Wikipedia:Don%27t demolish the house while it%27s still being built

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This essay contains the advice or opinions of one or more Wikipedia contributors. Essays may represent widespread norms or minority viewpoints. Consider these views with discretion. Essays are not Wikipedia policies.

Shortcuts: WP:INSPECTOR WP:DEMOLISH WP:DONOTDEMOLISH

This page in a nutshell: An article too short to provide more than rudimentary information about a subject should be marked as a stub and edited, and expanded, rather than simply deleted.

An underdeveloped article is just like this house under construction. Lend a hand, don't tear it down!

Sometimes, editors create just the basic framework, with the intention of coming back to fill it in later, or for others to do so.

A man tries to build a house. He has a few of his neighbors come to help. They are working very nicely and organized-like, as you would expect from people who are trying to build a house.

Soon, a building inspector comes by. "Those stairs don't look right", the inspector says, pulling out a tape measure, "and by these measurements, they are not wide enough."

The builder replies: "They aren't finished yet."

The inspector moves on. "This wall isn't supported enough", the inspector says nonchalantly.

"Of course not", the builder replies. "We haven't finished it yet."

"And look!" the inspector cries. "There is no ceiling! The owners of this house will be angry indeed when they get rained on."

"They won't!" the builder retorts, "because when it's done there will be a ceiling!"

The inspector ignores him. "This house is no good, builder. It must be torn down." The next day he sends someone to demolish the house.

Just as in this absurd story, we as Wikipedians must look to the house we are building. Wikipedia, the potential "sum of all human knowledge", as a general rule, is a work-in-progress. Wikipedia is not published all at once. It evolves and grows. Every article is still being written, albeit slowly. Rome cannot be built in one day; neither can an article be perfect first time around.

A building, like an article, takes time to build. Imagine if this building were constantly ripped apart at the seams during construction!

When an article is being written, and sources are being found and validated, then the article will be small and mostly unsourced and not very full of information. This is, of course, called a stub. Stubs are stubs because they have yet to be expanded.

Oftentimes, an article or set of articles will be run across that seem devoid of much information. Sometimes it will be nothing but cruft that must be removed. But often, the subject matter is simply in-progress. Rather than putting the article on AfD, try expanding it.

Do you know the subject matter? Rather than trashing it, go out and find sources. If not, look for someone who does know the subject matter. Or, if you're feeling particularly daring, go and research it, and become an expert on the subject matter yourself, so that you can find those sources much more easily.

As with a house, knowledge takes time to build. Don't be the inspector, prying the seams apart before the product is even near-presentable. You cannot expect every article to be full and complete when it is first written. If this were so, then Wikipedia would have failed long ago. Try not to forget the spirit of Wikipedia: sharing knowledge.

v t e Essays on building Wikipedia

Philosophy	Articles must be written Be a reliable source Cohesion Concede lost arguments 8 simple rules for editing our encyclopedia Explanationism Here to build an encyclopedia Paradoxes Product, process, policy Purpose The role of policies in collaborative anarchy Ten Simple Rules for Editing Wikipedia Trifecta Wikipedia in brief Wikipedia is an encyclopedia Avoid vague introductions

Inclusion	Alternative outlets Articles with a single source Avoid template creep Bare notability Bombardment But it's true! Citation overkill Clones Coatrack Discriminate vs indiscriminate information Every snowflake is unique Existence ≠ Notability Explanationism Google searches and numbers High Schools Inaccuracy Inclusion is not an indicator of notability Independent sources Inherent notability Insignificant Masking the lack of notability Make stubs No amount of editing can overcome a lack of notability No big loss No one cares about your garage band No one really cares Notability/Historical/Arguments Notability is not a matter of opinion Notability means impact Obscurity ≠ Lack of notability Offline sources Notability sub-pages One sentence does not an article make Other stuff exists Perennial websites Pokémon test Run-of-the-mill Solutions are mixtures and nothing else Subjective importance Third-party sources Trivial mentions cannot verify notability Video links What notability is not Wikipedia is not here to tell the world about your noble cause Your alma mater is not your ticket to Wikipedia

Construction	100K featured articles A navbox on every page Alternatives to the "Expand" template Amnesia test An unfinished house is a real problem Avoid mission statements Bare URLs Be neutral in form Beef up that first revision Concept cloud Don't demolish the house while it's still being built Don't hope the house will build itself Don't leave giant breaks between sections Don't panic Editing on iPhones, iPads, etc. Editors are not mindreaders Featured articles may have problems Give an article a chance How to run an edit-a-thon Inaccuracies in Wikipedia namespace Link rot Not everything needs a navbox Not everything needs a WikiProject Nothing is in stone Over explained Permastub Potential, not just current state Put a little effort into it Pruning article revisions Restoring part of a reverted edit Robotic editing Temporary versions of articles The world will not end tomorrow There is a deadline There is no deadline Wikipedia is a volunteer service Wikipedia is a work in progress Wikipedia is not being written in an organized fashion Write the article first Writing better articles

Deletion	Adjectives in your recommendations AfD is not a war zone Arguments to avoid in deletion discussions Arguments to avoid in deletion reviews Arguments to avoid in image deletion discussions Arguments to make in deletion discussions Avoid repeated arguments Before commenting in a deletion discussion But there must be sources! Content removal Delete the junk Does deletion help Don't overuse shortcuts to policy and guidelines to win your argument Follow the leader How to save an article proposed for deletion I just don't like it Immunity Liar Liar Pants on Fire Nothing Overzealous deletion Relisting can be abusive Wikipedia is not Whack-A-Mole Why was my page deleted? What to do if your article gets tagged for speedy deletion

About essays	Value of essays Difference between policies, guidelines and essays Essays are not policy Don't cite essays as if they were policy Finding an essay Quote your own essay

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Wikipedia:Don%27t demolish the house while it%27s still being built

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