Template:FirstLaw Collaborate

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"The importance of collaborative editing"

The NPOV policy at Wikipedia is its supreme policy, and this personal law does not supersede it, but explains the conditions that are required for its implementation. Without them, the NPOV policy cannot work. A supreme policy has little or no effect if it is not understood and effectively applied in a collaborative environment. Therefore this law is supportive of NPOV policy, and does not usurp its importance.

I have repeatedly seen the following phrase used as a weapon by an editor who will not collaborate with editors who hold opposing POV, simply because he is convinced that he is right:

  • "NPOV policy trumps consensus." [1]

Yes, consensus can sometimes be used to violate NPOV policy, but the nature of editing at Wikipedia means that an assumption of good faith involves collaborative editing. An editor who fails to collaborate, no matter how right and proper their edits are in relation to all policies, will not succeed.

  • In practice, "Collaboration makes NPOV work."

Without collaboration between editors of opposing POV, nothing functions as intended, and Wikipedia policies won't work in an uncollaborative environment. The edits of uncollaborative editors are doomed to failure until they learn this, and they often get blocked before this can happen.

Fundamental principles

  1. The best articles are produced through the collaborative efforts of editors who hold opposing POV, who truly understand the NPOV policy, and who either "write for the enemy" themselves, or who at least don't suppress it. As regards other's POV, they are inclusionists, rather than deletionists who exercise POV suppressionism. Collaborative editors work in a "checks and balances" relationship. This ensures that all significant POV are presented without being promoted. What could be more Wikipedian than that? It's fantastic when it works, but such a relationship is rare on controversial subjects.
  2. Wikipedia's NPOV policy must not be misused so it becomes synonymous with revisionism, censorship, whitewashing, or political correctness. Editors must actively enable the presentation of all significant sides of any controversy. To leave out one side amounts to promoting the other side's POV. Wikipedia should include more information than other encyclopedias, not less.
  3. Consensus can sometimes be used to violate NPOV policy, especially on controversial subjects. Instead of following Wikipedia's method of describing points of view, the use of Coup d'état methods is often encountered here. Such a consensus is often made by a group of editors who attempt to deal with a conflict situation by quickly gathering a majority of editors supporting their POV, and who then use their far-from-neutral "consensus majority" to suppress opposing POV, thus allowing their majority to slant the direction of an article's contents toward support for their POV. Both sides are equally vulnerable to commission of such actions.

Supplementary remarks

  • This law is a modified version of an old comment of mine. [2]