Wikipedia:There is no deadline
This is an essay. It contains the advice or opinions of one or more Wikipedia contributors. This page is not an encyclopedia article, nor is it one of Wikipedia's policies or guidelines, as it has not been thoroughly vetted by the community. Some essays represent widespread norms; others only represent minority viewpoints. |
This page in a nutshell: Wikipedia is a work in progress. Don't rush to edit: it is not a competition. |
Wikipedia is not working to a deadline, though it is not an excuse for complacency. There are various points of view on what this lack of a deadline means.
View one: Don't rush to create articles
We can afford to take our time, to consider matters, to wait before creating a new article until its significance is unambiguously established. If you need help with something, do not be afraid to ask for help in the teahouse. If you post the article before it is ready, another editor may submit your article for deletion.
Wikipedia is not
Above all, creating an article without establishing the basis of the content and its significance is a bad idea. There really are no points for being first; being the author of the best and most neutral content is a far greater accomplishment.
View two: Don't rush to delete articles
We can afford to take our time to improve articles, to wait before deleting a new article until its lack of significance is unambiguously established.
Wikipedia is not a paper encyclopedia and has no need to work towards a deadline. There is no finished version expected soon, and it is perfectly acceptable to let the editing process fashion an article up to our standards eventually. And if it takes a long time for that process to work, so what? Wikipedia is a work in progress, and will always remain so. There is no publication date and Wikipedia does not have to be finished today. It merely needs to have improved on yesterday. Perfection is neither desired nor achievable.
Remember also that consensus can change over time. New people may bring fresh ideas, established users may change their minds when new things come up, and we all may find a better way to do things.
Above all, the principle of
View three: Don't postpone dispute resolution
Whether the addition/removal to the article can be justified or not, it is sometimes better to handle the dispute at the time it occurs. Generally referenced additions can be viewed and evaluated by other users more easily, since it is much easier than tracking the additions / removals from article history, and generally "let it go" cases are forgotten after a while, unless an editor bothers to check every single entry in article history. Also discussing cases after a while may consume much more time than early solved conflicts since non-solved conflicts generally turn out as personal conflicts between editors. Moreover, since editors try to edit in their free time where they can do anything else, they may not find such time in the future to edit or discuss these matters to improve Wikipedia. And it is frequent that some users act
View four: There are a lot of deadlines
View five: It's not a competition
Just as there is no deadline, there's also no enforced plan for writing Wikipedia. No specific tasks are assigned to specific individuals. While one editor may have a to-do list or a page in their user sandbox ready to start a new article, another editor may beat them to the punch either unknowingly or deliberately.
Editors shouldn't get upset when they lose the opportunity to create a new article. No one
View six: You are not obliged to edit Wikipedia
As you are
View seven: Submission hesitancy
Don't stress out too much about your edits' choice of words. Just quickly preview to detect and fix markup syntax errors and then submit. Should a better wording come to your mind, you can edit it in at any later time, and so can anyone else.
Opposing and complementary views
- There is a deadline
- Information is being lost in the real world all the time. Wikipedia is an opportunity to ensure that it isn't, before it's too late.
- The deadline is now
- People are reading Wikipedia now, and if what's there isn't true, they are being misled by it now. Thus, misleading information must be removed or corrected as soon as possible.[1]
Deadlines in Wikipedia
Although Wikipedia itself is not working to a deadline, processes and WikiProjects within it often have deadlines – typically about one week. For example:
- The within the past seven days".
- Requested moves are generally processed after seven days if there is no objection or there appears to be a consensus (although a new request can be filed later).
- Redirects for discussion usually stay listed for a week or so, after which they are deleted, kept, or retargeted.
- Deletion discussionsof various types should usually be finished after a maximum of 21 days.
- Requests for bureaucratshipare similar.
- Featured article nominationsdon't stay open forever. Nominators must be ready to resolve raised objections on short notice.
- requests pageshould be completed in a reasonable time.
- Articles for creation and draft submissions are deletion-eligible if not edited at least once in a span of six months.
See also
- Wikipedia:Beef up that first revision
- Wikipedia:Don't demolish the house while it's still being built
- Wikipedia:Don't panic
- Wikipedia:Editing policy
- Wikipedia:Enjoy yourself
- Wikipedia:Potential, not just current state
- Wikipedia:Recentism
- Wikipedia:Rome wasn't built in a day
- Wikipedia:The world will not end tomorrow
- Wikipedia:Too soon
- Wikipedia:Wikipedia is a work in progress
- Wikipedia:Wikipedia is a volunteer service
References
- ^ Munroe, Randall. "Duty Calls". xkcd.com.