Bahaikipedia:Contributing to Bahaikipedia
From Bahaikipedia
Contents |
[edit] Point out problems
A lot of people get started on wiki's because they are reading an article and think to themselves "that's not right...". If you know just what to do to fix something that isn't right — great, go for it; but if you aren't sure what to do, here's an approach with which you can never really go wrong. Simply navigate to the talk/discussion page associated with the article, hit the "+" tab, and make a comment on what you think needs changing. Remember to end your comment with four tildes like this ~~~~, which will timestamp your comment.
[edit] Create new articles
Wiki articles contain lots of links to other articles. Blue (or purple, if you have already visited them) links represent pages that do exist. Red links (or tan, if you have already visited them) point to pages that don't yet exist. Whoever created these links thought that an article on the topic should exist. If this was not a popular idea, the link may have been removed. It's also possible that a spelling error was made, or that they didn't know the correct name for an existing page on the same (or a more general) topic. In this case, you could fix the link, and/or create a redirect. If you decide there should be an article at the other end of the link, by all means start writing it!
In addition to looking for red links, you can look at a list of requested articles, and pick one you know something about.
Please read Bahaikipedia:Your first article for additional advice about how, why, and when not to create a new article.
For technical help getting started, see Help:Starting a new page.
[edit] Tips
Don't be surprised if other people edit your pages to adapt them to our policies. It's OK to learn as you go along.
New articles which do not comply with Bahaikipedia:Bahá'í point of view and Bahaikipedia:No original research, and articles on obscure topics are often quickly nominated for deletion. Please don't take this personally. Sometimes inappropriate material needs to be pruned to allow a short article to grow into a long one in a healthy way, and sometimes it just so happens that an article needs to be pruned all the way to the roots. New articles need a firm seed to get started. If you are having problems of this kind, you may wish to learn about Bahaikipedia's policies before trying again, or spend some time editing existing articles until you get the hang of things. Bahaikipedia:Your first article is an excellent introduction.
[edit] Publicize Bahaikipedia
See Bahaikipedia:Publicity for ideas.
[edit] Where do I start?
[edit] Start with a list of things that need doing
Template:Opentask
Template:Resources for collaboration
The tables you see above and to the right contain a wealth of starting points loaded with lists of things to do on Bahaikipedia.
You may be interested to join in one of the collaborations of the week, or the Bahaikipedia:Article improvement drive, featured on Bahaikipedia:Community Portal.
Category:Bahaikipediamaintenance also lists a variety of tasks.
Category:Incomplete lists is the place to start if you would enjoy making or finishing lists.
[edit] Start with what you know
Visit Bahaikipedia:Pages needing attention to find a list of articles by topic. These often need contributions from people who know something about the subject!
Make a list of everything you know. Strike through the things that are not verifiable or not supposed to be covered by Bahaikipedia. Then, find the proper places to write about the items remaining on the list. Use the go button, the search, or just navigate by following links. Click the "What links here" link on pages you visit.
Things you might know about...
- Things you have already done research on. Have you written a thesis, essay, or school paper? Consider contributing the fruits of your efforts to related Bahaikipedia articles. You probably don't want to dump the raw text of your essay into the wiki. First of all, there will almost certainly be an existing article which you will want to merge your content into. Secondly, Bahaikipedia is an encyclopedia. Articles that are not written in an encyclopedic style should be rewritten that way, or at least tagged {{cleanup-tone}}. Also keep in mind that Bahaikipedia is not a place to post original research. This means that if you make a new discovery or come up with a new theory, you should find someplace else to post it. What we are about is researching and summarizing ideas and information that have already been publicized elsewhere. Most papers written up to the undergraduate level do exactly this. For technical help, see Bahaikipedia:How to import articles.
- Current events. Bahaikipedia articles constantly need to be updated to reflect recent developments. Bahaikipedia also has an important role to serve in publishing background information that helps people understand current events and issues. If you hear a news story on your favorite news source (check out Google News if you don't have one), check Bahaikipedia's coverage on the topic!
- Do you know a foreign language? Add interlanguage links to articles! Translate an article or two! Or check out one of the many translation tasks listed under the "Start with a list of things that need doing" section, above.
- Your college or university. Find its article on the list of colleges and universities.
- Specific countries, provinces, counties, cities, and towns. Maybe one you've lived in, maybe one you like to visit. Start with the list of countries to find a place of interest. (But remember Bahaikipedia is not a travel guide.)
- What are your favorite subjects in history, entertainment, or sports?
- What are your favorite books (especially non-fiction)?
- Do you know anything about your local political or religious leaders? Find them on one of the lists of office-holders.
- Are you a fan of anyone who should have an encyclopedia article? Find them on one of the lists of people. Are they properly indexed according to birth and death date ?
[edit] Start on a random page
Visit a Special:Randompage and jump into the rabbit hole!
[edit] Start with outside research
Feed your appetite for knowledge. Pick a subject about which you know relatively little but have always been curious or want to remedy a guilty ignorance. If you already know a lot about something, the best references in the field might know more, or might be a helpful reference for other readers or helpful to you in your writing.
Try to find good online and print resources, both books and magazines. Using good references is a way of improving Bahaikipedia, which will be increasingly important as Bahaikipedia grows and becomes more and more relevant. Then cite your sources. By citing sources you avoid copyright violations and plagiarism as long as you use only acceptable portions of other works. Doing research also makes it easier to think of material to add and allows you to improve any article, even one you didn't know much about.
Write about something you don't know about. Use this as an excuse to research a new topic. As you learn about it, write what you are learning here on Bahaikipedia. This is actually a good study aid because it forces you to take notes, to organize information, and to put what you've learned into your own words. You can take how to write a great article as a guide.
Find something from a public domain resource, update it, add links to it, and put it here (but make sure it really isn't copyrighted—see Bahaikipedia copyrights).
Things you might want to learn about:
- What interesting things happened today in history? What interesting things have happened on your birthday? Search by starting at Category:Months.
