Hello Blowner! Welcome to Wikipedia! Thank you for your contributions. If you decide that you need help, check out Getting Help below, ask me on my talk page, or place {{helpme}} on your talk page and someone will show up shortly to answer your questions. Please remember to sign your name on talk pages by clicking or using four tildes (~~~~); this will automatically produce your name and the date. Finally, please do your best to always fill in the edit summary field. Below are some useful links to facilitate your involvement. Happy editing! StonyBrookbabble 07:23, 30 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I do plan on writing and editing a lot more but I think I need to get more accustomed to how pages are structured etcetera.
For e.g. if I want to add info on a certain book I'd probably have to read 10 Wikipedia pages on books that I've already read to get an understanding on how they should be written, structured and what's important. Also I don't really understand how to do anything or add anything. I've just been trying to figure it out on the fly, however that's obviously not a great way to get it done. Hopefully I'll get some patience to read about how all of this works.
Can you or anyone out there recommend any YouTube video or the like on how to use, edit (and create) Wikipedia articles for a beginner?
If you click on the links in the "Getting Started" section above, you will find that some of the pages include video and audio links. Also try the Wikipedia Adventure. I would not recommend jumping headfirst into creating articles just yet though. You might want to start by simply reading existing articles (well over six million of them by now) which interest you and making small corrections as you go, such as grammar and spelling errors. Don't be afraid to go down that rabbit hole. Just be aware that Wikipedia can be addicting! StonyBrookbabble 16:11, 4 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I am kind of thinking in terms of someone going through the whole process from begining to end of making a new Wikipedia article. Meaning starting off with the basics, checking up some missing information, adding different type of features and the like. Somehow I feel like this is the only way I'll get a good feeling of how it should be done, if you're aware of the like please let me know.
P.s. doesn't have to be about making new articles, if you're aware of videos on writing styles or just useful information and the like that would also be appreciated. Blowner (talk) 18:30, 4 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Fair point about getting the feel for things by creating an article. I would just not want to see you get disappointed because your virgin effort was thrown out by a cop on the beat due to it being malformed in some way. A good way to get article creation experience is to go through today's waste basket, pick out an article you think is worth saving (a few dozen a day get tentatively thrown out) and get to work finding reliable sources for it, add to the prose, and then state your case why you think the article should be saved. If it does get retained, you can take the credit, and if not, you still gain valuable experience towards what it takes to create a solid article of your own. StonyBrookbabble 19:43, 4 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks for still coming back and responding! I have a few unretaliated and I'm hoping you can lead me to where I can maybe find the answers. 1 Is about books page numbers, which number do you use? my assumption would be to use the first edition but that's not what I'm often seeing so is there a rule for this? where can/should I discuss this?. I read about not copying from outside sources, but what about from within Wikipedia? If I see an article in another language I understand can I copy it (verbatim) to English? or must I do all the research myself? also if I can what about copying word-for-word from another language (This is a question for both wiki pages that don't exist as well as ones that are missing a plateau of information).
I have some other questions but I'm not looking to overwhelm you. Thanks again for responding @StonyBrook
For citing offline books, it doesn't really matter which edition you use, but of course the later the edition, the better. The top of the edit window has a Cite button, click on that to reveal a Template button, click on that to find the Cite Book template. Fill it out and click Insert— the citation will get inserted wherever you left your cursor. Just remember to add the actual quote you are referencing verbatim to the cite template itself, as a courtesy for those who cannot access a physical copy of the book. Copying word-for-word from outside sources—in any language—is strictly forbidden, but copying from within Wikipedia is permitted so long as you state where you copied it from in the edit summary. Yes Blowner, translating another language Wikipedia article into English Wikipedia word-for-word is okay and even encouraged, but you must add sources for everything you translate even if the foreign language article had no sources. Finally, two more tips for you: I see you already understand notifications, but there's no need to ping me repeatedly since I'm already watching this page. Second, I encourage you to keep your replies in one paragraph, for simplicity's sake. StonyBrookbabble 09:52, 5 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Makes sense. Thanks for responding. I'll try to get started making a new Wikipedia article soon, I'll let you know if there's something I can't figure out Blowner (talk) 11:04, 7 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]
