Help talk:Getting started/Archive 1

Wikipedia:Plain_and_simple
Should this link be added to the Getting Started page? Plain_and_simple -- Grantbow (talk) 01:51, 1 April 2013 (UTC)
 * It was recently removed after begin recently added - but I would support it being reinstated.Moxy (talk) 02:21, 1 April 2013 (UTC)
 * To me this is quite an important page. A discussion in the context of the Help_Project might be useful rather than randomly merging with another page as was suggested recently in the edit history. Grantbow (talk) 20:55, 1 April 2013 (UTC)

Format
I am going to try again over the next few days to format the page again so there is uniformity.Moxy (talk) 22:54, 13 May 2013 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 20 February 2014
Muhammadshahzadkhan (talk) 16:03, 20 February 2014 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 24 February 2014
The main road in Brakpan is Voortrekker road and not Prince George street as stated in your article

197.78.233.157 (talk) 19:09, 24 February 2014 (UTC)


 * Red information icon with gradient background.svg Not done: this is the talk page for discussing improvements to the page Help:Getting started. Please make your request at the talk page for the article concerned. -- El Hef  ( Meep? ) 19:21, 24 February 2014 (UTC)

Chinese Medal Cloud and Banner
In 1945 I was a Marine stationed on Okinawa when our outfit was ordered to china. Our mission was to participate in the occupation of Northern China. When we arrived in China we rode by train to Peking China and we were stationed just outside Peking. General Chang Ki Scek awarded our outfit, The Cloud and Banner for our participation in the occupation of Northern China. Our Commander (A colonel) received the medal for the unit. Does this medal only go to the Commander or to the entire Marine Unit? J C Crews≈ — Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.202.219.30 (talk) 10:54, 28 April 2014 (UTC)
 * This isn't a good place to ask questions like this one. I suggest you try the Humanities reference desk, and some of the volunteers there may know where to look this up. -- John of Reading (talk) 11:49, 28 April 2014 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 21 October 2014
The bio should read "Turkish intervention of Cyprus". The word "INVASION" is incorrect. Thank you.

77.92.23.83 (talk) 08:30, 21 October 2014 (UTC)
 * Red information icon with gradient background.svg Not done: this is the talk page for discussing improvements to the page Help:Getting started. Please make your request at the talk page for the article concerned. -- John of Reading (talk) 08:33, 21 October 2014 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 13 March 2015
< > — Preceding unsigned comment added by Ashfaq Mohamed (talk • contribs) 16:15, 13 March 2015 (UTC)
 * Red question icon with gradient background.svg Not done: it's not clear what changes you want to be made. Please mention the specific changes in a "change X to Y" format. -- John of Reading (talk) 16:34, 13 March 2015 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 5 May 2015
I have an original disk of Reader Rabbit in my hands. It says copyright 1984 not 1986. I have a picture of the disk to sell it on eBay. Learning Company has been around since at least 1982.

98.208.106.112 (talk) 19:42, 5 May 2015 (UTC)


 * Red information icon with gradient background.svg Not done: this is the talk page for discussing improvements to the page Help:Getting started. Please make your request at the talk page for the article concerned. --I am  k6ka  Talk to me!   See what I have done  20:08, 5 May 2015 (UTC)

A link to the Images needing articles page
Please feel free to comment at Wikipedia talk:Community portal.

Thank you. Anna Frodesiak (talk) 02:40, 3 June 2015 (UTC)

How to work here
I have create a page about a village but it shows my username as title. What should I do?? D&#39;Nesh (talk) 18:37, 25 November 2015 (UTC)
 * How to create a page goes through the process. But for new articles I would strongly suggest the article wizard at Article wizard.  --Jules (Mrjulesd) 18:51, 25 November 2015 (UTC)

Introductions section
The #Introduction section currently duplicates the information give in template. What do people think about removing the #Introduction section, just leaving the template?

Additionally, the stacking of the template straight under the video looks a little odd to me. What about right-aligning it in the #Tutorials section? T.Shafee(Evo&#65120;Evo)talk 11:03, 28 January 2016 (UTC)


 * The problem is that this page is for new people....the template explains nothing...just links. What should be asked is do we need the template...that just repeats links with no description of what is what-- Moxy (talk) 15:51, 28 January 2016 (UTC)


 * That's a good point. I see how the lists of subsections for each tutorial give a bit more information on what you're in for before you click through, particularly for a complete beginner. Sidenote: listing the number of subsections (a four part guide to...) is surely unnecessary, since the subsections are then listed immediately after. T.Shafee(Evo&#65120;Evo)talk 22:37, 28 January 2016 (UTC)


 * I feel we should keep both: the "introductions" text section for crystal clarity and detailed descriptions, and the "Into to box" as a pleasant graphical alternate description.  --Jules (Mrjulesd) 23:56, 28 January 2016 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 17 February 2016
Sewak nathupur (talk) 04:36, 17 February 2016 (UTC)
 * ❌ as you have not requested a change, but I suspect you are in the wrong place, as this page is only to discuss improvements to Help:Getting started. - Arjayay (talk) 11:05, 17 February 2016 (UTC)

What about semiprotecting this talk-page?
At WP:RFP, the following request was made, and declined by me.

"Indefinite semi-protection: For some reason, and despite notices on this page, new users seem to frequently post to this Talk page which is intended for discussion of improvements to the Help:Getting started page, not as a place to request help. Please semi-protect indefinitely. General Ization  Talk   05:39, 6 March 2016 (UTC)
 * Pictogram voting oppose.svg Declined And the newbies are trying to get started and are looking for help; after all it is in good faith. If they make a mistake and use the wrong page, so what? Graciously revert and point them to the right page, try to be helpful and welcoming. Lectonar (talk) 20:27, 6 March 2016 (UTC)
 * That's just lovely, and happens to be exactly what I would do, but I am not the only person who deals with these edits (and am not interested in making it my mission here). Other editors simply revert them, leaving the newbie's question unanswered; and/or the question will sit for a period of time because no one is actively watching that Talk page.  Protecting this page wouldn't penalize for or prevent anyone from seeking help with their good faith questions; it would simply force them to read the content on the page and post the question in a location where it is likely to be answered.  Please give this a reconsideration. General Ization  Talk   20:38, 6 March 2016 (UTC)"

What do people think: is semiprotection a solution for the problem, is it necessary at all, is a more welcoming attitude perhaps a way forward? Lectonar (talk) 21:08, 6 March 2016 (UTC)


 * For some reason... Background is here, together with the question about how to handle this talk page. When the welcome notification linked to Welcoming committee/Welcome to Wikipedia, the corresponding talk page was eventually redirected to the Teahouse. No-one there has yet said if they favour such a redirection. If you look at the history of either of the talk pages you see that new editors add a wide variety of things: no doubt we'd mostly agree that a newbie's request for help on editing Wikipedia should receive a helpful answer, wherever posted; but many of the contributions (example below) don't seem to come into this category, and TBH may not be worth spending much effort on Noyster (talk),  00:06, 7 March 2016 (UTC)


 * A redirect does not work in this case because of the way the people are getting here. -- Moxy (talk) 03:21, 7 March 2016 (UTC)


 * Support indefinite or extended (several weeks? months?) semi-protection. It's just ridiculous what's going on here and how often it happens, and most of the newbies' test posts or ask posts here aren't in any way answerable at all. (It's so easy for them to not even look at what page they're on, smash their keyboard and save and never come back, I'm not going to spend even three minutes to come up with a "useful" response for them.) — Jeraphine Gryphon (talk) 07:02, 7 March 2016 (UTC)


 * Support indefinite protection as well, though I don't know if it clashes with any existing policies. I actually feel it may help new users, by instead of clicking "edit" without reading the top messageboxes and getting reverted, they may be more likely to read the messagebox contents and find the help or test pages that they're really looking for. T.Shafee(Evo&#65120;Evo)talk 10:25, 7 March 2016 (UTC)
 * Support indefinite protection --Moxy (talk) 01:45, 8 March 2016 (UTC)

(unarchiving since a decision hasn't been made) — Jeraphine Gryphon (talk) 15:41, 12 March 2016 (UTC)

It's protected. ...for four days. Oh. — Jeraphine Gryphon (talk) 13:21, 13 March 2016 (UTC)
 * Do you know if this has been corrected to indefinite yet? T.Shafee(Evo&#65120;Evo)talk 22:27, 17 March 2016 (UTC)
 * Nope. Protection log is here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Log?action=view&page=Help_talk%3AGetting_started&type=protect — Jeraphine Gryphon (talk) 08:04, 18 March 2016 (UTC)
 * Now it is.:). As promised, and by overwhelming consensus, the need for semiprotection is acknowledged (although it still feels wrong for me).Lectonar (talk) 09:10, 18 March 2016 (UTC)

Suggest adding some earlier clarity on templates
I've been a Wikipedia editor here and there for many years. But one thing I never quite understood was templates. Without knowing what they were called, it's quite complex to find out more about them, and that is partly because there's no mention of them on basic help pages such as this page (or as far as I can tell, even early on in any link given on this page). They're in basically every Wikipedia page (and particularly stand out as confusing in the Wiki Markup Editor) and are used to accomplish very many important tasks. I would suggest better inclusion of this topic... perhaps as a 6th link under Editing with Wiki Markup, though open to a better location. Perhaps many don't struggle with the concept as much as I did, but I've even got a bit of a programming background (HTML, C++, PHP), and it wasn't straightforward what they were or how to use them. I imagine it is that way for many new users. Just some very basic text on what they are (a way to setup a standardized section across many pages?) and basic links on where to get more information might well make a world of difference to many newer users. Thanks! JeopardyTempest (talk) 07:36, 23 August 2016 (UTC)


 * They are not very well taken as a 'programming' thing, unless you are coming from the perspective of something like Lisp. Templates (or other pages) are 'transcluded' into other pages, and the help pages on mediawiki.org are the best place to start. Essentially, they are 'unrolled' into a version that reflects the actual page being viewed without transclusion, and then evaluated inside out. Revent talk 20:29, 24 August 2016 (UTC)


 * Oh, it's no worries here, I worked on through it, and sorted out enough of them to make headway on the template that wasn't working properly... it's more for the next guy who comes along confused. And indeed while they're different enough from typical programming that skills don't help a ton... I think they'd be even more mysterious to an everyday Joe trying to come and help with a typical wikipedia article.  Just wish to improve the info available... I've always found Wikipedia help a bit disjointed and tough to approach, and just want to help try to make it better (I'd already added some text to some of the help you directed me towards to try to clarify some things I had trouble understanding).  But do you have any thoughts on adding something to the more central help here, even adding something as simple as being along the lines of: 'What's the deal with the things in {}?  -- These are templates, one of the more complex tools... they're fairly complex, so you may want to wait to learn about them until later, but here's a link for when you want to learn more.'  I see this page as kind of a key starting point for help (unless there's another spot??), and so vital to bring as comprehensively directive as possible :-) Thanks for your response! JeopardyTempest (talk) 22:10, 24 August 2016 (UTC)

Protect It!
You should fully protect this page! Carlitos Carrisoza (talk) 00:50, 27 November 2016 (UTC)
 * ❌ - yours is the only edit to this page in over three months, and we rarely protect talk pages - Arjayay (talk) 17:07, 27 November 2016 (UTC)

The page I meant was the one linked to this one. Carlitos Carrisoza (talk) 03:08, 20 December 2016 (UTC)

Y'know...
Wikipedians forgot ALL about Twinkle's ability to welcome others with help. I just finally edited it in there. You don't need to thank me, if you don't want to. &#42;Xyaena~* (talk) 19:32, 1 March 2017 (UTC)

Survey
Hey all,

I'm looking into doing some research about the things that users seek out help for. If noone has any objections I'd like to add a brief survey to this page to collect some anonymous data about what people are looking for and how we can help them better. I'd like to add this in the next week or so. Ping me if anyone has any issues with this. Seddon (WMF) (talk) 22:57, 27 April 2017 (UTC)

Question
Thanking you sir, I need saving changes in my Wikipedia templates. Rahq09 (talk) 04:37, 22 January 2018 (UTC)
 * Please ask "how to" questions at the Teahouse, rather than here. Nick Moyes (talk) 12:09, 11 February 2018 (UTC)

Hidden title
Why was the Template:Hidden title added to this article on ? That template wasn't meant for ordinary Wikipedia pages (see Templates for discussion/Log/2016 July 21. Not having a title displayed makes copy/paste of the article name impossible. Please remove that template. -- Michael Bednarek (talk) 06:17, 7 December 2017 (UTC)
 * They were added to the 3 automated "New user landing pages" like Wikipedia:Article_wizard ....if you need to link the page we have short cuts.--Moxy (talk) 14:13, 7 December 2017 (UTC)
 * If I want to point a new editor to this page, presenting it as H:GS will not tell them what is meant. I shouldn't have written "impossible". Of course I know that there are several other ways to get the ordinary page name for cut/paste purposes, it's only impossible with my normal method: double click the page name and Ctrl+C. It just struck me as very odd when I looked at the page and there was no page name. Looking at Special:WhatLinksHere/Template:Hidden title showed that it's only used on Article Wizard and Wikipedia Adventure pages – and this one. I didn't see the connection. I still don't see the need to hide the title on this page, but … . -- Michael Bednarek (talk) 14:49, 7 December 2017 (UTC)
 * I am not sure how to explain...but these are New user landing pages that are automated ....as in new editors are directed here by bot or redirect due to an action.  We have Instructional material--Moxy (talk) 21:22, 8 December 2017 (UTC)
 * I must support concerns raised by at the recent hiding of this page's title. I see no reason for it; it does indeed make linking to this page much harder. Showing "Help:Getting started" is never going to confuse any user - it's a convention they're going to see throughout their Wikipedia editing days. I'm currently putting an online and printed help sheet together for new editors at editathons. No longer having a clear, linkabe page title is a retrograde step in my view, and should be restored asap. I'm afraid the explanation for this (given above) failed to impart any understanding on my part. Regards from the UK, Nick Moyes (talk) 12:09, 11 February 2018 (UTC)
 * I have restored the title. That they are aimed at newbies is no reason these pages should break with the convention used across the rest of Wikipedia, in fact it's a reason they should follow it. the wub "?!"  13:00, 11 February 2018 (UTC)

Delete my account
Hi I would like to delete my account as I don’t want to edit anymore. Thanks, Gillingham fc lover Gillingham Fc lover (talk) 18:43, 23 November 2019 (UTC)
 * It's not possible to delete accounts. You can simply just stop using it. – Ammarpad (talk) 21:43, 23 November 2019 (UTC)

Confusing thanks being received
A few weeks ago, I made an extremely minor copy edit to this page. Since then, I've been periodically being thanked by users who do not appear to have made any edits at all. Anyone know what's going on here? Sdkb (talk) 04:02, 19 February 2020 (UTC)
 * Yup....your just last to edit. Thousands of new editors get this page a day ...some like to press the thank button for fun. Have fun till someone else edits the page......lol I will take it back over....I take it as an opportunity to link them to our help pages-- Moxy 🍁 04:05, 19 February 2020 (UTC)

Ambassador training / deprecated content
Under Training for student assignments, if one follows the link to the Ambassador training, the welcome page includes the following notice: "This Wikipedia page has been superseded by training content on dashboard.wikiedu.org and outreachdashboard.wmflabs.org, and it is retained primarily for historical interest." Neither of these suggested links appear to be on this page. (I realize they might be a second degree of separation.) Could someone more familiar with this help space look at these links and decide whether to add them to this page? Also, I suggest that a new section be added for content that is now considered "of historical interest." Thoughts? Zatsugaku (talk) 15:55, 6 July 2021 (UTC)