Wikipedia:Exceptions should leave the rule intact

This is an essay on the Wikipedia:Ignore all rules 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:EXCEPTIONS

This page in a nutshell: Calls to use common sense regarding guidelines frequently fly in the face of common sense. A valid rationale for deviating from a guideline will not vitiate the guideline. That a guideline may have exceptions does not mean that exceptions can be made at will.

In order to provide a welcoming environment to newcomers and prevent wikilawyering, Wikipedia boldly invites editors to ignore all rules, and every guideline is prefixed with a template which informs readers that "it is a generally accepted standard that editors should follow, though it should be treated with common sense and the occasional exception."

This invitation is often fearlessly seized upon in Wikipedia:Articles for deletion regarding Notability and its related guidelines as an argument of last resort: once it becomes apparent the guidelines clearly indicate that the article should be deleted, some editor (commonly the page's creator) urges that common sense demands we ignore the guidelines. This is mistaken. Rather, any exceptions to the rule should leave the rule intact. Another way of putting this is use common sense when it comes to common sense.