Wikipedia:Five pillars

Page semi-protected
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

The fundamental principles of Wikipedia may be summarized in five "pillars":

Wikipedia is an encyclopedia

Wikipedia combines many features of general and specialized

vanity press, an experiment in anarchy or democracy, an indiscriminate collection of information, nor a web directory. It is not a dictionary, a newspaper, nor a collection of source documents, although some of its fellow Wikimedia projects
are.

Wikipedia is written from a neutral point of view

We strive for articles with an impartial tone that

reliable sources, especially when the topic is controversial or is about a living person. Editors' personal experiences, interpretations, or opinions
do not belong on Wikipedia.

Wikipedia is free content that anyone can use, edit, and distribute

All editors freely license their work to the public, and no editor owns an article – any contributions can and may be mercilessly edited and redistributed. Respect copyright laws and never plagiarize from any sources. Borrowing non-free media is sometimes allowed as fair use, but editors should strive to find free alternatives first.

Wikipedia has no firm rules

Wikipedia has

reckless, in updating articles. And do not agonize over making mistakes: they can be corrected easily because (almost) every past version of each article is saved
.

Listen to this page (4 minutes)
Spoken Wikipedia icon
Audio help · More spoken articles
)