Wikivisual:Build the web

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This page is considered a guideline on Wikipedia. It is generally accepted among editors and is considered a standard that all users should follow. However, it is not set in stone and should be treated with common sense and the occasional exception. When editing this page, please ensure that your revision reflects consensus. When in doubt, discuss first on the talk page.

Shortcut: WP:Btw WP:BTW

Wikipedia Guidelines
Content
Autobiography Don't copy sources Disambiguation Hoaxes Patent nonsense
Classification
Subpages Cats, lists, boxes Lists Categories
Editing
Be Bold Build the web Edit summary Article size
Discussion
Talk page guidelines Sign on talk pages Build consensus
Behavior
Etiquette Profanity Don't disrupt Wikipedia to illustrate a point Don't bite the newcomers User page
Style
Manual of style See also policies

One of Wikipedia's rules to consider:

Build the web is the idea of connecting relevant topics throughout an article since all articles in the encyclopedia are nodes in a hypertext system. Don't just write the article, but also consider its place in the link web. Make upward links to categories and contexts (Charles Darwin was a biologist; Sahara is a desert in Africa; the Enlightenment happened in the 18th century). Make sideways links to neighboring articles (for proton see also electron, Oregon borders on California). Don't build category trees too deep and narrow, or too flat. Writing category directories first (top-down) will help ensure that subcategory articles get useful names.

If you are not happy with a link, improve the link or improve the linked article. Only in rare cases is it better to remove the link altogether (apart from the case of a duplicate link). Remember that a linked article does not automatically pop up, it only appears if you click on it, so it does not do any harm. If you want to give selected links more emphasis, there are better ways to do that than deleting the less important ones.

Remember that a link can also be useful when applying the "What links here" feature from the target page.

This guideline is in dynamic tension with the Make only links relevant to the context guideline. Remember, Wikipedia is not an indiscriminate collection of information.