A project of the European University 'Viadrina', Frankfurt, Germany (Study and Research Centre on Media Law, Law Faculty)
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Learn more about Wikipedia

Wikipedia is the world's leading resource of knowledge. Most internet users make use of the encyclopaedia, but hardly anybody knows about its backgrounds and fundamental principles. A brief overview:

Fundamental principles and guidelines

  • The 'Neutral Point of View' shall be the basis for any article. (WP:NPOV)
  • Articles about people still alive: If in doubt, respect the privacy of the individual in question. (WP:BIO)
  • Does a topic merit its own article on Wikipedia? The notability criteria (WP:RK)

Wikipedia about iself:

  • Ten things you may not know about Wikipedia (WP:10)

Administrators and arbitrators

Administrators are elected by those editors entitled to vote. This article describes the prerequisites for applying for adminship on the English Wikipedia. Conditions might differ in the various language sections. The Arbitration Committee is the panel of editors responsible for conducting the Wikipedia arbitration process. It has the authority to impose binding solutions to disputes between editors.
  • List of active administrators (WP:LA)
  • Arbitration Committee (WP:AC)

Common acronyms used on Wikipedia:

  • afk: Away from keyboard
  • Disc: Discussion page on which the article's content is discussed
  • eod: End of Discussion
  • NPOV: Neutral Point of View
  • SD: Speedy deletion
  • POV: (Describing) point of view, allegedly contrary to the Neutral Point of View*
  • NOTE: Notability criteria on Wikipedia
  • VAN: Report vandalism to an administrator
*Actually the neutral point of view is a subgroup of any points of view. The true antipode to neutral point of view is the non neutral (biased) point of view.

History

Legal issues on Wikipedia

Blog:
Wikipedia vs. fake news - a fair fight? (12.09.2017)
Is Wikipedia a tool for the common internet user to spot fake news when they stumble upon them? What is fake news? Fake news are false reports...
Wikipedians on Egyptian protests: Time to call it a revolution? (01.02.2011)
While thousands rally in Egyptian cities today to raise their voices to force President Mubarak from power, the people's massive protests are...
Wiki-Watch.org: a new tool to evaluate the quality of Wikipedia’s articles (13.01.2011)
Online service checking both the reliability of any article – and of any word within A new tool to evaluate the quality of Wikipedia articles...
Ten Simple Rules for Editing Wikipedia (12.01.2011)
Article by Darren W. Logan, Massimo Sandal, Paul P. Gardner, Magnus Manske, Alex Bateman Wikipedia is the world's most successful online...
„5 Stars at Wiki-Watch“ – How does our formal rating work? (12.01.2011)
The quantity of sources and authors of an article are our primary criteria Preliminary remarks The allocation of the stars and the...

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