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In Wikipedia, instruction to editors, in articles, as opposed to talk pages, has often been considered unencyclopedic. However, this is—not a dictionary-defined word[dubious – discuss], and—a circular argument, and the purpose of this essay and discussion page is to determine the contexts and criteria under which messages to editors are appropriate or inappropriate and what counts as a messages to editors.
Editors are often contrasted with readers, though all editors are necessarily "readers", readers are not here to edit.
Instructions to editors include Template:Unreferenced, Template:Citation needed, and related citation templates, though these may also serve as indications to readers that the article is underdeveloped and potentially inaccurate. Some are presumably only for editors such as Template:Citation style. Other instructions include article or section headings stating: "This section should contain only cited listings."