View source for Wikipedia:Trifecta

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 |'''This page tries to give the foundational principles of the [[Wikipedia:Policies and guidelines|policies and guidelines]] of the English Wikipedia.'''  This page (along with [[WP:SR|the simplified ruleset]]) was a prototype  for [[WP:5P|the five pillars]]. Some people prefer this page, because it is simpler. See the page itself for instructions on use.
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[[File:2009-06-11T10-44-38 IMG 2681 -- SPORTS DAY 4890192925.jpg|thumb|right|160px|Wikipedia has a veritable "alphabet soup" of policies and guidelines. But all these policies and guidelines are elaborations on three key points.]]
Wikipedia is an '''encyclopedia''' created by the '''community''' through '''collaboration''', and these three basic characteristics suggest three basic guiding principles for editors.  Other principles, policies, and guidelines can be viewed as more elaborate formulations of these three simple points.
;Remain neutral: Wikipedia is an encyclopedia, and ought to just tell people about stuff, clearly, simply and honestly. Don't let your head get in the way of the project.  Look at [[Wikipedia:Neutral point of view|Neutral point of view (NPOV)]], [[Wikipedia:Verifiability|Verifiability]], [[Wikipedia:Citing sources|Citing sources]], [[Wikipedia:No original research|No original research]], [[Wikipedia:Biographies of living persons|Biographies of living persons]] and the [[Wikipedia:Deletion policy|Deletion policy]] to see how this idea plays out in various policies and guidelines.
;Don't be a jerk: Wikipedia is a community, and editors ought to treat each other – and the encyclopedia itself – with a certain level of pleasant, polite respect.  Yes, we're almost all anonymous; yes, things go wrong; yes, the system is crocked up sometimes.  [[m:Don't be a jerk|Don't be a jerk]] and don't call anyone a jerk. This is put more politely by our [[Wikipedia:Civility|Civility]] policy, as well as other things like [[Wikipedia:Staying cool when the editing gets hot|keeping your cool]], [[Wikipedia:Assume good faith|assume good faith]] and [[Wikipedia:No personal attacks|no personal attacks]]. And remember unregistered editors are [[Wikipedia:IPs are human too|human too]].
;[[WP:Ignore all rules|Ignore all rules]]: Wikipedia is collaborative, so collaborate!  Rules are fine when they're helpful, but rules are not a substitute for working things out with other editors and getting things done.  See [[Wikipedia:Consensus|Consensus]], [[Wikipedia:Be bold in updating pages|Be Bold]], [[wp:BRD| the Bold, Revert, Discuss cycle]], [[Wikipedia:avoid instruction creep|avoid instruction creep]], the [[Wikipedia:snowball clause|snowball clause]], [[wp:NOT|What Wikipedia is not]], and similar.

This page is not a policy, guideline, or any other official sort of thing, but it is plain good common sense.

==Trifecta userpage tags==
Userpage tags for Trifecta aficionados: {{tlu|User:Seth Ilys/Trifecta}}, {{tlu|User:Lawilkin/UBX/Trifecta}}, {{tlu|User:Seppi333/Trifecta}}, {{tlx|Trifectaimap}}

{{Wikipedia principles}}
{{Essays on building Wikipedia}}

[[Category:Wikipedia basic information]]