Wikipedia:Policies and guidelines first
 | This is an essay. It contains the advice or opinions of one or more Wikipedia contributors. This page is not an encyclopedia article or a Wikipedia policy, as it has not been reviewed by the community. |
 | This page in a nutshell: Read policies and guidelines (PAGs) and apply them. Don't look for PAGs to support a preconceived answer. |
Sometimes, when faced with a question, editors will answer it first themselves, and then look for policies and guidelines (PAGs) to support their answer. This is natural and is most often done reflexively and subconsciously in good faith, but can also be done consciously in bad faith, sometimes to push a point of view. It is most common in topic areas in which people tend to have strong opinions. In order to get the best results (ie. adherence to PAGs), it is best to avoid making a reflexive judgement, read (or recall) the relevant PAGs, and then apply them to the question to get the answer.
