විකිපීඩියා:පොදු එකඟත්වය
මෙම පිටුව ප්රලේඛනය කරනුයේ ඉංග්රීසි විකිපීඩියාවෙන් අපත්යීකරණය කල සිංහල විකිපීඩියා ප්රතිපත්තීන් වන අතර, එය ඉංග්රීසි විකිපීඩියාවේ පුළුල් ලෙසින් පිළිගත් සම්මතයක් බැවින්ද සිංහල විකිපීඩියාවේ මීට වෙනස් සම්මුතියක් ජනිත වන තෙක් සිංහල විකිපීඩියාවේද එලෙසින් සම්මතය ලෙසින් අපත්යීකරණය කරන ලද බැවින්ද සමස්ත සංස්කාරක වරුන් විසින් සාමාන්ය වශයෙන් පිළිපැදිය යුතුය. එයට කෙරෙන වෙනස් කම් සම්මුතියක් ප්රකාරයෙන්ම සිදුවිය යුතු අතර අත්තනෝමතික ලෙසින් සිදු නොවිය යුතුමය. |
පොදු එකඟතා මගින් විකිපීඩියාවේ සංස්කරණ තීරණ ගැනීම පිලිබඳ මූලික ක්රමවේදය විස්තර කෙරෙයි. විකිපීඩියාවේ පොදු එකඟතා යන්නෙන් අදහස් වන්නේ කුමක්දැයි තනි අර්ථ දැක්වීමක් නොමැති වුවද, ලිපි තුළ, පොදු එකඟතා සාමාන්යයෙන් භාවිත වනුයේ මධ්යස්ථතාව සහ නිරවද්යතාව තහවුරු කර ගැනීම පිණිසයි. Editors usually reach consensus as a natural and inherent product of editing; generally someone makes a change or addition to a page, then everyone who reads it has an opportunity to leave the page as it is or change it. When editors cannot reach agreement by editing, the process of finding a consensus is continued by discussion on the relevant talk pages.
What consensus is
Consensus is a decision that takes account of all the legitimate concerns raised. All editors are expected to make a good-faith effort to reach a consensus aligned with Wikipedia's principles.
Sometimes voluntary agreement of all interested editors proves impossible to achieve, and a majority decision must be taken. More than a simple numerical majority is generally required for major changes.
Process
Consensus is a normal and usually implicit and invisible process on articles across Wikipedia. Any edit that is not disputed or reverted by another editor can be assumed to have consensus. Should that edit later be revised by another editor without dispute, it can be assumed that a new consensus has been reached. In this way the encyclopedia is gradually added to and improved over time without any special effort. Even where there is a dispute, often all that is required is a simple rewording of the edit to make it more neutral or incorporate the other editor's concerns. Clear communication in edit summaries can make this process easier.
When reverting an edit you disagree with, it helps to state the actual disagreement rather than citing "no consensus". This provides greater transparency for all concerned, and likewise acts as a guide so that consensus can be determined through continued editing.
When there is a more serious dispute over an edit, the consensus process becomes more explicit. Editors open a section on the article's talk page and try to work out the dispute through discussion. Consensus discussion has a particular form: editors try to persuade others, using reasons based in policy, sources, and common sense. The goal of a consensus discussion is to reach an agreement about article content, one which may not satisfy anyone completely but which all editors involved recognize as a reasonable exposition of the topic. It is useful to remember that consensus is an ongoing process on Wikipedia. It is often better to accept a less-than-perfect compromise - with the understanding that the article is gradually improving - than to try to fight to implement a particular 'perfect' version immediately. The quality of articles with combative editors is, as a rule, far lower than that of articles where editors take a longer view.
Some articles go through extensive editing and discussion to achieve a neutral and a readable product. Similarly, other articles are periodically challenged and/or revised. This is a normal function of the ongoing process of consensus. It is useful to examine the article's talk page archives and read through past discussions before re-raising an issue in talk - there is no sense in forcing everyone to rehash old discussions without need.
When editors have a particularly difficult time reaching a consensus, there are a number of processes available for consensus-building (Third opinions, requests for comment, informal mediation at the Mediation Cabal), and even some more extreme processes that will take authoritative steps to end the dispute (administrator intervention, formal mediation, and arbitration). Keep in mind, however, that administrators are primarily concerned with policy and editor behavior and will not decide content issues authoritatively. They may block editors for behaviors that interfere with the consensus process (such as edit warring, socking, or a lack of civility). They may also make decisions about whether edits are or are not allowable under policy, but will not usually go beyond such actions.
Level of consensus
- WP:CONLIMITED
Consensus among a limited group of editors, at one place and time, cannot override community consensus on a wider scale. For instance, unless they can convince the broader community that such action is right, participants in a WikiProject cannot decide that some generally accepted policy or guideline does not apply to articles within its scope.
Policies and guidelines reflect established consensus, and their stability and consistency are important to the community. As a result, Wikipedia has a higher standard of participation and consensus for changes to policy than on other kinds of pages. Substantive changes should be proposed on the talk page first, and sufficient time should be allowed for thorough discussion before being implemented. Minor changes may be edited in, but are subject to a higher level of scrutiny. The community is more likely to accept edits to policy if they are made slowly and conservatively, with active efforts to seek out input and agreement from others.
Consensus can change
- WP:CCC
- WP:TALKEDABOUTIT
Consensus is not immutable. Past decisions are open to challenge and are not binding. Moreover, such changes are often reasonable. Thus, "according to consensus" and "violates consensus" are not valid rationales for accepting or rejecting proposals or actions. While past "extensive discussions" can guide editors on what influenced a past consensus, editors need to re-examine each proposal on its own merits, and determine afresh whether consensus either has or has not changed.
Wikipedia remains flexible because new people may bring fresh ideas, growing may evolve new needs, people may change their minds over time when new things come up, and we may find a better way to do things.
A representative group might make a decision on behalf of the community as a whole. More often, people document changes to existing procedures at some arbitrary time after the fact. But in all these cases, nothing is permanently fixed. The world changes, and Wikipedia must change with it. It is reasonable and indeed often desirable to make further changes to things at a later date, even if the last change was years ago.
Exceptions
- WP:CONEXCEPT
Some exceptions supersede consensus decisions on a page.
- Declarations from the Wikimedia Foundation Board, or the Developers, particularly for copyright, legal issues, or server load, have policy status.
- Office actions are outside the policies of the English Wikipedia.
- Some actions, such as removal of copyright violations and certain types of material about living persons, do not normally require debate or consensus, primarily because of the risk of real harm inherent in them.
- A decision of the Arbitration Committee may introduce a process which results in temporary binding consensus. For example, Ireland article names.
Consensus-building
Editors who maintain a neutral, detached and civil attitude can usually reach consensus on an article through the process described above. However, editors occasionally find themselves at an impasse, either because they cannot find rational grounds to settle a dispute or because they become emotionally or ideologically invested in 'winning' an argument. What follows are suggestions for resolving intractable disputes, along with descriptions of several formal and informal processes that may help.
Consensus-building in talk pages
- WP:TALKDONTREVERT