User:Isomorphic/Essays/Policy

Many people, especially in recent months, seem to misunderstand what policy is on Wikipedia.

On Wikipedia, "policy" is nothing more or less than what Wikipedians do. It consists of traditions and precedents, and of the views of hundreds of individual Wikipedians. Slowly out of this morass we are evolving a sort of common law, but it is far from complete.

On Wikipedia there is no reason to maintain a distinction between de facto and de jure. Wikipedia policy is not a legal code or a set of regulations. Real laws are not always followed, but in court even a law that everyone breaks can still be upheld and enforced. A Wikipedia policy without community consensus or a policy that is ignored is not policy. It's just words on a page, and those words should be changed to reflect what the community is actually doing.

No one should avoid taking actions they think are useful because there "isn't policy to cover it." If you are worried that there might be opposition, then seek comment and advice. Otherwise, be bold and do what you think is needed. If others don't object, then you have taken a step toward creating new policy.

Because Wikipedia policy is made by its users, it is neither consistent nor constant. VfD votes have roughly defined what we consider encyclopedic, but articles near the boundary can go either way. The same thing happens with adminship requests. Over time, attitudes can change, and "policy" will change with it. It's important to realize that this isn't a problem. It's just how Wikipedia works.