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According to a review of John Broughton's new book Wikipedia: The Missing Manual, the first rule to govern Wikipedia — written by its first editor, Larry Sanger, and signed by Jimmy Wales — appeared on the site on October 1, 2001. It was:

Ignore all rules: If rules make you nervous and depressed, and not desirous of participating in the wiki, then ignore them entirely and go about your business.

Phew! Glad they soon revised that one. Else maybe there'd be all kinds of Wikipedia scandals.