John Eight Thirty-two

And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

Welcome!

Hello, John Eight Thirty-two, and welcome to Wikipedia! Thank you for your contributions. I hope you like the place and decide to stay. Here are some pages that you might find helpful:

• The five pillars of Wikipedia
• Tutorial
• How to edit a page and How to develop articles
• How to create your first article (using the Article Wizard if you wish)
• Manual of Style

I hope you enjoy editing here and being a Wikipedian! Please sign your messages on discussion pages using four tildes (~~~~); this will automatically insert your username and the date. If you need help, check out Wikipedia:Questions, ask me on my talk page, or ask your question on this page and then place {{help me}} before the question. Again, welcome! Bielle (talk) 17:08, 20 June 2011 (UTC) (Forgot to sign!)

John Eight Thirty-two (talk) 17:31, 28 June 2011 (UTC)

Welcome

Hi,
I realise your suggestion over at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Ships wasn't completely successful, but please don't be put off - if you're willing to take time to scrutinise sources, and if you discuss things with others, then you're exactly the kind of contributor that wikiprojects need, and you could make some really positive changes. I hope you stick around. bobrayner (talk) 11:36, 28 June 2011 (UTC)

In reply to an encouraging comment by Ed at the 'Ships Editorial' Group (?) I've written a short article (3pp)! which I emailed him re: frustrations of a new would be contributer. Given your special interests in computing and 'usability' there's some technical stuff there you might find of interest ? If you would please feel free to email me (@ r_mansonsky.com) If not then I'd totally understand that too ! Sorry if i've breeched protocol again by giving you my email address.

Robbie (aka John 8:32) John Eight Thirty-two (talk) 17:31, 28 June 2011 (UTC)

Hi,

• Don't worry about breaching protocol. Some people (including me) don't want their personal email address to be visible to everybody who reads wikipedia, but if you don't mind publishing your own email address, that's OK. On the right of most people's userpage is a link for "E-mail this user" - you can use that form to email a private message (which then shows your email address to the recipient).
• After using wikipedia for a long time it's hard for me to see it through the eyes of somebody new; if you have any suggestions about how to make the first encounter easier for new people who want to improve articles, I'm all ears.
• If you need a hand with any improvements you want to make to articles, just shout (I'll keep an eye on this page for a while). Also, there are helpful people over at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Ships (or other wikiprojects, if you want to work on a different subject). Wikipedia has lots of complex policies but most of them boil down to improving accuracy and neutrality - if you keep those close to your heart, the rest will come naturally.

Have fun; bobrayner (talk) 18:25, 28 June 2011 (UTC)

Your ship edits

Hi John,

I hope you weren't too discouraged by your recent experience at Wikiproject Ships. Wikipedia can be a rather daunting place to a new editor, and it is easy for more established editors to be unintentionally a little hasty and blunt about what is expected here. For my part, I was very lucky that the first project I joined when I first began editing Wikipedia (over at WikiProject Gastropods), has some very patient, polite and kind users who took the time to explain to me very carefully when I jumped in and re-edited all the articles they had been working hard on incorrectly! In hindsight, it was very important that I had that reception, as my continued presence here was in no small part due to them, particularly one very polite and helpful person there. Once one gets the hang of editing here, it is relatively painless and very addictive, so if you do still have an interest please do stick around. You can ask me anytime for help, or if you have a question and I will do my best to guide you through. Also, for general reading and operations here at Wikipedia, take a look at some of the links on my userpage, (in the 'Tools/Links' box on the right, and at the bottom of the page), I have collected links to useful articles on Wikipedia policy and procedures. It can be a little overwhelming at first, but with a little time editing becomes a breeze. Best wishes, Antarctic-adventurer (talk) 08:47, 2 July 2011 (UTC)