Wikipedia talk:Don't assume
This ought to be policy... --Ludwigs2 03:06, 30 June 2008 (UTC)
Wikipedia Essays
Is this the shortest of all "Essays"? :) 124.168.14.42 (talk) 23:38, 11 August 2008 (UTC)
This misses the point of the policy, I feel. The purpose of an assumption is to offer guidance where two explanations could both account for the same set of facts; or, to put it differently, the AGF policy suggests that a relatively high degree of persuasion and evidence should be required before concluding that someone is acting in bad faith. If neither good faith or bad faith are assumed, people would presumably be as likely to conclude that an act was taken in bad faith as to conclude that it was taken in good faith. The goal of assuming good faith is to create a community where people are reluctant to accuse another of acting in bad faith, and that, so long as it is feasible, they will give them the benefit of assuming their actions were taken in good faith.
LewisNiet (talk) 05:35, 30 September 2009 (UTC) LewisNiet