Wikipedia:Be bold in updating pages

From Open Encyclopedia

Image:Blue check.png	This page is considered a guideline on Wikipedia. It illustrates standards of conduct, which many editors agree with in principle. Although it may be advisable to follow it, it is not however policy. Feel free to update the page as needed, but please use the discussion page to propose any major changes.	}}}="noprint hiddenStructure" style="width: 1em"\|	}}}="noprint hiddenStructure" id="shortcut" style="border: 1px solid #999; background: #fff; margin: 0 0 .5em 1em; text-align: center; padding: 5px"\| Shortcut: {{{1\|}}}

Image:Be bold.png

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The Wikipedia community encourages users to be bold in updating articles. Wikis develop faster when people fix problems, correct grammar, add facts, make sure the language is precise, and so on. Expect everyone to be bold. It's okay. It is what everyone expects. How many times have you read something and thought, "Why aren't these pages copy-edited?" Wikipedia not only allows but wants you to add, revise, and edit the article yourself. It does require some amount of politeness, but it works. You'll see.

If someone writes an inferior article, a merely humorous article, an article stub, or outright patent nonsense, don't worry that editing it might hurt their feelings. Correct it, add to it, and, if it's total nonsense, replace it with brilliant prose. That's the nature of a Wiki.

And, of course, others here will boldly and mercilessly edit what you write. Don't take it personally. They, like all of us, just want to make Wikipedia as good as it can possibly be.

1 ...but don't be reckless!
2 Don't let that scare you off!
3 Actions and edits with widespread effects
4 See also

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...but don't be reckless!

New users in particular are often entranced by the openness of Wikipedia and dive right in. That's a good thing. But please note: 'be bold in updating pages' does not mean that you should make large changes or deletions to long articles on complex, controversial subjects with long histories, such as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict or Abortion. In addition, making large-scale changes to Featured articles, which are recognized as Wikipedia's best articles for their completeness, accuracy, and neutrality, is often a bad idea.

In many such cases the text as you find it has come into being after long and arduous negotiations between Wikipedians of diverse backgrounds and points of view. An incautious edit to such an article can be likened to stirring up a hornet's nest, and other users who are involved in the page may react angrily.

If you would like to edit an article on a controversial subject, it's a good idea first to read the article in its entirety, read the comments on the talk page, and view the page history to get a sense of how the article came into being and what its current status is.

If you expect or see a disagreement with your version of the article, and you want to change or delete anything substantial in the text, it's a good idea to list your objections one by one in the talk page, reasonably quoting the disputed phrases, explaining your reasoning and providing solid references.

Then, wait for responses for at least a day: people edit Wikipedia in their spare time and may not respond immediately. If no one objects, proceed, but always move large deletions to the Talk page and list your objections to the text so that other people will understand your changes and will be able to follow the history of the page. Also be sure to leave a descriptive edit summary detailing your change and reasoning.

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Don't let that scare you off!

With the vast majority of articles, feel free to dive right in and make broad changes as you see fit. It's only with a few very sensitive subjects that caution is better advised, and you'll recognize those right away. And even if you don't, as long as you have an appetite for debate, being bold is generally a defensible position. You won't be the first person to have made a change to a controversial article, and you won't be the last. That said, contributions that add new facts and information to an article are likely to be more welcome than contributions that just delete some of the content. For example, if a word has more than one meaning, list it. You might even want to include an example sentence. Just remember, be bold.

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Actions and edits with widespread effects

Some caution is also advised if your changes affect many other pages, such as editing a template or moving a highly linked-to page. While not required, it is recommended that before making this type of major change you familiarize yourself with the relevant policy or guideline (such as Wikipedia:Naming conventions if contemplating a page move). Also, it is considered polite to be willing to fix any problems created (such as broken redirects or formatting problems) in the affected articles.

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