 | This is an essay on the deletion policy. 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. |
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The popularity of essays and information pages on Wikipedia is growing. During articles for deletion discussions, editors may sometimes quote essays and information pages as supportive material for their arguments. From time to time, other enthusiastic editors may point out that the first editor is simply “referencing their own essay” and imply that it is not a valid argument.
Examples:
- Keep I think that this argument should be kept because of WP:EXAMPLE. SelfQuoter 11:54, 3 August 2009 (UTC)
- Delete You're quoting your own essay, that's not a reason. NoQuoter 01:42, 6 August 2009 (UTC)
How do they know who wrote the essay, you might ask? It is not a difficult task to check the history of a page and learn who the primary contributors are to that page or article. There are very few "secrets" on Wikipedia!
So what are the reasons both for and against quoting your own essay in a discussion?