Wikipedia:How to create policy

From Free net encyclopedia

Template:Guideline

Thinking of creating a Wikipedia policy? Or amending an existing one? The purpose of this page is help you create a policy that will work in practice. The same process applies to creating guidelines, which are generally less strict or official than policies. Neither policy nor guidelines are created by voting upon them.

Contents

[edit]

Difficulty of policy adoption

Wikipedians who wish to create or amend policy should proceed with due regard for the difficulty of the process. Some of the most widely known policy adoptions are:

  1. Wikipedia:Semi-protection policy - December 2005
  2. Wikipedia:Naming conventions (categories) - September 2005
  3. Expanding criteria for speedy deletion - July 2005
  4. Enforcement of the three-revert rule (3RR) - November 2004
  5. Creation of the arbitration committee and adoption of its initial rules - January 2004
  6. Widening of the speedy deletion criteria - January 2004
  7. Creation of the process for gaining adminship by vote - April 2003
  8. Proposed deletion - c. January 2006

Numbers 1 and 3-7 of these had sponsorship or support of Jimbo Wales.

During this time period, at least 80 proposed policies and proposed policy changes have been rejected.

[edit]

How to propose a new policy

See also: How are policies decided?

To propose modifications of existing policy, use the talk page of that policy.

  1. First, check existing policy to see if any relevant policies already exist.
  2. Create a new page with a rough draft of your proposal. Try to include:
    • A statement at the top explaining what you're proposing
    • A brief summary of your proposal. Make sure it's actionable.
    • An explanation of the reasoning behind the proposal.
    • Add the Template:Tl tag to the top of the article. This will add a notice and add your proposal to Category:Wikipedia proposals
  3. Get feedback!
  4. Work towards establishing consensus.
  5. If a policy or guideline discussion is still problematic or inconclusive after discussion, it can be re-listed at Wikipedia:Requests for comment/Policies to invite further review and discussion.
[edit]

Guidelines for creating policies and guidelines

The following general principles were gathered together following the implementation of several policies across the encyclopedia. As you will see from the guidelines themselves, these points are guidelines, not rules. You know best what will work in your case.

  1. Make a proposal that is actionable, rather than wishful thinking. An idea that would be nice but isn't remotely practical is not going to make it as policy. If your proposal requires a change to Wikipedia software, consult with the developers first to find out if what you suggest is feasible. Do not simply assume that they will implement what you want them to.
  2. Choose policies that have sprung up organically, not imposed from the top down. Contributors "in the trenches" can tell when recurring themes and ideas appear across several articles. Look for conventions that are introduced by one user, but are then copied and adopted by other users. These "de facto" policies often prove very workable. Indeed they are already in practice, so making them "official" is more of a formality than a new policy..
  3. Leave room for flexibility. Although a uniformity of style is itself a good thing, it sometimes forces contributors into a straitjacket that they won't like. For example the very flexibility of our policy on allowing all styles of English spelling rather than just the dominant one, has caused it to be a very stable, implementable policy. Although new users often ask if and what the policy is, they tend to accept it pretty quickly once they've been shown the relevant policy page. The same is not true of inflexible policies, which generate the same arguments over and over again.
  4. Avoid being too prescriptive. Devolve responsibility. Although it is tempting to try to cover every possible angle that might arise, it is not always possible. Doing so can lead to long complex policies, with loopholes. Very precise rules are things that badly-intentioned users sometimes love. A policy that says "Doing X n times in a day is grounds for a banning" is often unhelpful - trollish users can and will then deliberately do X (n-1) times in a day. Better to write "Doing X is considered bad. If a user continues to do X after being warned that it is inappropriate, users may decide to {report to arb. committee/implement a temp ban/protect page}. The number of "good" users overwhelms the bad - trust the users to sort things in specific cases, the policy just provides the framework. People are smarter than the words on the page will ever be. This is similar to having a judge to implement and interpret laws.
  5. Avoid kneejerk reactions. Suppose one user does something annoying once. It is then often common practice to add to the boilerplate at the top of the relevant policy page, prohibiting what that user did. This in the past has led to ever-lengthening boilerplates that often consider minutiae irrevelant to the broad thrust of the policy. Consider whether it was a one-off, and thus whether it is better to keep that detail on relevant talk pages.
  6. Flexibility again. Most articles are only monitored by a few people. Debates are generally manageable, and consensus (often unanimous) can be reached. On very popular policy pages, this is not the case. Lots of people monitor these pages. If you cast a change in "either/or" terms you will often get opinion divided down the middle. Thus, if your policy change has to come to some sort of vote (ample discussion always comes first, because polls are evil), use a form of approval voting rather than first past the post voting. Layout all the options, and for each option allow the user to say if the proposed solution is acceptable or unacceptable. If you only have two options to list, examine whether all the middle ground possibilities have been included.
  7. Check existing policies. Consult Wikipedia:Policies and guidelines. Keep in mind Wikipedia:What wikipedia is not.
  8. Consult widely - make a special effort to engage potential critics of the new policy, engage them and get them to help find the middle ground early.
  9. Do not rush - you will get there faster if you give the process the time it needs. People may oppose an idea simply because they feel it has not had adequate discussion, and especially if they feel a policy is being pushed through to circumvent discussion.
  10. Do not call a vote. Votes are rarely appropriate for policy debates, and almost never for guidelines. A vote can never create consensus, it can only indicate existing consensus. See "voting is evil".
[edit]

Policy discussions

The central place to discuss policies is Village pump (policy). Policy issues may also be formulated and debated on talk pages, at Meta-Wikipedia, on IRC, and on our mailing lists.

[edit]

See also

sv:Wikipedia:Hur policy skapas zh:Wikipedia:如何创建方针

Retrieved from "http://www.netipedia.com/index.php/Wikipedia:How_to_create_policy"