Wikipedia:Wikipedia is for readers
Essay on editing Wikipedia
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Once upon a time, the first pillar of Wikipedia read Wikipedia is an encyclopedia written for the benefit of its readers.
 | This is an essay. It contains the advice or opinions of one or more Wikipedia contributors. This page is not an encyclopedia article or a Wikipedia policy, as it has not been reviewed by the community. |
 | This page in a nutshell: Everyone agrees that Wikipedia is for readers, but there's no policy or guideline to that effect, for various fascinating reasons |
But for the benefit of its readers was removed without discussion some years ago, and there is some resistance to putting it back.
Why people want it as a principle
- It's helpful to new and old editors alike
- It's self-evident and uncontroversial
Why people don't want it in 5P1
- The fact that it's been gone for so long without discussion indicates consensus to remove it
- It's off-topic for 5P1
- It's self-evident so it doesn't belong in any policy
- It will just lead to trouble
- It's no help to anyone
See wt:Wikipedia is for readers#Why people don't want it in 5P1.
See also
Discussions
- Wikipedia:Village pump (proposals)/Archive 17#Wikipedia exists for the readers first - or does it? January 2008
- Wikipedia:Village_pump_(policy)/Archive_147#Readers_first? 2018 discussion, including a straw poll about restoring the phrase to 5P1, with 11 !votes in support and 7 !votes in opposition (plus one split support/oppose !vote)
Other essays
- Wikipedia:Reader A reader is... the sole reason for which Wikipedia exists... The majority of visitors are readers so it is important that pages and articles are optimised for this readership.
- Wikipedia:Readers first
- Wikipedia:Dear Reader
- Wikipedia:Articles are more important than policy
- Wikipedia:Wikipedia is written by humans, for humans