View source for User:Quiddity/How it Works

A tour of Wikipedia, using navigation-boxes (navboxes) and <span style="background-color:#FFFAD2; padding:10px; border:solid 2px #FFD300; margin-bottom:10px; width:68%">annotations from me</span>. Read the yellow, skim ''and sample'' the blue.
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==Maps==


<div style="background-color:#FFFAD2; padding:10px; border:solid 2px #FFD300; margin-bottom:10px; width:68%">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.</div>


{{Wikipedia principles|state=plain}}




== Archetypes ==


<div style="background-color:#FFFAD2; padding:10px; border:solid 2px #FFD300; margin-bottom:10px; width:68%">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)</div>

{{User:Quiddity/Wikipedia philosophies}}

[[File:Model7beta legend labeled.png|350px|alt=Graph titled "Namespace distrubution by Archetype"]]

[[File:Model7alpha_labeled.png|350px|alt=Graph titled "User distribution by Archetype"]]

[[File:Model7year plot legend.png|350px|alt=Graph titled "Archtype user proportion by year"]]
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== Reading ==


<div style="background-color:#FFFAD2; padding:10px; border:solid 2px #FFD300; margin-bottom:10px; width:68%">Numerous ways to '''navigate the encyclopedia''' have been inherited and construed.</div>

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== Help ==


<div style="background-color:#FFFAD2; padding:10px; border:solid 2px #FFD300; margin-bottom:10px; width:68%">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.)</div>


<span style="float:right"><small>([[template:WP help pages (header bar)|v]] · t · e)</small></span>
{{WP help pages (header bar)}}
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{{Writing guides|state=plain}}
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{{Help navigation|state=plain}}
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<span style="float:right"><small>([[template:Header navbar community|v]] · t · e)</small></span>
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{{Help desk searches|state=plain}}
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{{Noticeboard links|state=plain|nostb=yes}}
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== P, G, and S ==

<div style="background-color:#FFFAD2; padding:10px; border:solid 2px #FFD300; margin-bottom:10px; width:68%">And then there are the manuals themselves. The '''P'''olicies '''G'''uidelines & '''S'''tyleguides are a glorious mixture of: &nbsp; technical recommendation, summarized precedent of older discussions, nuanced philosophical perspective, and practical how-to. &nbsp; [We used to have the phrase "''descriptive, not prescriptive''" somewhere in there,<sup>[[Wikipedia_talk:What_Wikipedia_is_not/Archive_30#Descriptive_not_prescriptive_--.3E_descriptive_as_well_as_prescriptive|1]][[Wikipedia:Requests_for_arbitration/Non-Notability/Workshop#Guidelines_are_descriptive.2C_not_prescriptive|2]][[Wikipedia:Village_pump_(policy)/Archive_BC#Wikipedia_policies_and_guidelines_are_should_be_descriptive_not_prescriptive.3F|3]][[Wikipedia:The difference between policies, guidelines and essays|4]]</sup> but it was too [[WP:ZEN|zen]], and was excised a few years ago. &nbsp; ╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻ &nbsp; [[Kurt Vonnegut|So it goes]].]</div>


{{Wikipedia policies and guidelines|state=plain}}
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{{Rule summaries|state=plain}}
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== Backstage ==

<div style="background-color:#FFFAD2; padding:10px; border:solid 2px #FFD300; margin-bottom:10px; width:68%">There are hundreds of projects engaged in '''cleaning and building''' specific-aspects, including:</div>
{| 
|-
| {{MiniAWFP|none}}
| {{Infoboxwatch}}
| {{Dabnav}}
| {{Glossaries}}
|}

<div style="background-color:#FFFAD2; padding:10px; border:solid 2px #FFD300; margin-bottom:10px; width:90%">
And so many more; including the overwhelming:
*[[Template:Category tracker|Category tracker]]
*[[WP:Dashboard|Dashboard]]
*[[Wikipedia:WikiProject Council/Directory|WikiProject Council/Directory]]
*and others

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

<div style="background-color:#FFFAD2; text-align:center; padding:10px; border:solid 2px #FFD300; margin-bottom:10px; width:90%">And with the '''essays, we loop''' back to philosophy. The essays are (almost) all nuggets of truth, but expressed in wildly different [[writer's voice]]s. They variously offer: commonsense ''clarifications'', fabulous ''epiphanies'', metaphorical or satirical ''exaggerations'', crude ''oversimplifications'', ''besmirchments'' of opposing perspectives, and ''insights'' to laugh along with.</div>
{{Wikipedia essays|state1=uncollapsed|state2=uncollapsed|state3=uncollapsed|state4=uncollapsed|state5=uncollapsed}}
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<center>~~ ''fin'' ~~</center>


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{{User:Seppi333/Trifecta}}
<div style="background-color:#FFFAD2; padding:10px; border:solid 2px #FFD300; margin-bottom:10px; width:50%; float:right;">(It's rarely simple!
* Remain neutral. 
* Try to [[Golden Rule|work/smile/love/laugh/work]] alongside the other humans. 
* Ignore nothing, detail is everything, but try not to get lost.)
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<div style="background-color:#FFFAD2; padding:10px; border:solid 2px #FFD300; margin-bottom:10px; width:90%">See also, [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9zfCMp99-A 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!</div>
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