It contains the advice or opinions of one or more Wikipedia contributors. This page is not an encyclopedia article, nor is it one of
Wikipedia's policies or guidelines, as it has not been
thoroughly vetted by the community. Some essays represent widespread norms; others only represent minority viewpoints.
Finally, once users understand the spirit of the rules and principles, they can sometimes
ignore them.
Challenges
Beginner
tip: Don't be afraid, just be
BOLD! There's no way you can damage the wiki that can't be corrected in under a minute that doesn't get you in the
stocks.
Edit Wikipedia, just make a change, go ahead! If you make a mistake, someone will correct you. If someone more experienced than you corrects you and points you at policy, assume good faith and learn what they are asking you to learn. Refusing to learn may result in the community deciding you cannot learn.
Intermediate
tip: you can pick up a lot of ideas about how consensus was previously formed by reading policy, guideline, and essay pages
What are some issues with the five pillars as chosen? Would you choose other pillars? Why?
Advanced
tip: Try to get people to react to you in ways that just happen to lie along the lines of policy. When in a discussion, instead of pointing to the policy itself, try to integrate your understanding of the policy in your own words, and try to convince people that way. You'll probably learn a lot from how they reply!