User:Carbonrodney/Guide

Level 1: Newcomers to Wikipedia If you make regular changes, create an account! You may wish to read the Introduction and ask any questions you have at the New contributors' help page. Otherwise just make edits, make mistakes (Be bold! because someone else will fix it!), and learn along the way. Style Help Questions — a guide on where to ask questions. Cheatsheet — quick reference on Wikipedia's mark-up codes. Wikipedia's 5 pillars — an overview of Wikipedia's foundations The Simplified Ruleset — a summary of Wikipedia's most important rules. The Manual of Style - How to make your articles look purdy. How you can contribute Contributing to Wikipedia — a guide on how you can help. Community Portal — Wikipedia's hub of activity. Department directory - This has links to all kinds of articles and projects. Level 2: How to not be a noob Avoid deleting in favour of editing, finding sources, re-arranging etc. We want Wikipedia to grow and improve. Sign your messages on talk pages with four tildes (~~~~). It's what the pros do, and what the noobs should do. But everyone forgets, so sooner or later SineBot will pick up your slack and write on your discussion page. You can also get a tool to help you not forget, it blinks or adds a button or something. Don't re-invent the triangle Level 3: How to be a better Wikipedian Ideally, you should stay in the top 3, but at least stay out of the bottom 2 Learn what Wikipedia is not. Because you tend to write about what you know which includes your school, your family, your self. Learn what not to do and how to NOT PISS PEOPLE OFF. Learn to revert only when necessary. I try to follow the three revert rule (3RR), some people think even that is too much: 1RR Get wikipedia tools! Goto your user page and add them to your /monobook.js. This is the javascript that is executed on every page, you can put things here to change the way you (and only you - well only people using your account) interact with Wikipedia. You will need to bypass cache to have it come into effect though. Learn to argue your opinion and not just argue and get involved with AfD and RfA (in order to practice this and to start to learn Wikipedia policies and guidelines).