Wikipedia:Tip of the day/April
As anyone can edit almost any article, it is of course possible for biased, out of date, or incorrect information to be posted to Wikipedia. Especially on April Fools' Day. However, because there are so many other people reading the articles and monitoring contributions using the Recent Changes page, incorrect information is usually corrected quickly. Thus, the overall accuracy of the encyclopedia is improving all the time as it attracts more and more contributors. You are encouraged to help by correcting articles, validating content, and providing useful references.
Ask about technical issues at Village pump, which is a page where folks especially knowledgeable about Wikipedia hang out. The village pump is a metaphor for a place where lots of people gather to discuss interesting topics.
Click on the "
Do you have a difficult question you can't find the answer to on your own? Or, would you like to take a break from editing and perhaps share your knowledge with others who have questions? If so, then take a trip to the Wikipedia reference desk to ask or answer those tough questions.
The Wikipedia reference desk works like a library reference desk; ask a question there and Wikipedia volunteers will try to answer it. This is great if you're doing research and need to know where to find a particular piece of information, or perhaps just want the answer to a trivia question. Note: Giving out legal or medical advice is prohibited, but they can point you towards relevant articles you can check for yourself.
If you need general help with creating and editing articles on Wikipedia, try
Wikipedia encyclopedia articles may be improved by including images as well as sound and video clip media files. It is important to understand where to upload these files.
- Images and other media files must be uploaded either to Wikipedia or to Wikimedia Commonsbefore they can be used.
- If you do not already have a Wikipedia account, you must create one to upload images. The account will work across all twelve Wikipedia sister projects such as the Commons.
- Wikipedia prefers free images that can be reused commercially and modified.
- Non-free images may be used, but only in certain circumstances and if a free equivalent is not possible.
- Wikimedia Commons only accepts free images, which can then be used by any of the other Wikimedia projects.
There is a how-to guide available at
If someone forgot to sign a message they posted on a talk page, you can do it for them by using the {{unsigned2}} template. Simply place the template at the end of the comments, and include the user's name and, if possible, the timestamp (which you can get from the article history}. For example: {{subst:unsigned|MyNameisForgetful|21:18, 11 January 2016 (UTC)}} would look like this:
— Preceding unsigned comment added by MyNameisForgetful (talk • contribs) 21:18, 11 January 2016 (UTC)
Internet forums and emails are not considered
Do you keep forgetting to fill in the edit summary box before saving your edits? Well, you can let Wikipedia remember for you! Go to your Preferences, select the "Editing" tab, and check the option box that says "Prompt me when entering a blank edit summary". With this option set, Wikipedia will nag you to create an edit summary.
A collaboration is when users work together to improve an article toward featured status. They can work on almost any subject there is. These are usually run by the wikiprojects that work on articles in that area. Everyone is invited to work on the collaboration of their choice.
Wikipedia articles should focus on describing facts in a
First you make a list, using AWB's listmaker, of the pages you wish to work on. Then you specify the search/replaces you want done. Then you click Start. AWB loads the first page on the list and shows you the changes it made, if any. If the changes are acceptable, you click Save, and AWB saves the page on Wikipedia. Then it automatically loads the next page on the list. AWB can even run scripts, and perform regex (regular expression) search and replacements.
In order to use AWB, you must either be a sysop or an editor with over 500 edits in the main namespace.
For on-the-fly general discussion and support requests for AWB, try the AWB IRC channel: #AutoWikiBrowser connect
Like what you see? Consider making a donation to the
The
There are several formats to choose from. The random motto version – {{Random motto}} – is displayed above. It shows a different motto each time you refresh the page. Add the template (including the four curly braces) to your User page.
Create a user account, instead of contributing
Having an account gives you a fixed Wikipedia identity that other users will recognize, and upon which you can build a reputation. It also hides your IP address, so it is not as subject to
You can build a User page, and you acquire the right to be heard in votes and elections.
User accounts have increased functionality, including the ability to create new articles, rename articles, upload images, edit semi-protected pages, and the use of some powerful tools.
Everything is copyrighted by default, even if it does not have a notice to that effect.
But most of Wikipedia's text and many of its images are co-licensed under the
That makes Wikipedia copyleft!
Wikipedia articles can be copied and modified by anyone, but there is a catch: All modifications have to be made available under the same conditions, and credit has to be given to the original authors.
There are various mirrors and forks which use our content, and you can download the entire Wikipedia database to use, experiment with, or develop offline.
However, when editing Wikipedia, please only add content which you have created, or which you have been
If you are uploading a file under a
If you have seen some cool user pages and were wondering how to make yours the envy of all Wikipedians, check out the
Where to request changing your account name depends on the type of rename:
- Simple – For renames to usernames that are not already taken. Check here to see whether the username you want is available.
- Usurpations – For renames to usernames that are already taken and have no significant edits.
To monitor or copy edit the upcoming
{{FA-tomorrow}}
(with the four curly braces) on your user page. Help WikipediaWikipedia contains a number of
There are
If you to prefer you can browse through
While a good article is a satisfactory article, a featured article exemplifies our very best work and has the following attributes:
- 1. High and reliable quality. It has: (a) engaging prose of a professional standard; (b) comprehensive coverage of major facts, details and context; (c) factual accuracy, with citations for verification against reliable sources; (d) neutral presentation of viewpoints; (e) stable content.
- 2. Detailed style standards. It complies with the entire lead; (b) a substantial table of contents; (c) consistently formatted inline citations.
- 3. Images. It has images in accordance with image use policies; in particular, they have acceptable copyright status and fair use rationales where necessary.
- 4. Length. It stays focused on the main topic without going into unnecessary detail.
Articles achieving GA status are candidates for FA-Class (Featured Article) status. Examples of featured articles are viewable daily at Wikipedia's Main Page.
To avoid having to scroll to and click in the Wikipedia search box when you want to use it, there is a keyboard shortcut to move the cursor there. Alt+⇧ Shift+F works on most PC systems. For an example of a search box in which the cursor is already focused, see the Wikipedia portal page.
On MacOS, press Ctrl+⇧ Shift+F instead of Alt+⇧ Shift+F.
You can usually move a page to a new title by clicking on the move tab at the top of the page. This preserves the edit history by transferring the edit history along with the page move. The talk page, will be moved as well, if you check the box requesting that.
When a page is moved, a redirect is automatically created at the old location. Please fix any double redirects that result. Use the "what links here" link in the left hand column of any page to find the double redirects so you can edit them and point them to the new page name.
Moving a page in this way is not possible in some cases, such as when a page other than a fresh redirect exists at the destination, or when the page is move protected, but you can ask for help at Wikipedia:Requested moves.
Please do not "cut and paste" to move the text to its new location, because this leaves the page history behind. Thank you.
Add abilities to your account in the form of "gadgets", programs that you can activate from the Gadgets tab in Preferences.
Gadgets range from very simple to extensive. Some of the most powerful gadgets are:
- Navigation popups – preview a page by hovering mouse pointer over the link to it. It is recursive: also preview within previews.
- Twinkle – multi-purpose tool to report vandalism, warn vandals, request deletion, welcome users, tag articles, and more.
- wikEd – a full-featured wiki-editor that replaces Wikipedia's default editor.
- Sidebar menu of custom templates and scripts.
- Responsive Content – enhance browsing experience of content on narrow and wide screen formats.
Wikipedia has keystroke combinations that can speed up your work, like Alt+⇧ Shift+F to jump to the search box, Alt+⇧ Shift+E to edit, Alt+⇧ Shift+P to preview, Alt+⇧ Shift+S to publish your edits, and many more. Those are for Windows users. On the Mac OS, press Ctrl instead of Alt.
Are you lost, and do not know what to do?
- If lost in general, see the article Meaning of life
- If you are looking for information, but cannot find it, try our Reference desk
- If you are working on Wikipedia, and are stuck, ask at the Help desk
- If you'd like to volunteer, but do not know where to start, see Portal:Contents/Outlines, pick a subject, or fill a gap.
To get a list of all the subpages for a particular page, go to the page, click on:
- Tools, Page information
- Go to the Basic information section
- Click on the Number of subpages of this page link
All the subpages will be listed below the search section.
Wikipedia's servers record activity based on Coordinated Universal Time (UTC for short). You can set your user preferences to display time for the time zone you are in.
If you do this, Wikipedia will show all times in Recent changes, page histories, and contribution histories based on your local time zone. However, when you sign a
To show other users what time zone you are in, you could even add a time userbox to your own user page.
When you are editing an article in Wikipedia, and you want to create a link to another Wikipedia article, place double square brackets around the topic you wish to link to. For example:
- [[apple]]
produces this link:
- [[apple]]s
produces this link: