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Wikipedia is home to 6,917,671 articles. It is very important that every single user contributes to it. Wikipedia is meant to be an informational database that anyone from across the globe can access. You can make a difference on Wikipedia. All you need is the knowledge and tools needed to constructively edit Wikipedia and a laptop (or personal computer). If you are a new user, welcome! By the time you're finished reading this essay, you'll have a brief understanding of how Wikipedia works. Read on, and learn in the process!
Creating a page
editIf you want to create an article on Wikipedia and make it have more articles, then first, locate the search box to the left of this. You will see a text box and the buttons "Go" and "Search". The "Go" button is meant to go directly to a page without searching for other possibilities, whereas the "Search" button includes all searches, including a perfect match. To create a page, type in the desired name, and press the "Go" button manually. If the article is not created, then the page should include bolded text that says, "No page with that title exists." Further down, it should say "Create the page including your references". Click on the red link, and type in whatever you want to say about the article.
If you don't want to create an article because of either laziness or lack of knowledge regarding the article, then go to WP:Requested articles and follow the directions on the page.
Formatting articles
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Each article should have an about 2 paragraph long introduction, a well designed infobox, and sections (also known as "headings"). To have a cheatsheet with all the wiki-formatting information you'll need to make a great article, see WP:Cheatsheet. Your new article needs to have properly formatted citations, which are opened and closed by <ref name="name"> and </ref> tags. See WP:Citing sources for more details.
Eventually, after heavy editing and many peer reviews, the article may become ready for being nominated as a good article or even a featured article. Good articles are articles that are written and formatted to a fine quality, but lack some things that make it nearly perfect, which are known as featured articles. Featured articles are articles that are acclaimed to be so finely written that anybody who reads the article will understand it by the time they are finished, and all citations are properly formatted. Featured article status is the highest honor for a page, and is represented by the star located to the right.
For the criteria for good and featured articles, see:
Peer reviews
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Peer reviews are very important to a page's development, as it gives other Wikipedians a chance to give constructive criticism regarding an article. Peer reviews are essential for an article to become of a featured quality status. When reviewing an article for featured quality status, you should look for:
- Properly formatted citations
- Factual information
- No trivia sections (see WP:Trivia sections for details)
- Grammatically correct
- Citations are trustworthy
- Spelling and punctuation, as well as a lack of typographical errors
When reviewing, be constructive in your criticisms. I highly disagree with the phrase "per so-and-so" alone. If you review an article, put your thoughts into your argument, not somebody else's. If you do say "per so-and-so", then you best add a tidbit regarding your stance as well.
Vandalism
editPlease do not vandalize pages. Vandalism on Wikipedia happens when a user decides to add gibberish nonsense or harmful words to an article, such as various profanities or explicit content. When you see vandalism occuring on Wikipedia, notify an administrator. If you choose to vandalize any page in any way, you will be warned, and you will be blocked. If you choose to ignore all warns and it gets out of control, you will be banned.
Sock puppets
editIn order to circumvent the blocking policy, some users decide to create sock puppets. Sock puppets are alternate accounts that abuse Wikipedia's policies and guidelines. However, many sock puppets are unsuccessful at vandalism, because many Wikipedians are devoted to stop vandalism and catch vandals and sock puppets.
WikiLove
editBe a part of the WikiLove campaign! The WikiLove campaign strives to make users feel loved by placing hearts and barnstars on other people's userpages. I recommend you see User:Arknascar44/Love Cabal for more details as well as two templates for the person being loved. I am a part of the WikiLove campaign, and it feels very satisfying to make other Wikipedians happy.
Hearts
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Hearts are used to spread love. The delicate, red shapes are soft, warm, and fuzzy, and it lets the other user know that you love him or her (platonic love counts as well). A heart can be found in the icon for Arknascar44's Love Cabal, and, when placed on the user's page, stays there for other users to admire.
Barnstars
editBarnstars are usually used for showing somebody that you appreciate work that they have done tirelessly to Wikipedia. They usually come in a banner template, although some prefer to leave them as images. Barnstars can come in different sizes, colors and designs. My reward for finding my secret page is a special barnstar designed by me. Although the images themselves on Wikipedia aren't real barnstars, they are still representations of a quasi-barnstar. Many people give barnstars for resolving conflicts respectfully, editing Wikipedia without stopping, and to congratulate somebody for being an important user in a topic. You don't have to be an administrator to hand out barnstars. Feel free to give somebody barnstars on their talk pages (they will place it accordingly). One thing you don't want to do is place somebody's barnstars for them. Please don't post barnstars on someone else's page. Let them do it themselves.