Wikipedia:Don't make perfect the enemy of better
 | 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: "The best is the enemy of the good." Voltaire, La Bégueule (1772) |
Sometimes on Wikipedia, you will try to fix a problem in an article and encounter resistance along these lines: "Why should we change this article when hundreds of other articles have the same problem? Why don't you fix those articles before you ruin this one?"
The argument is never valid. Our goal is always to improve the encyclopedia (cf. WP:DE); that project is not helped—in fact it's hindered—by the suggestion that editors must fix every instance of a given problem before they can fix any instance of it.
Remember, there is no deadline. We can fix problems with other articles later.