This is an accepted version of this page
 | This is anexplanatory essay about theprocedural policy regarding policies and guidelines. This page provides additional information about concepts in the page(s) it supplements. This page is not one ofWikipedia's policies or guidelines as it has not beenthoroughly vetted by the community. |
 | This page in a nutshell: When editing guidance, keep in mind the risk that increasingly detailed instructions will result in bloated pages that new editors find intimidating and experienced editors ignore. |
Avoidinstruction creep to keep Wikipediapolicy and guideline pages easy to understand. The longer, more detailed, and more complicated you make the instructions, the less likely anyone is to read or follow them.
Nobody reads the directions from beginning to end. And increasing numbers of directions result, over time, in decreasing chances that any particular rule will beread at all, much less understood and followed. Spread out over many pages, excessive direction causes guidance to become less coherent and increasingly drift from actual community consensus. Further, having too many rules maydrive away editors. To avoid these outcomes, keepWikipedia space pages broad in scope, not covering every minute aspect of their subject matter.
Principles. Keep policies and guidelinesto the point. It is usually better for a policy or guideline to be too lax than too strict. Detailed policies can lead towikilawyering, impairing theconsensus-building process. If you just think that you have good advice for Wikipedians, consider adding it to anessay.
Editing. Do not make substantive additions to a policy or guideline unless the addition solves a real and significant problem, not just ahypothetical issue. Before publishing your edit, review the text for potential unintended consequences and re-write as appropriate.
Since things often "creep in" without scrutiny, even longstanding instructions should be subject to review.[1] The amount of time an instruction has been present does not strengthen consensus behind it, though one should be wary whenever removing a longstanding part of a policy.
If you feel that a change is needed, either make your case on the talk page orboldly make your changes, giving your rationale in the edit summary. If you meet with disagreement,discuss the matter further. Those who oppose complete removal may still be willing to consider changes.
Additional instruction can be helpful when it succinctly states community consensus regarding a significant point, but it is harmful when the point is trivial, redundant, or unclear.
If someone cited this page to explain their view, they mean that they think the rule is at least unnecessary and unimportant, if not downright harmful by creating a lot of burdensomebureaucracy or a rule thatwill be ignored because it prevents editors from writing good articles. It's rare that what Wikipedia really needs is yet another rule.
If you cite this page to support your opposition to "creeping" rules, remember that some editors are dealing with a problem that seems significant to them, and they believe that writing down a rule somewhere will somehow solve their problem, even though 99.9% of editors would never even read the rule they're proposing, much less follow it. So don't say "Oppose per CREEP"; instead, say "Oppose the creation of this unnecessary and complicated rule for a very uncommon situation that could just as easily be solved by editors using their best judgment to apply the relevant existing rules as explained at ..." – or whatever the facts of the case at hand are.
Essays against instruction creep
Essaysencouraging redundancy
Wikipedia articles
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