Wikipedia:Nothing is clear

This is an essay on civility and the deletion policy. 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.

Shortcut WP:CLEARLY

This page in a nutshell: In Articles for Deletion or any other Wikipedia discussion, an editor may feel tempted to claim that a particular fact is "clearly" true. They may even go on to suggest that an opposing editor "might want to review policy XYZ". While polite at first glance, the subtext of such comments is insulting to other editors.

Disagreement is common on Wikipedia. Editors, even highly experienced ones, sometimes disagree on important interpretations of policies and guidelines. There are subtleties and backwaters and little-known guides that can baffle editors who had finally gotten comfortable with "how things work". This happens most often in deletion discussions, whether within the discussions themselves or on the talk pages of the participants outside of the discussions, since the idea of deleting Wikipedia content is one of the most divisive, emotional, and personal things that happens here.