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Wikipedia:Purpose

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Wikipedia information page
This is an information page.
It is not a Wikipedia policy or guideline; rather, its purpose is to explain certain aspects of Wikipedia's norms or practices. It may reflect varying levels of consensus.
Wikipedia has a lofty goal: "a world in which every single person on the planet is given free access to the sum of all human knowledge."[1]

Wikipedia's purpose is to benefit readers by acting as a widely accessible and free encyclopedia ; a comprehensive written compendium that contains information on all branches of knowledge.

Encyclopedias are designed to introduce readers to a topic, not to be the final point of reference. Wikipedia, like other encyclopedias, is a tertiary source and provides overviews of a topic.

The goal of a Wikipedia article is to present a neutrally written summary of existing mainstream knowledge in a fair and accurate manner with a straightforward, "just-the-facts style". Articles should have an encyclopedic style with a formal tone instead of essay-like, argumentative, promotional, or opinionated writing.

Concept of an encyclopedia

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" Indeed, the purpose of an encyclopedia is to collect knowledge disseminated around the globe; to set forth its general system to the men with whom we live, and transmit it to those who will come after us, so that the work of preceding centuries will not become useless to the centuries to come; and so that our offspring, becoming better instructed, will at the same time become more virtuous and happy, and that we should not die without having rendered a service to the human race. "
—Denis Diderot, chief editor and contributor of Encyclopédie (Paris, 1755)[2]

Wikipedia's goal

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" Our goal with Wikipedia is to create a free encyclopedia; indeed, the largest encyclopedia in history, both in terms of breadth and in terms of depth. We also want Wikipedia to be a reliable resource. "
—Larry Sanger [3]
" Imagine a world in which every single person on the planet is given free access to the sum of all human knowledge. That's what we're doing. "
—Jimmy Wales [4]
" Wikipedia is first and foremost an effort to create and distribute a free encyclopedia of the highest possible quality to every single person on the planet in their own language. "
—Jimmy Wales[5]
" The mission of the Wikimedia Foundation is to empower and engage people around the world to collect and develop educational content under a free license or in the public domain, and to disseminate it effectively and globally. "
—Wikimedia Foundation [6]

Wikipedia's content

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Content is governed by three principal core content policies – neutral point of view, verifiability, and no original research.

" Wikipedia has an important policy: roughly stated, you should write articles without bias, representing all views fairly. "
—Larry Sanger[7]
" A general-purpose encyclopedia is a collection of synthesized knowledge presented from a neutral point of view. To whatever extent possible, encyclopedic writing should steer clear of taking any particular stance other than the stance of the neutral point of view. "
—Jimmy Wales[8]
" Wikipedia's volunteer editors make reference to reliable publications that support what Wikipedia contains, so readers can verify the facts at source. For content to remain on Wikipedia, it must be written from a neutral point of view and attributed to sources that are reliable. "
—Wikimedia Foundation[9]

See also

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  • Administration – discusses both the human administrative structure of Wikipedia, as well as its non-human components.
  • Articles are more important than policy – while familiarizing yourself with how things work on Wikipedia is good, what's even more important is writing good articles
  • The Free Encyclopedia – describes how Wikipedia is "Free" as in Free Software and Free Culture.
  • The essence of Wikipedia – describes how Wikipedia uses collective intelligence, collaboration, and preservation to build, expand, and improve content.
  • Statement of principles – by the co-founder of Wikipedia, Jimmy Wales, as updated by the community since then.
  • What Wikipedia is not – describes how there are certain things that Wikipedia is not.
  • Offline access – describes how to access Wikipedia's free content without internet access.

References

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  1. ↑ "The Sum of All Human Knowledge". The On Being Project. 30 June 2020. Retrieved 9 June 2024.
  2. ↑ Diderot, Denis (1755). Encyclopédie . Vol. 5. Translated by Philip Stewart. Paris. p. 635. University of Michigan Library: Scholarly Publishing Office and DLXS. Retrieved on: November 17, 2007
  3. ↑ Sanger, Larry (1 November 2001), Wikipedia Policy, Wikipedia, archived from the original on 11 December 2007
  4. ↑ Roblimo (28 July 2004). "Wikipedia Founder Jimmy Wales Responds". Slashdot. Retrieved 28 April 2014.
  5. ↑ "Wikipedia is an encyclopedia". Wikimedia. 8 March 2005. Retrieved 5 March 2017.
  6. ↑ "Wikimedia Foundation Mission – Wikimedia Foundation". Wikimedia Foundation. 10 October 2023. Retrieved 18 April 2025.
  7. ↑ "Neutral point of view/draft - Meta". meta.wikimedia.org.
  8. ↑ "Wikipedia: NeutralPointOfView". 16 April 2001. Archived from the original on 16 April 2001.
  9. ↑ "Frequently asked questions". Wikimedia Foundation. 3 June 2024. Retrieved 18 April 2025.
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External videos
video icon Jimmy Wales: The birth of Wikipedia, 2005 TED (conference), 20 mins.

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