Wikipedia:What does "per" mean?

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Shortcuts WP:WDPM WP:Per WP:PER? WP:PERMEANS

This page in a nutshell: Per SOMETHING or per Someone gives an explanation, not a mandatory reason.

Frequently, on Wikipedia process pages, people make comments containing the word per, such as:

"Depiping links per

WP:NOPIPE

"

"Delete per nom"

"Oppose per User:Example"

New users are occasionally confused about what the word per means or implies. Per is a Latin preposition that means "through" or "by means of". Per (pronounced like "purr") is also an English preposition that can mean "for each", "to each", "by means of", or [lastly, annoyingly] "in accordance with"; somewhat interchangeably with the [even more annoying] "as per". In the example expressions here, it conveys "because of the rationale presented at/by".

Comments that are only "per" something may be considered

.) However, such comments are not banned and, in some cases, it would be pointless to explain in great detail.

Wikipedia editors often abbreviate the name of frequently referenced policies, guidelines, and essays. These abbreviations often take the form of a series of capital letters (e.g. "NPOV"), which may be prefixed by "WP:". (When using the prefix "WP:", the page can be linked, like so:

.)

Editors sometimes refer to these pages by writing "per" and then the page. This is meant to be an efficient way of summarizing their views, although it is sometimes misunderstood.

For example, "Merge per

" could mean either:

"In my opinion we should merge this, for the reasons explained in

WP:CUTS

."

or

"I interpret

WP:CUTS

provides a good principle on which to base choices in matters like this one."

It is sometimes misunderstood as, but specifically does not mean, the following:

"

WP:CUTS

is official policy and therefore it is mandatory to merge this."

Now, "

in fact is a policy.

This kind of straw-manning is particularly common when someone says "per" a page that is a

, that doesn't address the substance of the reasoning provided at the essay and how it may (or possibly may not) apply to the case at hand. That said, if there is a valid policy or guideline reason to do something and an essay argument against it, the former position is almost always stronger.

During discussions, editors sometimes endorse other opinions. Editors do this by writing "per Someone" (in which "Someone" is the username of another editor), or (ugh) "per nom", in which "nom" is apparently short for "nominator" (the user who started the deletion discussion) or "nomination" (the first post of the discussion) (we might never know which).

"Oppose per User:Example"

could mean:

"User:Example makes a good argument, and I recommend the course of action because I substantially agree with [the bulk of] what they said."

Especially when User:Example has given a long explanation, it may be preferable to say "per User:Example" than to fill the page with another very long comment that says the same thing.

No one is required to use this style, but it's okay when there is very little risk of misunderstanding.

There is no material difference between these two statements except in length:

• Delete per
  WP:COPYVIO
• Delete because this is a copyright violation, copyright violations are bad and illegal, and Wikipedia editors shouldn't do things that are bad and illegal.

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