Wikipedia: The Missing Manual: The Missing Manual

by John Broughton

Overview

Want to be part of the largest group-writing project in human history? Learn how to contribute to Wikipedia, the user-generated online reference for the 21st century. Considered more popular than eBay, Microsoft.com, and Amazon.com, Wikipedia servers respond to approximately 30,000 requests per second, or about 2.5 billion per day. It's become the first point of reference for people the world over who need a fact fast.

If you want to jump on board and add to the content, Wikipedia: The Missing Manual is your first-class ticket. Wikipedia has more than 9 million entries in 250 languages, over 2 million articles in the English language alone. Each one is written and edited by an ever-changing cast of volunteer editors. You can be one of them. With the tips in this book, you'll quickly learn how to get more out of -- and put more into -- this valuable online resource.

Wikipedia: The Missing Manual gives you practical advice on creating articles and collaborating with fellow editors, improving existing articles, and working with the Wikipedia community to review new articles, mediate disputes, and maintain the site. Up to the challenge? This one-of-a-kind book includes:

• Basic editing techniques, including the right and wrong ways to edit
• Pinpoint advice about which types of articles do and do not belong on Wikipedia
• Ways to learn from other editors and communicate with them via the site's talk pages
• Tricks for using templates and timesaving automated editing tools
• Recommended procedures for fighting spam and vandalism
• Guidance on adding citations, links, and images to your articles

Wikipedia depends on people just like you to help the site grow and maintain the highest quality. With Wikipedia: The Missing Manual, you get all the tools you need to be part of the crew.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780596553777
Publisher:	O'Reilly Media, Incorporated
Publication date:	01/25/2008
Series:	Missing Manual Series
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	504
File size:	11 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

John Broughton has been a registered editor at Wikipedia since August 2005, with more than 15,000 edits by the time he wrote this book. His biggest Wikipedia endeavor was to build the Editor's index to Wikipedia (just type that in the "search" box at the left of any Wikipedia page). This index lists every important reference page on Wikipedia, as well as hundreds of off-Wikipedia Web pages with useful information and tools for Wikipedia editors. John's first experience with programming computers was in a 1969 National Science Foundation program. Since then, he's held various computer-related management positions in the headquarters of a U.S. Army Reserve division, worked in internal audit departments as a Certified Information Systems Auditor, and was the Campus Y2K Coordinator at U.C. Berkeley. A Certified Management Accountant, John has B.S. in Mathematical Sciences from Johns Hopkins University; an M.B.A. from Golden Gate University; an M.S. in Education from the Universityof Southern California; and a Masters in Public Policy from the Universityof California at Berkeley.

Table of Contents

The Missing Credits     xi
Introduction     xv
Editing, Creating, and Maintaining Articles
Editing for the First Time     3
The Wikipedia Way of Editing     3
Practicing in the Sandbox     4
Starting, Previewing, and Saving Your Edit     5
Dealing with an Edit Conflict     11
Wiki Markup: From Edit Box to Screen     14
Editing Article Sections     18
Editing the Lead Section     20
Editing for Real     21
Documenting Your Sources     25
Documentation Guidelines     25
Adding an External Link     30
Citing Sources     31
Creating Footnotes     33
Advanced Citation Techniques     40
Setting Up Your Account and Personal Workspace     45
Why Register?     45
Picking a User Name     48
Registering     50
Setting Up Your User Page     53
Personal Subpages     56
Creating a New Article     61
What Makes a Good Article     62
What Articles Don't Belong on Wikipedia     66
Tutorial: Creating a New Article     69
Ideas for New Articles     78
Resources for Writing Articles     78
Who Did What: Page Histories and Reverting     81
Understanding Page Histories     81
Reverting Edits     90
Advanced Techniques     96
Monitoring Changes     99
The User Contributions Page     99
Wikipedia's Standard Watchlist     101
Multiple Watchlists     115
Real-Time Monitoring Alternatives     117
Dealing with Vandalism and Spam     121
Lines of Defense     122
Reverting Vandalism and Spam     122
Issuing Warnings     130
Requesting Assistance of Administrators     133
Don't Get into a Revert War     138
Collaborating with Other Editors
Communicating with Your Fellow Editors     143
Identifying Yourself     143
Article Talk (Discussion) Pages     145
User Talk Page Postings     156
Communicating via Email and IRC     162
WikiProjects and Other Group Efforts     165
WikiProjects     165
Collaborations     175
Less Formal Working Groups     177
Resolving Content Disputes     179
Why Editors Disagree      179
Avoiding Content Disputes     181
Reviewing Content Changes: A General Plan of Action     184
Resolving Content Disputes Informally     188
Resolving Disputes with Assistance     191
Handling Incivility and Personal Attacks     195
Enforcing Norms of Conduct     195
Dealing with Incivility and Personal Attacks     200
When You Get Irritated (or Worse)     210
Lending Other Editors a Hand     213
Answering Questions     213
Showing Appreciation for Other Editors     218
Reviewing Articles and Images     219
Coaching Other Editors     223
Helping Resolve Disputes     223
For Experienced Editors     227
Choosing Where You Want to Help     228
Formatting and Illustrating Articles
Article Sections and Tables of Contents     233
Getting Sections Right     233
Getting Headings Right     242
Improving the Table of Contents     245
Creating Lists and Tables     253
Creating and Editing Lists     253
Editing and Creating Tables     26
Adding Images     271
Uploading Images     271
Finding Images      284
Placing an Image in an Article     284
Questions or Problems with Images     287
Uploading a Non-free Image     288
Building a Stronger Encyclopedia
Getting Readers to the Right Article: Naming, Redirects, and Disambiguation     295
Naming and Renaming     295
For Old Names and Bad Spellers: Redirects     303
For Multiple Meanings: Disambiguation     313
Categorizing Articles     323
Fundamentals of Categorization     323
Category Links in Articles     324
Category Pages     331
Building Out Categories     335
Discussing Categories     336
Categories, Lists, and Series Boxes     336
Better Articles: A Systematic Approach     339
Avoid Surprises     339
Don't Suppress or Separate Controversy     342
Reorganize and Edit Existing Content     343
Don't Take Article Scope as a Given     346
Improve the Citation of Sources     348
Build the Web     351
Look for Guidance and Examples     352
Add Sourced Content     353
Remove Cruft and Duplication     355
Get the Wording Right     356
Make the Article Look Appealing     357
Deleting Existing Articles     359
Responding to Problem Articles     359
Alternatives to Deletion     362
Three Ways to Delete an Article     363
After an Article is Deleted     379
Customizing Wikipedia
Customizing with Preferences     383
User Profile     383
Skin     388
Math     390
Files     391
Date and Time     391
Editing     393
Recent Changes     395
Watchlist     395
Search     395
Misc     397
Gadgets     399
Easier Editing with JavaScript     401
Setting Up Your Browser     401
Adding and Deleting Scripts     402
Fixing Problems     409
Resources     410
Appendixes
A Tour of the Wikipedia Page     413
Reader's Guide to Wikipedia     427
Learning More     447
Index     457