Welcome and introduction

edit

Hi, Laricaney. This is NOT some automated message...it's from a real person. You can talk to me right now. Welcome to Wikipedia! I noticed you've just joined, and wanted to give you a few tips to get you started. If you have any questions, please talk to us. The tips below should help you to get started. Best of luck! Shearonink (talk) 21:24, 2 December 2010 (UTC)Reply


  • You don't need to read anything - anybody can edit; just go to an article and edit it. Be Bold, but please don't put silly stuff in - it will be removed very quickly, and will annoy people.
  • Ask for help. Talk to us live, or edit this page, put {{helpme}} and describe what help you need. Someone will reply very quickly - usually within a few minutes.
  • Edit existing articles, before you make your own. Look at some subjects that you know about, and see if you can make them a bit better. For example, Wikipedia:Cleanup#2009.
  • When you're ready, read about Your first article. It should be about something well-known, and it will need references.

Good luck with editing; please drop me a line some time on my own talk page.

There's lots of information below. Once again, welcome to the fantastic world of Wikipedia!

--Shearonink (talk) 21:24, 2 December 2010 (UTC)Reply

Getting started
Policies and guidelines
The community
Writing articles

Regarding copyright issues, take a look at Wikipedia:Copyright. And hopefully this 'Welcome' will answer some of your other questions. Shearonink (talk) 21:24, 2 December 2010 (UTC)Reply

Questions

edit

I have a couple questions. Can someone please answer some or all of them, without just following some script like that "Welcome and introduction" guy below? Thanks in advance.

- Can I get notified when a page changes?

- If someone ruins a page, can I somehow change it back? Or is that someone else's job?

- Below this editing block, it says "Content that violates any copyrights will be deleted". How do I make sure I do not violate someone's copyright?

- What's the use of my user page? Am I supposed to put something on it, or can I just leave it empty? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Laricaney (talkcontribs)

  • You can be notified of changes to a page if you add that page to your watchlist. If someone vandalises a page, please undo their edits, yes. Avoiding violating copyrights is fairly simple: don't copy anything into wikipedia unless you're absolutely sure it's not copyrighted (it should explicitly state that it is public domain or uses a license compatible with wikipedia). You can leave your userpage empty if you wish; it's mainly there for your own use and to let other editors know a little about your editing habits and whatnot if you choose to do so. GiftigerWunsch [TALK] 21:38, 2 December 2010 (UTC)Reply
    • By the way, please remember to sign your comments by adding four tildes (~~~~) to the end of your messages on talk pages. Messages on talk pages should go to the bottom of the page. (Never mind, I thought you had posted this after the welcome above). GiftigerWunsch [TALK] 21:39, 2 December 2010 (UTC)Reply

Thanks for your help. It raises some more questions, but I think I can figure it out myself.

Laricaney (talk) 18:22, 3 December 2010 (UTC)Reply