Wikinfo:Tutorial (Mind at ease)

Welcome · Tutorial · Cheatsheet · Frequently Asked Questions · Glossary · Help · Help desk · Image copyright help desk · Reference desk

Here are some things to set your mind at ease when editing Wikinfo.

Editorial policies

Subject matter

Wikinfo is much more than an encyclopedia. While it is desirable that the subject of an article be [[Wikipedia:Notability|notable], occasional lapses are no problem. Dictionary definitions are welcome as are original texts if they are in the public domain or copyrighted under an open source license.

Original research is welcome as are articles about yourself or your projects.

Point of view

Generally, the main article on a subject should take a viewpoint that is friendly to the subject, with most critical material in auxiliary articles. If the subject is abstract the main article should contain information which supports the concept. While truth is often not attainable, there is no harm in trying. Opinion may be included, including your own, but it should be clearly labeled. Any organization or business may place a brief article about its virtues on Wikinfo.

Citing sources

Wikinfo recommends that you cite sources for the information you contribute. Sources should be listed in a section called "Notes" or "References". Websites or articles or books which could be of interest to a reader should be listed and linked to in an "External links" section or in a "Further reading" section, especially if they used as sources for the article. Citations help our readers verify what you have written and find more information.

Copyrights

Do not submit copyrighted material without permission. When adding information to articles, make sure it is written in your own words. Remember that all information found on the Internet is copyrighted unless the website specifically states otherwise.

English dialects

All common forms are welcome on Wikinfo. An abridged version of the related policy could be stated as:

1. Do not edit a page simply to "correct" the spelling in either direction.

2. If the subject is related to the U.S., then U.S. English is preferred:

Child labor laws in the United States

3. If the subject is related to an organization using British English (UK, Commonwealth, Ireland, UN, etc.) then British English is preferred.:

On-licence

4. If the subject is not regional (such as astronomy), the original contributor's usage should be followed. See American and British English differences if you have difficulty with this.

5. The usage should be consistent throughout an article, unless it mentions both US- and Britain/Commonwealth-related topics. In that case, Policies 2 and 3 prevail.

6. When you create a new article, generally the most commonly used title is preferred. A simple way of testing this is to try a Google Test either on the actual Google or on GoogleFight.com, or on a different search engine to your preference, and see which generates more results.

Conduct

Wikinfo encourages an atmosphere of friendliness and openness. Of course, in practice there are sometimes disagreements and even an occasional heated argument, but members of the community are expected to behave in a generally civil manner.

The most important thing to keep in mind is that you should always assume good faith on the part of other editors. Do not assume that someone is acting out of spite or malice. If someone does something that upsets you, leave a polite message on the relevant article's talk page or on the user's talk page, and ask why. You may find that you have avoided a misunderstanding and saved yourself some embarrassment.

Renaming articles

If you find an article that you believe is mis-named, please do not copy and paste the contents of the old article into a new article — among other things, it separates the previous contributions from their edit history (which we need to keep track of for copyright reasons). The preferred method is to move the page to the new name. If it is your first move, please read the warnings on the move page carefully, as there are a number of issues to consider before moving a page. If a "disambiguation" page is involved, it is best to review Wikinfo:Disambiguation.