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:	9780596515164
Publisher:	O'Reilly Media, Incorporated
Publication date:	01/28/2008
Series:	Missing Manual Series
Pages:	501
Product dimensions:	7.00(w) x 9.19(h) x 1.00(d)

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; About the Author; About the Creative Team; Acknowledgements; The Missing Manual Series; Introduction; About This Book; The Very Basics; Editing, Creating, and Maintaining Articles; Chapter 1: Editing for the First Time; 1.1 The Wikipedia Way of Editing; 1.2 Practicing in the Sandbox; 1.3 Starting, Previewing, and Saving Your Edit; 1.4 Dealing with an Edit Conflict; 1.5 Wiki Markup: From Edit Box to Screen; 1.6 Editing Article Sections; 1.7 Editing the Lead Section; 1.8 Editing for Real; Chapter 2: Documenting Your Sources; 2.1 Documentation Guidelines; 2.2 Adding an External Link; 2.3 Citing Sources; 2.4 Creating Footnotes; 2.5 Advanced Citation Techniques; Chapter 3: Setting Up Your Account and Personal Workspace; 3.1 Why Register?; 3.2 Picking a User Name; 3.3 Registering; 3.4 Setting Up Your User Page; 3.5 Personal Subpages; Chapter 4: Creating a New Article; 4.1 What Makes a Good Article; 4.2 What Articles Don’t Belong on Wikipedia; 4.3 Tutorial: Creating a New Article; 4.4 Ideas for New Articles; 4.5 Resources for Writing Articles; Chapter 5: Who Did What: Page Histories and Reverting; 5.1 Understanding Page Histories; 5.2 Reverting Edits; 5.3 Advanced Techniques; Chapter 6: Monitoring Changes; 6.1 The User Contributions Page; 6.2 Wikipedia’s Standard Watchlist; 6.3 Multiple Watchlists; 6.4 Real-Time Monitoring Alternatives; Chapter 7: Dealing with Vandalism and Spam; 7.1 Lines of Defense; 7.2 Reverting Vandalism and Spam; 7.3 Issuing Warnings; 7.4 Requesting Assistance of Administrators; 7.5 Don’t Get into a Revert War; Collaborating with Other Editors; Chapter 8: Communicating with Your Fellow Editors; 8.1 Identifying Yourself; 8.2 Article Talk (Discussion) Pages; 8.3 User Talk Page Postings; 8.4 Communicating via Email and IRC; Chapter 9: WikiProjects and Other Group Efforts; 9.1 WikiProjects; 9.2 Collaborations; 9.3 Less Formal Working Groups; Chapter 10: Resolving Content Disputes; 10.1 Why Editors Disagree; 10.2 Avoiding Content Disputes; 10.3 Reviewing Content Changes: A General Plan of Action; 10.4 Resolving Content Disputes Informally; 10.5 Resolving Disputes with Assistance; Chapter 11: Handling Incivility and Personal Attacks; 11.1 Enforcing Norms of Conduct; 11.2 Dealing with Incivility and Personal Attacks; 11.3 When You Get Irritated (or Worse); Chapter 12: Lending Other Editors a Hand; 12.1 Answering Questions; 12.2 Showing Appreciation for Other Editors; 12.3 Reviewing Articles and Images; 12.4 Coaching Other Editors; 12.5 Helping Resolve Disputes; 12.6 For Experienced Editors; 12.7 Choosing Where You Want to Help; Formatting and Illustrating Articles; Chapter 13: Article Sections and Tables of Contents; 13.1 Getting Sections Right; 13.2 Getting Headings Right; 13.3 Improving the Table of Contents; Chapter 14: Creating Lists and Tables; 14.1 Creating and Editing Lists; 14.2 Editing and Creating Tables; Chapter 15: Adding Images; 15.1 Uploading Images; 15.2 Finding Images; 15.3 Placing an Image in an Article; 15.4 Questions or Problems with Images; 15.5 Uploading a Non-free Image; Building a Stronger Encyclopedia; Chapter 16: Getting Readers to the Right Article: Naming, Redirects, and Disambiguation; 16.1 Naming and Renaming; 16.2 For Old Names and Bad Spellers: Redirects; 16.3 For Multiple Meanings: Disambiguation; Chapter 17: Categorizing Articles; 17.1 Fundamentals of Categorization; 17.2 Category Links in Articles; 17.3 Category Pages; 17.4 Building Out Categories; 17.5 Discussing Categories; 17.6 Categories, Lists, and Navigation Templates; Chapter 18: Better Articles: A Systematic Approach; 18.1 Avoid Surprises; 18.2 Don’t Suppress or Separate Controversy; 18.3 Reorganize and Edit Existing Content; 18.4 Don’t Take Article Scope as a Given; 18.5 Improve the Citation of Sources; 18.6 Build the Web; 18.7 Look for Guidance and Examples; 18.8 Add Sourced Content; 18.9 Remove Cruft and Duplication; 18.10 Get the Wording Right; 18.11 Make the Article Look Appealing; Chapter 19: Deleting Existing Articles; 19.1 Responding to Problem Articles; 19.2 Alternatives to Deletion; 19.3 Three Ways to Delete an Article; 19.4 After an Article is Deleted; Customizing Wikipedia; Chapter 20: Customizing with Preferences; 20.1 User Profile; 20.2 Skin; 20.3 Math; 20.4 Files; 20.5 Date and Time; 20.6 Editing; 20.7 Recent Changes; 20.8 Watchlist; 20.9 Search; 20.10 Misc; 20.11 Gadgets; Chapter 21: Easier Editing with JavaScript; 21.1 Setting Up Your Browser; 21.2 Adding and Deleting Scripts; 21.3 Fixing Problems; 21.4 Resources; Appendixes; A Tour of the Wikipedia Page; The Six Upper-Right Links; The Top Tabs; Left Boxes and Links; Links in the Body of the Page; Bottom Links; Additional Features in Edit Mode; Additional Options on User Pages; Keyboard Shortcuts; Reader’s Guide to Wikipedia; Some Basics; What Wikipedia is Not; How Good is Wikipedia?; Navigating Within Wikipedia; Images; You Can Help; Learning More; Information Pages; Directories and Indexes; Places to Ask Questions; Coaching and Classes; Wikipedia News and Gossip; Colophon;