Wikipedia:Welcoming committee/Welcome to Wikipedia
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Welcome · Tutorial · Cheatsheet · FAQ · Glossary · Help index · Help desk · Reference desk · Any questions?
Welcome aboard! We're glad you wish to help develop Wikipedia, and hope you enjoy participating in its community as much as we do. As a new contributor however, you may feel a little overwhelmed by the sheer size and scope of this project... but don't worry, it will become easier and clearer as you go, and if you have any problems, there will always be other Wikipedians happy to help. Here are some resources below to help you get started. Good luck and have fun! -- The Wikipedia Welcoming Committee
If you do get stuck, the following people have volunteered to give you a helping hand learning the ropes:
Even more volunteers are standing by to answer your questions on the following pages. You can usually expect an answer quickly, often within just a few minutes: To understand Wikipedia, it is easiest to think of this website as having two types of pages: pages that are part of the encyclopedia itself, and pages of the community (used by contributors to help build and operate the encyclopedia). To find your way around the encyclopedia, either enter a term into the search box on the left side of the screen, or go to Wikipedia's table of contents. Wikipedia's community pages include instructions, help pages, policies, guidelines, discussion forums, places to make requests, pages to report problems, and user pages. These are all pages which we use to develop the encyclopedia and to communicate with each other in that mission. Some directories to help you find your way around the community are:
There are two main ways to use templates on articles: transclusion (also called "inclusion", and accomplished by using Substitution is the preferred method for long-term, permanent notices because it is less confusing, and it even helps to lighten the load on the database. Substitution has the further advantage in that a template's content may be de-linked from any associated category or slightly modified to suit the circumstances, such as when the template is used on a talk page. Transclusion is preferred for displaying material that is normally updated, that way, all the places it appears are updated in a single operation.
Be sure to read the above pages! They are very important, and they will help you — even if you're not perfect the If you've made a mistake and wish to undo it, revert it. Here's how: click history at the top of the page you made the mistake on. Then click on undo at the end of the first line which is your edit. Then save page. See more detailed instructions at Wikipedia:Reversion. There are two main styles of help on Wikipedia: self-help and assistance... Self-help involves reading the help and instruction pages around Wikipedia. Some very informative self-help pages are: For when you get stuck, confused, or befuddled, assistance is available on Wikipedia's "desk" and "request" pages - use these when self-help hasn't provided you with an answer:
Almost anyone on these lists will help you as well: |