[WikiEN-l] HOWTOs/Recipes/Instructions and other imperative content

Mon Feb 23 23:14:46 UTC 2004

The following seems to be the general idea that people have about how-to 
type content on Wikipedia. i.e. that it belongs on wikibooks, not 
wikipedia. I couldn't find anywhere where this was written out as 
policy, so this is my proposed addition to [[What Wikipedia is not]]:

  Under what Wikipedia articles are not:
* Instructions. Wikipedia seeks to be informative, not instructional. 
Therefore, things like how-tos, recipes, and other types of information 
that provide instruction on something are not appropriate on Wikipedia. 
They are appropriate, however, on Wikibooks, and articles that contain 
only instructional material should be moved to the appropriate area on 
Wikibooks. It is possible that information about instructions are 
appropriate on Wikipedia, but it should be presented in the indicative 
mood, and not the imperative mood that so distinctively marks 
instructional material.

  I know the wording is a little weak, but it's my first attempt.

Since the WikiEN-l is for discussing policy, I thought I'd bring it up here.

- David