Wikipedia:When OR is OK
 | This is an essay. It contains the advice or opinions of one or more Wikipedia contributors. This page is not an encyclopedia article, nor is it one of Wikipedia's policies or guidelines, as it has not been thoroughly vetted by the community. Some essays represent widespread norms; others only represent minority viewpoints. |
 | This page in a nutshell: Wikidepia policy of no original research does not apply to talk pages and other pages which evaluate article content and sources, such as deletion discussions or policy noticeboards. |
One of Wikipedia's key pillars is its policy of no original research (WP:NOR) with regards to the article content. However, Wikipedia talk pages are not held to the NOR requirement. This includes articles talk pages as well as other pages which evaluate article content and sources, such as deletion discussions or policy noticeboards (WP:RSN, WP:NPOVN, etc).
Why is this clarification necessary?
[edit]Activities related to the development of an article that may seem like original research, such as source evaluation, discussions on weight and merit of inclusion, and wording choices, are considered necessary elements towards building an encyclopedia and are thus allowed on talk pages. These activities are expected of us as editors as part of identifying reliable sources or evaluating suitability and sufficiency of sources in deletion discussions. Thus, such "talk page OR" (TPOR) should not be discouraged or evaluation of sources stifled on the grounds that it constitutes original research.
Editors should keep in mind, however, that all other policies and guidelines (in particular WP:V, WP:NPOV, and WP:BLP) still apply to these talk pages. Talk pages are not to be used as forums for aspects not related towards building of an encyclopedia.