A tour of Wikipedia, using navigation-boxes (navboxes) and annotations from me. Read the yellow, skim and sample the blue.
Maps
These are the grand overview-style entry-points, to the worldviews and philosophies that drive Wikipedia. They're not the origin of all we do, but they are the map, such as it is.
These archetypes (and more) all exist, and have to work together. It's great when they balance, and often aggravating/unhealthy (for the project, and the editors) when they don't.
(Images from the meta:Research:Editor Lifecycles study)
And then there are the manuals themselves. The Policies Guidelines & Styleguides are a glorious mixture of: technical recommendation, summarized precedent of older discussions, nuanced philosophical perspective, and practical how-to. [We used to have the phrase "descriptive, not prescriptive" somewhere in there,1234 but it was too zen, and was excised a few years ago. ╯°□°)╯︵ ┻━┻ So it goes.]
If you're not [confused / inspired / worried / surprised / outraged / overwhelmed / hopeful] then you're not paying attention!
Essays
And with the essays, we loop back to philosophy. The essays are (almost) all nuggets of truth, but expressed in wildly different writer's voices. They variously offer: commonsense clarifications, fabulous epiphanies, metaphorical or satirical exaggerations, crude oversimplifications, besmirchments of opposing perspectives, and insights to laugh along with.
Ignore nothing, detail is everything, but try not to get lost.)
See also, Exformation (4 min, YouTube) as brilliantly explained by Ze Frank. Our discussions (throughout Wikipedia, and throughout life) are overflowing with exformation. It's a useful thing to understand (wikt:exformation). The newcomers don't have any, and the regulars have too much!