 | This is an essay. It contains the advice or opinions of one or more Wikipedia contributors. This page is not an encyclopedia article, nor is it one of Wikipedia's policies or guidelines, as it has not been thoroughly vetted by the community. Some essays represent widespread norms; others only represent minority viewpoints. |
 | This page in a nutshell: Present all justifications for a change at one time (not incrementally). |
Policy shopping is the attempt to force a change in Wikipedia content by attempting to incrementally apply different policies to effect the same net result (i.e., if this attempt fails, find another way to try to force the same change). When presenting a proposed change, it is always best to present all the reasons for that change at one time. Policy shopping may be indicative of an ulterior motive and associated with the advancement of a particular agenda.
This is not to say, however, that policy shoppers are always incorrect. It is important to assume good faith with all editors (absent evidence to the contrary). It is quite possible that a policy-shopping editor may, after several incorrect attempts to apply policy, find a policy that does mandate a change. However, usually when an editor attempts to find different ways to force a change, they have a vested interest in the issue – if the real reason for change were valid, there would be no need to continue to try and find a different avenue to force the change.