Wikipedia:Five pillars

Aw o Wikipedia's offeecial policies an guidelines can be reduced tae thir five pillars that define Wikipedia's chairacter:

	Wikipedia is an encyclopedia incorporating elements o general encyclopedias, specialised encyclopedias, an almanacs. Aw articles maun follae oor nae oreeginal resairch policy an strive fur accuracy; Wikipedia isnae the place tae spurt personal blether, experiences, or argie-bargie. Forbye, Wikipedia isnae an indiscriminate collection o information. Wikipedia isnae a trivia collection, a soapbox, a vanity furthsetter, an experiment in anarchy or democracy, or a wab directory. Nor is Wikipedia a dictionar, a newspaper, or a collection o soorce documents; thon kinds o content suid be contreibutit tae the sister projects, Wiktionary, Wikinews, an Wikisource, respectively.
	Wikipedia haes a neutral pynt o view, which means we aim fur articles that advocate nae single pynt o view. While this requires representin multiple pynts o view; presentin each pynt o view accurately; providin context for ony gien pynt o view, sae that readers understand whose view the pynt represents; an presenting no ane pynt o view as "the truth" or "the best view". It means citing verifiable, authoritative soorces whaniver possible, espeicially on controversial topics. Whan a conflict arises as tae whilk version is the maist neutral, declare a cuil-doun period an tag the airticle as disputed; hammer oot details on the collogue page an follae dispute resolution.
	Wikipedia is free content that onybody mey edit. Aw text is available unner the GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) an mey be distributed or airtint accordingly. Recognise that airticles can be changed bi anyone an nae individual controls ony specific article; therefore, ony writing ye contreebute can be mercilessly edited an redistributed at will bi the community. Dinnae submit copyright infringements or wirks licensed in a wey incompatible wi the GFDL.
	Wikipedia haes a code o conduct: Respect your fellae Wikipedians e'en whan ye mey nae agree wi them. Be civil. Jouk makin personal attecks or sweepin generalisations. Stay cuil whan the editing gets het; jouk edit wars bi follaein the three-revert rule; remember that there ur 34,438 articles on the Scots Wikipedia tae work on an discuss. Act in good faith, dinna disrupt Wikipedia tae illustrate a pynt, an assume guid feth on the pairt o ithers. Be appen an walcomin.
	Wikipedia disnae hae firm rules asides the five general principles elucidated here. Be bold in editing, muivin, an modifying airticles, acause the joy o editing is that awtho it suid be aimed fur, perfection isnae required. An dinnae fash aboot messin up an thatat. Aw prior versions o airticles are kept, sae there is nae wey that ye can accidentally damage Wikipedia or irretrievably destroy content. But caw canny — white'er ye scrieve here will be preserved for posterity.

Note

This page descrives Wikipedia's fundamental principles. The principles predate the creation o this page. It is whiles said that aw or maist policy is based upon this page, but maist policy awsla predates the creation o this page.