Contribute to Wikipedia

Wikipedia is a free encyclopedia project, written collaboratively by volunteers. Many people view Wikipedia articles every day, but don't contribute. This how-to will show you what you can do to constructively edit Wikipedia.

Steps

  1. Create a Wikipedia account - Account creation is not required; however, if you register for an account, you will be given more privileges than a non-registered user. For all of these privileges to take place, your account must be at least four days old and have at least ten edits.
  2. Expand stubs. An article that is not complete, or written in full detail, may be marked with a {{Stub}} tag. You can help by adding content to the articles currently marked as stubs. Articles may also have a more detailed {{stub}} meaning that the stub has been sub-sorted. Sub-sorted stubs include anything from Arts, Cultures, Design, Broadcast Media, Radio, Television, Literature, and more!
  3. Add a Photo - An encyclopedia is not complete without pictures. You can upload as many pictures as you wish; however, you must provide detailed information on the source and the license of the file. If you cannot provide that information, do not upload any photos. If you still choose to upload photos, they will be deleted.
  4. Write a New Article - Wikipedia is rapidly growing, although the growth has slowed down since 2008. The English version of Wikipedia currently has over 5,168,000 articles! You can help continue this growth by writing an article of your own. You should write an article about something you are very knowledgeable about, so that you can write a complete and informative article. Articles created as test pages, pure vandalism, attack pages, etc. will be deleted on the spot, without any further debate.
  5. Remove Spam - Wikipedia is accessed by millions of people every day, thus, there tends to be a lot of vandalism or spamming. People who vandalize or spam a page may have added inappropriate links, blanked the page, added nonsense, etc. You can help out by removing, or reverting, this vandalism. Removing vandalism will make Wikipedia a better place for people to gather information and resources.
  6. Helping Out - Even though Wikipedia is an encyclopedia, it is also a community. You can help out newcomers to make it a bigger and better community for the encyclopedia.
  7. Doing Maintenance - You can help Wikipedia run optimally by doing maintenance tasks like removing copyright violations, fixing up articles, participating in deletion processes, and all sorts of other things.
  8. Revert vandalism - using tools if you like. If you're getting good at it you'll get a tool called 'rollback' that lets you revert vandalism faster. Remember, spam is also vandalism! If somebody is persistent about vandalising a page, report them to the 'Administrator Intervention against Vandalism' board - AIV for short - once they have been warned suitably.



Tips

  • It takes less than a minute to create an account, and you receive some benefits for account creation, including the ability to move pages. There is no confirmation email process, and the account creation is immediate.
  • Remember, in order for your account to edit semi-protected articles, it must have at least 10 edits and be four days old.
  • If you have a problem with something or someone, discuss it. Always remember to be calm and reasonable, and you'll tend to have a better time in disputes.
  • You can ask questions of more experienced users by putting a {{helpme}} template on your talk page.
  • If you enjoy editing on Wikipedia, you might enjoy editing on wikiHow as well.
  • If you want to practice editing Wikipedia, you can use the sandbox.
  • You can ask questions regarding editing Wikipedia on Teahouse or Wikipedia Help Desk

Warnings

  • Do not vandalize Wikipedia. It just makes a headache for everyone when people vandalize Wikipedia, and your edits will not be appreciated. The vandalism must be reverted by someone who could be editing Wikipedia constructively in other ways. Vandalism is usually removed within five minutes, or even within seconds for popular pages. Persistent vandalism could be met with a block by an administrator. If you feel the urge to vandalize with what you consider funny edits, consider editing on Uncyclopedia instead, where your funny edits would be appreciated.
  • Do not use multiple accounts to vandalize Wikipedia. Wikipedia's CheckUser can detect abusive multiple accounts and they will be banned indefinitely.

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Sources and Citations

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