User:Quiddity/How it Works

These are the grand overview-style entry-points, to the worldviews and philosophies that drive Wikipedia. They're not the origin of all we do, but they are the map, such as it is.

These archetypes (and more) all exist, and have to work together. It's great when they balance, and often aggravating/unhealthy (for the project, and the editors) when they don't. (Images from the meta:Research:Editor Lifecycles study)

Numerous ways to navigate the encyclopedia have been inherited and construed.

And many guides to the many Help systems have been written. (Or see Wikipedia:Editor's index to Wikipedia to be overwhelmed by them all-in-one-page.)

And then there are the manuals themselves. The Policies Guidelines & Styleguides are a glorious mixture of:   technical recommendation, summarized precedent of older discussions, nuanced philosophical perspective, and practical how-to.   [We used to have the phrase "descriptive, not prescriptive" somewhere in there,¹²³⁴ but it was too zen, and was excised a few years ago.   ╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻   So it goes.]

There are hundreds of projects engaged in cleaning and building specific-aspects, including:

And so many more; including the overwhelming:

• Category tracker
• Dashboard
• WikiProject Council/Directory
• and others

If you're not [confused / inspired / worried / surprised / outraged / overwhelmed / hopeful] then you're not paying attention!

And with the essays, we loop back to philosophy. The essays are (almost) all nuggets of truth, but expressed in wildly different writer's voices. They variously offer: commonsense clarifications, fabulous epiphanies, metaphorical or satirical exaggerations, crude oversimplifications, besmirchments of opposing perspectives, and insights to laugh along with.

(It's rarely simple!

• Remain neutral.
• Try to work/smile/love/laugh/work alongside the other humans.
• Ignore nothing, detail is everything, but try not to get lost.)

See also, Exformation (4 min, YouTube) as brilliantly explained by Ze Frank. Our discussions (throughout Wikipedia, and throughout life) are overflowing with exformation. It's a useful thing to understand (wikt:exformation). The newcomers don't have any, and the regulars have too much!