 | This is an essay on the Wikipedia:Ignore all rules 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. |
| “ | If a rule prevents you from improving or maintaining Wikipedia, ignore it. | ” |
| — Wikipedia:Ignore all rules | ||
Ignore All Rules can be hard for new editors to understand, and is often overcited. Though WP:IAR? provides a fairly good explanation, it is often better to explain through example. Here's a few examples of well-ignored rules:
- The Wikipedia Manual of Style states that pages may vary in whether they use American or British English, but should be consistent within the page. Clearly, the article American and British English differences cannot follow that rule.
- WP:ILIKEIT and WP:IDONTLIKEIT state that liking or disliking something is not a good argument on talk pages, and should be avoided. When it comes to images, however, that is often the only argument that can be made.