A plain-English guide to Wikipedia's core policies and guidelines — what they mean, why they exist, and how they affect every decision about your Wikipedia page.
Everything on Wikipedia flows from five core principles. Understanding these helps explain why Wikipedia behaves the way it does — and why content that ignores them gets removed.
Wikipedia is not a blog, a marketing platform, a social network, or a news site. It documents knowledge — it does not create it, promote it, or editorialize about it. All content must serve the goal of building an encyclopedic reference.
Wikipedia represents all significant viewpoints fairly, proportionally, and without bias. No promotional language, no editorializing, no advocacy for any position. All perspectives — including negative ones — must be represented accurately.
Wikipedia content is freely licensed and can be used by anyone for any purpose. This principle means Wikipedia cannot host proprietary content and must ensure all contributions are freely shareable.
Wikipedia editors are expected to treat each other respectfully and assume good faith. Conflicts are resolved through discussion, not edit wars. Wikipedia has formal dispute resolution processes.
Wikipedia's policies are guidelines that can be ignored when following them would harm the encyclopaedia. Good judgment matters. However, this flexibility applies to editors — not to paid contributors seeking to bend rules for clients.
Wikipedia does not publish new ideas, original analysis, or conclusions that have not already been published in reliable sources. Every fact on Wikipedia must be attributable to a published, reliable source. If a piece of information exists only in the subject's own knowledge or memory, it cannot go on Wikipedia — no matter how true it is.
The threshold for inclusion in Wikipedia is verifiability — not truth. A fact can be true but unverifiable if no reliable source has published it. Conversely, if a reliable source has published something incorrect, Wikipedia may have to represent it with appropriate qualification. All content must be traceable to published, reliable sources that readers can independently check.
The Neutral Point of View policy requires that Wikipedia articles represent all significant perspectives fairly and without bias. This means promotional language is forbidden, negative coverage from reliable sources may need to be included, and no single viewpoint should dominate an article without proportional representation of other significant views. Wikipedia is not a place to control your narrative — only to represent it accurately.
Subjects must have received significant coverage in reliable, independent sources to warrant a Wikipedia article. Notability is not about importance — it is about documented coverage. Even significant organisations may not qualify if media coverage is insufficient or from non-independent sources.
Wikipedia applies extra caution to articles about living individuals. Unsourced or poorly sourced negative claims must be removed immediately. Claims that could harm a living person's reputation require the strongest sourcing. This policy protects both individuals and Wikipedia from defamation liability.
Editing Wikipedia articles about yourself, your organisation, or entities you have a financial interest in is strongly discouraged. Paid editors must disclose their relationship. Wikipedia editors are expected to disclose conflicts of interest and to be especially careful and neutral when writing about subjects connected to them.
Wikipedia defines "reliable sources" specifically: publications with editorial oversight, fact-checking processes, and a reputation for accuracy. This typically means mainstream news, academic publications, and established trade press. Blogs, social media, self-published content, and press releases do not qualify — regardless of their reach or authority in other contexts.
Wikipedia policy is complex. Our team knows it inside out. Let us handle your Wikipedia project from eligibility through publication.