Wikipedia:Be bold

[[:|WP:BB]]

The Wikipedia community exhorts 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. It's okay. It's what everyone expects. So you should never ask, "Why aren't these pages copyedited?" Amazingly, it all works out. It does require some amount of politeness, but it works. You'll see.

If someone writes an inferior or merely humorous article or article stub, or outright patent nonsense, don't worry about their feelings. Correct it, add to it, and, if it's a total waste of time, replace it with brilliant prose (and relegate the deletions to bad jokes and other deleted nonsense or the corresponding talk page). That's the nature of a Wiki.

For the most part, the instinctive desire of an author to "own" what he or she has written is counterproductive here, and it is good to shake up that emotional attachment by making sweeping changes at will when it improves the result. 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.

...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 deletions to long articles on complex, controversial subjects with long histories, such as Israeli-Palestinian conflict or Abortion. 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 akin to stirring up a hornet's nest, and other users who are involved in the page may react angrily.

If you encounter an article on a controversial subject that you would like to edit, it's a good idea to first 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 are an experienced wikipedian, you will probably have a good sense of which edits will be accepted, and which should be discussed first.

If you are new to Wikipedia, or unsure how others will view your contributions, and you want to change or delete anything substantial in the text, you are advised to either:

Copy it to the Talk page and list your objections there (if the material in question is a sentence or so in length)
List your objections on the Talk page, but leave the main article as is (if the material is substantially longer than a sentence)

Then, wait a bit for responses. If no one objects, proceed. But always move large deletions to Talk 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, show respect for consensus. Avoid making major changes to an article if a vote (or poll) about whether those changes should be made is currently in progress, especially if there is no clear consensus over the vote.

But don't let that scare you off! With the vast majority of articles, feel free to dive right in and make sweeping 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, so long as you have an appetite for debate, being bold is generally a defensible position. You're not the first person to make a bold change to a controversial article, and you certainly won't be the last.

Actions and edits with wide-spread 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.

...but don't be reckless

Actions and edits with wide-spread effects

See also