All The Tropes:There is No One True Way

"There is more than one way to do it."

- Larry Wall, whose IRC Nick is "TimToady"

This may be as much An Aesop as a wiki policy, but bear with us.

There Is No One True Way is a phrase from Mercedes Lackey's Heralds of Valdemar series, and is an official policy of the titular kingdom. It's also an official policy here, because it encompasses so much of our philosophy.

First of all, Multiple Points of View are encouraged on the wiki, because people can experience the same work differently, depending on their life experiences. This is actually considered one of the marks of Great Literature. Besides, we all have our own forms of Author Appeal, and this is completely okay. We even have YMMV pages where we expect to see things that not everybody agrees about.

The second part of it is being tolerant to others. You may not agree with an editor, but you should always be able to respect another editor. Sometimes it's simple Values Dissonance, and you can learn from each other's points of view. Perhaps another editor has a learning disability, and is simply expressing himself/herself as best as they possibly can. Maybe you're both right or both wrong. Try to come to a compromise where you can live in peace, and ask others for help in resolving any problems.

The One True Way might actually exist, but it's hard to say. After all, Most Writers Are Human. Including you. Including the administrators as well. As such, most of the rules on Policy for Wiki Staff are derived from this policy.

This page is part of the The Troper's Code, and a core policy of the site.