Hi all, It seems to me that [[Wikipedia:Policies and guidelines]] is in a sad shape. I've posted the following request for comment at the talk page. So reply there if you feel inclined. :)

-- This page is, IMHO, a bit of a mess. There were (until an hour ago :)) policies and guidelines mixed together down the bottom of the page (undistinguished from each other), style guidelines in the content section, and some really dubious guidelines. Meanwhile, most of the serious, meaty policies aren't even linked.

So I ask: what is this page about? What should it be about? What should be here? What should not be here?

Tentative answer: It should be a meta-policy for policies and guidelines. It should explain why we have policies and guidelines. It should explain what the difference between a policy and a guideline is. It should give guidelines for creating policies - what should not be enshrined in policy, what should be a guideline, when a guideline becomes a policy, and when a policy becomes a pile of crap.

I've seen a few discussions about policy around the place and there is considerable disagreement about whether policy articles describe or prescribe, and what that means. Do policies describe what people think people should do, or do they describe what people actually do. A rather subtle point, but important: If people break a given rule regularly, should the policy document the fact?

Lastly, should this page actually attempt to list all the policies and guidelines? There are already other pages that do that, and that do it better (notably WP:SR and Wikipedia:List of policies and guidelines).

Steve