Wikipedia:Be bold

Be BOLD!

The Wikipedia community encourages users to be bold in updating pages. Wikis like ours develop faster when everybody helps to fix problems, correct grammar, add facts, make sure the wording is accurate, etc. We expect everyone to be bold. How many times have you read something and thought, "Why aren't these pages copy-edited?" Wikipedia not only allows you to add, revise, and edit the article — it wants you to do it. It does require some amount of politeness, but it works. You'll see. Also, of course, others here will edit what you write. Don't take it personally. They, like all of us, just want to make Wikipedia as good as it can possibly be.

… but don't be reckless.

Though the boldness of contributors like you is one of Wikipedia's most precious assets, it is important that contributors not edit recklessly. "Being Bold" does not excuse a disregard of Wikipedia:Verifiability, Wikipedia:Neutral Point of View and the other five pillars of Wikipedia. But anything you end up doing that turns out badly can be reverted, often quite painlessly. Don't be insulted if that does happen; users often display ownership of the articles they've written, whether intentionally or not. The BOLD, revert, discuss cycle will probably become a factor after a revert.

The unintended consequences of certain significant changes can be more lasting, for better or for worse. This includes changes that are difficult to undo for technical reasons, like renaming the articles, creating new categories (see below) or other non-article pages, etc. Such edits are often warranted but please be sure you know what you are doing and feel free to ask for advice.

"Be Bold" has become an informal slogan of Wikipedia

Also, substantial changes or deletions to the articles on complex, controversial subjects with long histories, such as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict or abortion, or to featured articles such as cheese or Spoo, should be done with extra care. In many cases, the text as you find it has come into being after long and arduous negotiations between Wikipedians of diverse backgrounds and points of view. A careless edit to such an article might stir up a hornet's nest, and other users who are involved in the page may become defensive. If you would like to make a significant edit to an article on a controversial subject (not just a simple copyedit), it's a useful idea to first read the article in its entirety and skim the comments on the talk page.

Non-article namespaces

Although it is generally fine to be bold in updating articles, it's easier to cause problems in other namespaces by editing without due care. Again, "but don't be reckless" applies.

Being bold in updating or creating categories and templates, especially templates, can often be very bad. This is because category changes - and even more so template changes - can affect a large number of pages. In the case of templates, changing code on one template that is very widely used can cause problems for Wikipedia's servers. (This is why the most heavily used templates are protected from editing.) It is usually worth proposing any changes to categories and/or templates on talk or other relevant WikiProject pages prior to editing any category or template.

It is also generally not recommended for you to edit another Wikipedian's user page, or comments left on talk pages (other than your own, and even then don't be reckless). Fixing vandalism, of course, is nearly always welcome, even on user pages. The user will let you know if it isn't.

See also

• How to edit a page
• Editing policy
• Ignore all rules
• Sapere aude (dare to know)
• BOLD, revert, discuss cycle
• {{sofixit}}
• Kühn