Wikipedia:Welcome, newcomers
Wikipedia is an encyclopedia written collaboratively by its readers. The site is a Wiki, meaning that anyone, including you, can edit almost any article right now by clicking on the edit this page link that appears at the top of the page.
Browsing Wikipedia
Wikipedia contains a huge amount of information on all sorts of subjects ranging from politics, science, history, music, religion, pop culture, and sports to everything and anything in between. Try browsing the various categories now.
You can also search for text in articles. Just go to the "search" field to the left, enter your search term and click "search". Note that the built-in search function may be disabled in times of server overload; in these cases you will be redirected to a Google-based search of the Wikipedia database. There are also other ways to search Wikipedia.
If you read something that you really like, then why not drop a note on the article's talk page? First select the discussion link (look for it in the tabs above the page), to get to the talk page. Then select edit this page on the talk page, or click the + to the right of edit this page to simply add a new comment. We always love to get a little positive feedback.
If there's something we don't cover, or you're having difficulty finding what you're looking for, just ask us at the reference desk, or add the topic to our list of requested articles. Find other ways to explore Wikipedia or... write an article yourself.
Editing
Everyone can edit pages in Wikipedia — even this page! Just click the edit this page link at the top of any page (except for protected pages) if you think it needs any improvement or new information. You don't need anything special; you don't even need to be logged in. If you want to experiment first, without risk of "messing up" a real article, head over to the sandbox, where you can practice editing to your heart's content. To practice editing an existing page like this one, just copy and paste it from the article's edit page into the sandbox. If you want to learn more, check out the Wikipedia Tutorial to learn the basic info you should know as a member of our project.
You may find this a bit intimidating at first, but see replies to common objections for an explanation of why the system still works.
Although there are already a lot of articles (6,824,712 at the last count), Wikipedia is constantly expanding with new articles written by people just like yourself. You can start a brand new article, or find an existing article and add an entirely new section to it. A simple way to start helping is just to use Wikipedia as you would any other encyclopedia, but when you spot a problem—a spelling mistake, perhaps, or an unclear sentence—click edit this page and fix it. Be bold in editing pages; if you can see a way of improving a page, do it. Don't worry too much about making mistakes; if you do get something wrong, you or anyone else can come along and fix it later. (Note that every version of every page is stored in the database; that means that it's easy to restore an older version, but also that every edit can be tracked).
Policies
We've got a few policies and guidelines that you should look at. The three most essential principles are NPOV, GFDL, and civility. What does this mean?
- NPOV, or neutral point of view means that articles should not be biased, and should represent differing views on a subject fairly and sympathetically.
- All contributions to Wikipedia are released under the GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL). This specifically ensures that Wikipedia will remain freely distributable in perpetuity. Please do not submit any content that is copyrighted without permission of the copyright holder. (See Copyrights for more information).
- Civility. Wikipedia works by cooperation, and therefore mutual respect, civility, and wikilove should be practiced universally. Please assume good faith when you disagree with someone, stay cool, and talk things over civilly. It is good practice to provide an edit summary explaining your changes so as to assist others with noticing and accepting your changes. If you find that your edits get removed or modified, wait a moment before reinstating them. First check the page history, your talk page, or the article's talk page to discuss. See also Wikiquette.
Don't be discouraged
If you run into conflicts in your first forays into editing, then don't let it get you down. In any collaborative project there are clashes. Have a look at the Writers rules of engagement page as well as the other articles in the tutorial wing below. Use them to help you resolve the problems and learn how to become an active and productive contributor.
And if there's anything you don't understand — be it technical or social — and you're not sure where to look, just post a question on the Wikipedia:help desk, and someone will be happy to help you.
Have fun!
Want to join up?
Anyone can edit, but there are advantages to creating an account if you want to contribute regularly. To join, create an account and then introduce yourself to the community at the new user log.
See also
General information, guides and help
- About the project
- Help pages — help on editing, starting new articles, and many other topics.
- Wikipedia FAQs — frequently asked questions about the site.
- Glossary — a glossary of common Wikipedia terms.
- What is Wikipedia
- What Wikipedia is not
- Policies and guidelines for contributors
- Manual of Style
For participants of similar sites
- Guide for h2g2 Researchers. For visitors from the h2g2 community.
- Guide for Everything2 noders. For visitors from the Everything2 community.
- Guide for Indymedia authors. For visitors from the Indymedia community.
Wikicivics
Tutorial Wing
- Wikiquette
- Neutrality
- Writers rules of engagement — dispute resolution.
- Faux pas avoidance
Department of Deeper Inquiries
The Wikipedia community
- Contact us
- Wikipedians — different listings of regular contributors; you may add yourself if you wish.
- Wikifun.