Wikipedia:On Wikipedia no one knows you're a dog

Essay on editing Wikipedia

This is an essay on the conduct policy. 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.

Shortcuts WP:NODOGWP:NODOG WP:NOIDENTITYWP:NOIDENTITY WP:EDITORIDENTITYWP:EDITORIDENTITY

This page in a nutshell: Expressed identity demands common courtesy and civility but does not strengthen your argument. Editors should not demand others identify themselves as part of any group. You do not need to express any identity to edit Wikipedia.

On the Internet, nobody knows you're a dog

Wikipedia currently has no policy to demand disclosure of any identity, behavior, variation in ability, or nationality, or to demand such identification in discussions. We make a reasonable assumption that most editors on Wikipedia are humans, and that editors participating in a discussion usually have some interest in the topic that is being discussed,^[1] but we should not assume that other editors either do or do not belong to a group or category related to that interest area. We should further assume that other editors are complex individuals, who may wish to remain anonymous, and who may or may not wish to express any aspect of their identity on Wikipedia.

Identification is not verified, much like how credentials are not verified and how there is no credential policy. Expressed identification or self-identification merits a courteous and respectful response by other editors. This includes use of preferred pronouns, avoiding expressions of harmful or intentionally hurtful language (such as discrimination, queerphobia, ableism, racism, etc.). We are all Wikipedians here and should strive to treat each other with respect and dignity. This applies whether editor identities are expressed or unexpressed.

Expressed identification does not mean the individual claiming that identity has a stronger (or weaker) argument, or that only views of individuals publicly claiming specific identities should be considered when building consensus. Expressions of any identification only demands common courtesy and civility.

See also

• Wikipedia:You are not a reliable source

References

1. This was once known as assuming faith, however there are numerous bots on Wikipedia today, and it may no longer be certain that all editors are not AIs (or that all editors are AIs). For now this seems to be an acceptable assumption.

Wikipedia essays (?)
Essays on building, editing, and deleting content Philosophy Article content Articles must be written All Five Pillars are equally important Avoid vague introductions Be a reliable source Civil POV pushing Cohesion Competence is required Concede lost arguments Dissent is not disloyalty Don't lie Don't search for objections Duty to comply Editing Wikipedia is like visiting a foreign country Editors will sometimes be wrong Eight simple rules for editing our encyclopedia Explanationism External criticism of Wikipedia Five pillars Here to build an encyclopedia Large language models Leave it to the experienced Levels of competence Levels of consensus Most ideas are bad Need Not broken is ugly Not editing because of Wikipedia restriction Not every article can be a Featured Article The one question Oversimplification Paradoxes Paraphrasing POV and OR from editors, sources, and fields Process is important Product, process, policy Purpose Reasonability rule Systemic bias There is no seniority Ten Simple Rules for Editing Wikipedia Tendentious editing The role of policies in collaborative anarchy The rules are principles Trifecta We are absolutely here to right great wrongs Wikipedia in brief Wikipedia is an encyclopedia Wikipedia is a community Wikipedia is not RationalWiki Article construction 100K featured articles Abandoned stubs Acronym overkill Adding images improves the encyclopedia Advanced text formatting Akin's Laws of Article Writing Alternatives to the "Expand" template Amnesia test A navbox on every page An unfinished house is a real problem Archive your sources Article revisions Articles have a half-life Autosizing images Avoid mission statements Be neutral in form Beef up that first revision Blind men and an elephant BOLD, revert, discuss cycle Build content to endure Cherrypicking Chesterton's fence Children's lit, adult new readers, & large-print books Citation overkill Citation underkill Common-style fallacy Concept cloud Creating controversial content Criticisms of society may be consistent with NPOV and reliability Dictionaries as sources Don't cite Wikipedia on Wikipedia Don't demolish the house while it's still being built Don't get hung up on minor details Don't hope the house will build itself Don't panic Don't "teach the controversy" Editing on mobile devices Editors are not mindreaders Encourage the newcomers Endorsements (commercial) Featured articles may have problems Formatting bilateral relations articles Formatting bilateral relations templates Fruit of the poisonous tree Give an article a chance How to write a featured article Identifying and using independent sources History sources Law sources Primary sources Science sources Style guides Tertiary sources Ignore STRONGNAT for date formats Introduction to structurism Link rot Mine a source Merge Test Minors and persons judged incompetent "Murder of" articles Not every story/event/disaster needs a biography Not everything needs a navbox Not everything needs a template Nothing is in stone Obtain peer review comments Organizing disambiguation pages by subject area Permastub Potential, not just current state Presentism Principle of Some Astonishment The problem with elegant variation Pro and con lists Printability Publicists Put a little effort into it Restoring part of a reverted edit Robotic editing Sham consensus Source your plot summaries Specialized-style fallacy Stublet Stub Makers Run an edit-a-thon Temporary versions of articles Tertiary-source fallacy There are no shortcuts to neutrality There is no deadline There is a deadline The deadline is now Try not to leave it a stub What is a reliable source Understanding Wikipedia's content standards Walled garden What an article should not include Wikipedia is a work in progress Wikipedia is not being written in an organized fashion The world will not end tomorrow Write the article first Writing better articles Writing article content Avoid thread mode Copyediting reception sections Coup Don't throw more litter onto the pile Gender-neutral language Myth vs fiction Proseline Turning biology research into a Wikipedia article Use our own words We shouldn't be able to figure out your opinions Write the article first Writing about women Writing better articles Removing or deleting content Adjectives in your recommendations AfD is not a war zone Arguments to avoid in deletion discussions Arguments to avoid in deletion reviews Arguments to avoid in image deletion discussions Arguments to make in deletion discussions Avoid repeated arguments Before commenting in a deletion discussion But there must be sources! Confusing arguments mean nothing Content removal Counting and sorting are not original research Delete or merge Delete the junk Deletion is not cleanup Does deletion help? Don't attack the nominator Don't confuse stub status with non-notability Don't overuse shortcuts to policy and guidelines to win your argument Emptying categories out of proccess Follow the leader How the presumption of notability works How to save an article nominated for deletion I just don't like it Identifying blatant advertising Identifying test edits Immunity Keep it concise Liar liar pants on fire Nothing Nothing is clear Overzealous deletion Relisting can be abusive Relist bias The Heymann Standard Unopposed AFD discussion Wikipedia is not Whack-A-Mole Why was the page I created deleted? What to do if your article gets tagged for speedy deletion When in doubt, hide it in the woodwork No Encyclopedic Use
Essays on civility The basics Accepting other users Apology Autistic editors Being right isn't enough Contributing to complicated discussions Divisiveness Don't retaliate Editors' pronouns Edit at your own pace Encouraging the newcomers Enjoy yourself Expect no thanks How to be civil Maintaining a friendly space Negotiation Obsessive–compulsive disorder editors Please say please Relationships with academic editors Thank you Too long; didn't read Truce Unblock perspectives We are all Wikipedians here You have a right to remain silent Philosophy A thank you never hurts A weak personal attack is still wrong Advice for hotheads An uncivil environment is a poor environment Be the glue Beware of the tigers! Civility warnings Deletion as revenge Duty to comply Failure Forgive and forget It's not the end of the world Nobody cares Most people who disagree with you on content are not vandals On Wikipedia no one knows I'm a dog Old-fashioned Wikipedian values Profanity, civility, and discussions Revert notification opt-out Shadowless Fists of Death! Staying cool when the editing gets hot The grey zone The last word There is no Divine Right of Editors Most ideas are bad Nothing is clear Reader The rules of polite discourse There is no common sense Two wrongs don't make a right Wikipedia clichés Wikipedia is not about winning Wikipedia should not be a monopoly Writing for the opponent Dos Assume good faith Assume the assumption of good faith Assume no clue Avoid personal remarks Avoid the word "vandal" Be excellent to one another Be pragmatic Beyond civility Call a spade a spade Candor Deny recognition Desist Discussing cruft Drop the stick and back slowly away from the horse carcass Encourage full discussions Get over it How to lose Imagine others complexly Just drop it Keep it concise Keep it down to earth Mind your own business Say "MOBY" Mutual withdrawal Read before commenting Read the room Settle the process first You can search, too Don'ts ALPHABETTISPAGHETTI Wikipedia:Because I can Civil POV pushing Cyberbullying Don't accuse someone of a personal attack for accusing of a personal attack Don't be a fanatic Don't be a jerk Don't be an ostrich Don't be ashamed Don't be a WikiBigot Don't be high-maintenance Don't be inconsiderate Don't be obnoxious Don't be prejudiced Don't be rude Don't be the Fun Police Don't bludgeon the process Don't call a spade a spade Don't call people by their real name Don't call the kettle black Don't call things cruft Don't come down like a ton of bricks Don't cry COI Don't demand that editors solve the problems they identify Don't eat the troll's food Don't fight fire with fire Don't give a fuck Don't help too much Don't ignore community consensus Don't knit beside the guillotine Don't make a smarmy valediction part of your signature Don't remind others of past misdeeds Don't shout Don't spite your face Don't take the bait Don't template the regulars Don't throw your toys out of the pram Do not insult the vandals Griefing Hate is disruptive Nationalist editing No angry mastodons just madmen No Nazis No racists No Confederates No queerphobia No, you can't have a pony Passive aggression POV railroad Superhatting There are no oracles There's no need to guess someone's preferred pronouns You can't squeeze blood from a turnip UPPERCASE WikiRelations WikiBullying WikiCrime WikiHarassment WikiHate WikiLawyering WikiLove WikiPeace
Essays on neutrality Academic bias Activist Advocacy Avoid thread mode Be neutral in form Blind men and an elephant Cherrypicking Civil POV pushing Coatrack Controversial articles Creating controversial content Criticisms of society may be consistent with NPOV and reliability Criticism Describing points of view Don't "teach the controversy" Endorsements Let the reader decide Inaccuracy Myth vs fiction NPOV dispute Neutral and proportionate point of view POV and OR from editors, sources, and fields Partisanship Presentism Pro and con lists Systemic bias Tendentious editing There are no shortcuts to neutrality Wikipedia:Truth We are absolutely here to right great wrongs We shouldn't be able to figure out your opinions What is fringe? Why Wikipedia cannot claim the Earth is not flat Wikipedia is not RationalWiki
Essays on notability Advanced source searching All high schools can be notable Alternative outlets Arguments to avoid in deletion discussions Articles with a single source Avoid template creep Bare notability Big events make key participants notable Businesses with a single ___location But it's true! Common sourcing mistakes Clones Coatrack Discriminate vs indiscriminate information Don't cite GNG Drafts are not checked for notability or sanity Every snowflake is unique Existence ≠ Notability Existence does not prove notability Extracting the meaning of significant coverage Google searches and numbers How the presumption of notability works High Schools Historical/Policy/Notability/Arguments Inclusion is not an indicator of notability Independent sources Inherent notability Insignificant Masking the lack of notability Make stubs Minimum coverage News coverage does not decrease notability No amount of editing can overcome a lack of notability No big loss No one cares about your garage band No one really cares Notability and tornadoes Notability cannot be purchased Notability comparison test Notability is not a level playing field Notability is not a matter of opinion Notability is not relevance or reliability Notability means impact Notability points Notability sub-pages Notabilitymandering Not every single thing Donald Trump does deserves an article Obscurity ≠ Lack of notability Offline sources One sentence does not an article make Other stuff exists Overreliance upon Google Perennial websites Popularity ≠ Notability Read the source Reducing consensus to an algorithm Run-of-the-mill Solutions are mixtures and nothing else Significance is not a formula Sources must be out-of-universe Subjective importance Third-party sources Trivial mentions Video links Vanispamcruftisement What BLP1E is not What is and is not routine coverage What notability is not What to include Why is BFDI not on Wikipedia? Wikipedia is not Crunchbase Wikipedia is not here to tell the world about your noble cause Wikipedia is not the place to post your résumé Your favourite thing does not need a Wikipedia article Two prongs of merit
Humorous essays Adminitis Ain't no rules says a dog can't play basketball Akin's Laws of Article Writing Alternatives to edit warring ANI flu Anti-Wikipedian Anti-Wikipedianism Articlecountitis Asshole John rule Assume bad faith Assume faith Assume good wraith Assume stupidity Assume that everyone's assuming good faith, assuming that you are assuming good faith Avoid using the preview button Avoid using wikilinks Bad Jokes and Other Deleted Nonsense Barnstaritis Before they were notable BOLD, revert, revert, revert cycle Boston Tea Party Butterfly effect CaPiTaLiZaTiOn MuCh? Complete bollocks Counting forks Counting juntas Crap Don't stuff beans up your nose Don't-give-a-fuckism Don't abbreviate "Wikipedia" as "Wiki"! Don't delete the main page Editcountitis Edits Per Day Editsummarisis Editing under the influence Embrace Stop Signs Emerson Fart Five Fs of Wikipedia Seven Ages of Editor, by Will E. Spear-Shake Go ahead, vandalize How many Wikipedians does it take to change a lightbulb? How to get away with UPE How to put up a straight pole by pushing it at an angle How to vandalize correctly How to win a citation war Ignore all essays Ignore every single rule Is that even an essay? Keep beating the horse Mess with the templates My local pond Newcomers are delicious, so go ahead and bite them Legal vandalism List of jokes about Wikipedia LTTAUTMAOK No climbing the Reichstag dressed as Spider-Man No episcopal threats No one cares about your garage band No one really cares No, really Notability is not eternal Oops Defense Play the game Please be a giant dick, so we can ban you Please bite the newbies Please do not murder the newcomers Pledge of Tranquility R-e-s-p-e-c-t Requests for medication Requirements for adminship Rouge admin Rouge editor Sarcasm is really helpful Sausages for tasting Spaling Muich? Template madness The Night Before Wikimas The first rule of Wikipedia The Five Pillars of Untruth Things that should not be surprising The WikiBible Watchlistitis We are deletionist! Wikipedia is an MMORPG Yes legal threats You don't have to be mad to work here, but You should not write meaningless lists
About essays About essays Essay guide Value of essays Difference between policies, guidelines and essays Don't cite essays as if they were policy Avoid writing redundant essays Finding an essay Quote your own essay Policies and guidelines About policies and guidelines Policies Guidelines How to contribute to Wikipedia guidance Policy writing is hard