Wikipedia:Community portal

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Contents

1 Help out
2 Community bulletin board
3 Guidelines, help & resources
4 Collaborations

Community portal

Welcome to the community portal. This is the place to find out what is happening on Wikipedia. Learn what tasks need to be done and what groups there are to join, and share news about recent events or current activities taking place on Wikipedia.

If you were looking for...

• Help with an aspect of Wikipedia: see the help documentation, or ask a question for assistance.
• Answers for questions about factual topics: please visit Wikipedia's reference desk.
• A place to discuss things with other users: the village pump is Wikipedia's main discussion forum.
• A place to resolve disputes: use the dispute resolution guidelines.

Post your Wikipedia-related news or announcement here » Community bulletin board

16 July 2012   Special report: Chapters Association mired in controversy over new chair Wikimania: Young chapter shows experience beyond its years News and notes: WMF enacts reforms at Wikimania; main page redesign; 4 millionth article milestone Discussion report: Discussion reports and miscellaneous articulations WikiProject report: Summer sports series: French WikiProject Cycling Featured content: Takes flight Arbitration report: Fæ faces site-ban, proposed decisions posted Technology report: Tech talks at Wikimania amid news of a mixed June   About Archives Newsroom Single-page Suggestions Centralized discussion RfC on developing a guideline for responding to Article Feedback Tool v5 feedback RfC about the appropriateness of "X on Twitter" (or similar) articles RfC at Meta-Wiki on the global bans policy referred to in the Terms of Use RfC on whether an editor can request a review of another editor's block, and if so, how they should do it. RfC on how to word the lede of Wikipedia:Verifiability, including discussion of the phrase "verifiability, not truth" Proposal to extend the use of authority control identifiers to a large number of articles. Proposal to update the level-one user warnings based on testing results Notices Project pages seeking contributors Also consider posting WikiProject, Task Force, and Collaboration news at the Signpost's WikiProject Report page. WikiProjects and Task Forces Check out WikiProject Animals in media, a collaborative effort to improve the quality of articles relating to animals' presence in literature, film, television, and theatre. The new WikiProject Globalization, reaching across many WikiProject interest areas, seeks potential contributors interested in improving and maintaining Wikipedia articles related to Globalization. The Guild of Copy Editors is hosting its July backlog elimination drive. Sign up to correct hideous grammar, improve your editing skills, and read interesting articles across the encyclopedia. There will be fabulous prizes. WikiProject Articles for creation has a massive backlog of almost 1000 submissions. Please come and review submissions to help lower this huge backlog. WikiProject Wikify is hosting a June backlog elimination drive. Sign up, help to eliminate {{dead end}} pages, and earn eternal glory. Portals The following portals are now up and running and will need some contributors for their maintenance and steady running: Portal:British politics created 19 May 2012 Portal:Underwater diving created April 28, 2012 Portal:Mesoamerica created 30 April 2012 Portal:Forest created May 04 2012 (Still needs a lot of input) Portal:Backstreet Boys created June 30 2012 Outlines Outlines that especially need proofreaders and contributors: New outlines Outline of the history of Western civilization Outline of nuclear power Outline of books Outline of wind energy Outline of solar energy Outline of the fishing industry Drafts undergoing development Outline of black holes Outlines recently overhauled Outline of rail transport Discussions Discussions in the following areas have requested wider attention: Biographies Economy and trade History and geography Language and linguistics Art, architecture, literature, and media Politics, government and law Religion and philosophy Science and mathematics Society, sports and culture Wikipedia policies and guidelines Wikipedia style and naming See also: Dashboard News Goings-on Milestones Meetups In the media Mailing lists · Village pump Activities and initiatives

Help out

Wikipedia is, by number of articles, the largest encyclopedia ever to exist. However, many articles are stubs, or otherwise need attention. If you like, go ahead, be bold, and jump right in. If you are not ready to fly solo, you can participate in a Collaboration. Things to do General tasks If you're not sure where to start, learn how to help Patrol new pages and help improve new articles. Category:Wikipedia backlog always needs attention. Short popular vital articles may be the most time-effective to work on. Let SuggestBot suggest pages for you to improve. Commenting Respond to a request for comment or Wikiquette alert, or provide a third opinion. Give a requested editor review. Peer review high quality articles and grade good article or featured article candidates. Make recommendations on articles listed at good article reassessment or featured article review. Discuss which articles should be deleted and review proposed deletions. Special skills Can you draw or take pictures? Make a requested image. Are you good at photo editing? Then try cleaning up some of these images, or helping out at the Graphics Lab. Can you use GIS tools? Help make requested maps. Can you communicate in another language? There are articles that need translation into English. You can also proofread a translation. Fix-up projects Article categorization Articles to be split Articles written by a single editor Bad category names Category needs checking Core topics needing cleanup Dead-end pages Disambig pages with links Elements of Style External links Articles needing copy edit Wikitext syntax cleanup Linkrot Notability Missing articles Most wanted articles Name disambiguation Stub sorting Transwiki log cleanup Typos Unreferenced articles List of syntax errors

Open tasks Here are some tasks you can do: Wikify: National Association of Geoscience Teachers, Hamid Ghodse, Valentines (book), MyMobileWorkers, Gandhi Nagar, Karnataka, More... Orphans: Nelson Saldana, Odorrana chapaensis, Dengo Ebinipere, Stewart School, Cuttack, Sergey Spasokukotsky, Neuropoiesis, More... Copyedit: Donald Lipski, List of Tamil-language television channels, Help desk, Luzbel, ClearType, Emulsion, Public-key cryptography, More... Update: Internal Troops of Ukraine, Olympia Dukakis, Vuze, dms Broadcasting, St. Louis Commuter Rail, Even Money (film), Octaviar, More... Style: Hossein Bashiriyeh, Allianz Life, D-Lightsys, Costume National, Brotherhood of St Laurence, 4MMM, Cheeseburger in Caseville, More... Translation: New Iran Party, Ōkunitama Shrine, Infantry Battalion 744 (Indonesia), Acasă, Porto Ferreira, Battle of Ölper (1809), Macul, More... Cleanup: Joanna MacGregor, New York City Subway in popular culture, Pokémon (manga), Jig (jewellery), Demographics of Honduras, More... Verify: 0-0-1-3, Syriac versions of the Bible, Teapot Committee, Brindley Benn, Rotor machine, Dancing on Dangerous Ground, 6 Metre, More... Neutrality: S11 (protest), Rice/Poindexter Case, Phytotherapy, Japanese American Citizens League, Kurmi, Anti-terrorism legislation, More... Original research: Islamic flags, Professional wrestling aerial techniques, National Bolshevism, Star Wreck (novel series), Hamburger, More... Merge: Rhinoceros dolphin, Stacie (Barbie), Historic list of cities of Europe, Emily von Jentzen, List of attractions in Sydney, OneUpMe, More... Split: Marquess of Aberdeen and Temair, Shell (computing), Asbestos and the law, Bell-gable, HRHIS, Onogboko, Prostitution in Africa, More... Stubs: Mexico Fest 200, Chinguacousy Park, Dicer-like1, Sparko, Poems of Passion, Institut d'émission d'Outre-Mer, Semipodolaspis, More... Expand: Cricket in Germany, Parametric animation, Bangladesh Betar, The Triple Hoax, New Jersey State Auditor, Hinduism in Gujarat, More... Article Incubator: Pacifica Online, Panzer 88, Imperator class ocean liner, Maria Kunigunde of Saxony, Trotskyist League of Canada, More... Article deletion discussions: Albums and songs, Sweden, Poetry, Australia, Actors and filmmakers, Hong Kong, Behavioural science, More... Article Requests: Dunnett's test, Catumbela River, Banking in Scotland, Joan F. Brennecke, Geology of Saudi Arabia, Iris scissors, More... Image Requests: Rachel haircut, Red Pontiac potato, Cerrito Creek, Brown Babies, Micro combined heat and power, Natal shyshark, More... Mediation Cabal: or Help mediate an open case! Not sure where to report a certain type of problem with article content? If it exists, it is probably listed at Wikipedia:Maintenance.

Guidelines, help & resources
Wikipedia has many help pages, policies, and departments. Here are some of the most general. For a comprehensive list of Wikipedia's departments, see the Wikipedia department directory.
Help Wikipedia help contents – Browse help pages Help desk Where to ask questions Editing The Manual of Style guidelines and tutorial How to edit a page Contributing How to write a great article A list of free online resources for research A list of template messages What special pages are Tools for editing Request newspapers or magazines Policies and guidelines Wikipedia has many established policies, guidelines, conventions, and traditions. This is a very brief sampling of some of the most important; for more information, see the main policies and guidelines page. Policies and guidelines apply to both articles and how to work with fellow editors. For easy access, the shortcuts to the pages are also listed. Article standards Be bold! WP:BOLD Citing sources WP:CITE • WP:REF Copyrights WP:C Editing WP:EP External links WP:EL Image use WP:IUP Include only verifiable information WP:V Manual of Style WP:MOS • WP:STYLE Neutral point of view WP:NPOV What Wikipedia is not WP:NOT Working with others Assume good faith WP:AGF Civility and etiquette WP:CIV • WP:EQ Consensus WP:CON Do not bite the newcomers WP:BITE No personal attacks WP:NPA • WP:ATTACK Resolving disputes WP:DR Vandalism WP:VAND	Resources New user information Introduction Tutorial Sandbox Help Adoption What Wikipedia is not Glossary Account benefits Planning school assignments New contributors' help page FAQ Ways to communicate Contact (overview) Discussion pages Mailing lists IRC chat Meetups User pages Requests for comment Public watchlists Regional notice boards Administrators' noticeboard Requests for article feedback Local Embassy Community support groups and programs Welcoming committee Editor assistance Wiki-adoption Wikipedia awards program Dept. of Fun Missing encyclopedic articles Common procedures Featured content Good articles Requests for feedback Deleting a page (full policy) Moving a page (naming policies) Protecting a page (full policy) Reverting a page Administrator nominations (summaries) Category-based access How to resolve conflicts Stay cool! Be nice to newcomers Alert others Dispute resolution Community information About Wikipedia Goings-on About Wikimedia Wikipedians Wiki-adoption Donations Merchandise Administrators Babel Culture Games Humor Mottoes Related communities The links below lead to the main community pages of the projects. All of these projects are multilingual and open-content. Meta-Wiki – Coordination of all Wikimedia projects. Wiktionary – A collaborative multilingual dictionary. Wikinews – News stories written by readers. Wikibooks – A collection of collaborative non-fiction books. Wikiquote – A compendium of referenced quotations. Wikisource – A repository for free source texts. Wikispecies – A directory of species. Wikiversity – Where teachers learn, and learners teach. Commons – Repository for free images and other media files.
Tip of the day Short link pipe trick Many article titles are disambiguated with parenthetic qualifiers, like this: [[Self (psychology)]]. But when you want to include such a link in the body of an article, this would look rather awkward. So all you have to do is use the "pipe trick", like this: [[Self (psychology)|]]. Notice the "|" character stuck in there at the end of the link? That makes the link look like this: Self, without having to type the name of the link after the pipe! This trick also works with namespaces, so that [[Wikipedia:Tip of the day|]] (again notice the pipe character) displays like this: Tip of the day. Read more: Wikipedia:Links and URLs Prior tip - Next tip Read all tips

Collaborations
To improve the quality of articles that are short or lacking in detail, Wikipedia's community organizes collaborations to expand articles.
Collaborations by topic Birds (House Sparrow) Dinosaurs (Apatosaurus) Mammals (Slow loris) Medicine (Pneumothorax) Novels (Improvement Drive) United States (United States Postal Service) Universities (Université Laval) Video games (Video game controversies)	Other collaborations Active improvement teams Countering systemic bias Version 1.0 Spam fighting team Categorization projects Spotlight WikiProjects WikiProjects are ongoing team efforts to improve articles having to do with a particular subject, and to manage the logistics of that topic. Hundreds exist — examine the master list to find one that interests you.