[WikiEN-l] Assume good faith

Fri Sep 23 05:18:12 UTC 2005

I've always seen [[WP:NPOV]] as the most important rule that Wikipedia
relies on.

I've always seen [[WP:BOLD]] as the most important rule that the
community relies on.

I've also seen in recent weeks an increasing reliance on [[WP:IAR]] to
justify certain controversial decisions.

But something that has been sorely missing is what I've always taken to
heart whenever I've dropped a note on someone's talk page:

[[WP:FAITH]]

Please, before you decide that you're going to ban someone, delete
something, claim that someone's in the^W^W^Wthere is a^W^W^Wconspiring
against you, just take a deep breath, and do the following:

Assume Good Faith.

That's it. And once you've assumed good faith, leave a note on their
talk page, and walk away. If someone else wants to take it up, they can
see that you've assumed good faith, and make a decision based on that
assumption. If you were right, no harm done. If you were wrong, whoever
takes action will be justified in that action.

But I warn you, whoever takes action without assuming good faith (or
seeing that the assumption has been disproved), it shall be on your head.

-- 
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