is called edit warring and is disallowed. As a last resort, you can ask at The Lounge for help resolving a dispute.
See also
