Wikipedia:Articles are more important than policy
 | This essay contains the advice or opinions of one or more Wikipedia users. Essays may represent common ideas, or ideas that many users would not support. They are not rules. Think carefully about what they say before following them. |
Many new Wikipedia users want to jump right in and get involved with as many parts of Wikipedia as possible. That's great, and shows that they really care about the site. However, it may not be the best use of their time.
Wikipedia has many rules and places to talk about the rules. However, most people who visit Wikipedia don't know about any of this because they only read articles. While knowing how things work on Wikipedia is good, what's even more important is writing good articles, keeping them up to date, keeping them true, and fighting vandalism. Doing this will help more people than becoming involved with arguments. The most important rule on Wikipedia is to ignore all rules, which means that even people who don't know much about the "rules" can add a lot to Wikipedia.