User talk:David Shire

Welcome to Wikipedia. I noticed you did not have a talk page set up, so I am issuing the first comment. User talk pages like this one are the preferred method for communicating between editors because they are open, but also do not require giving out your e-mail address, which can sometimes be risky. I am but a humble editor of a few things and am not very deeply or highly involved in Wikipedia; I just edit from time to time on things I see need to be corrected. I am sure it was that same sentiment that led you to edit your own bio page. There is generally not a problem with this if you are removing libelous information or if you are adding basic information in a neutral fashion; see the policy on biographies of living people for a better sense of how it's supposed to operate.

I did notice on both of your edits to the page that you seemed to have copy-and-pasted the text, i.e. that you copied the text as rendered by your web browser, added your information, then copied that text back. This is problematic as it wipes out the formatting information that the Wiki engine uses to generate the HTML that a web browser can then render. This is akin to giving a musician a list of notes to play without the timing and tempo information that can be derived from properly written sheet music: the result is not exactly pretty. Fortunately, wiki markup is not terribly difficult, though the concept might be a little daunting to the uninitiated. (For myself, I find it to be very easy to work with, as compared to raw HTML.) Generally, though, the best way to edit is to type your text changes in line with the existing text in the edit box at the bottom of the article editing page. If you have a question about technical issues like where to place biographical information et cetera, you can add a comment to the discussion page on an article by editing the discussion page. (Good form on discussion pages is to add comments and only edit your own, along with always signing off an entry with four tildes ( ~ ) or hitting the signature button above the edit box, which puts them in for you.)

If you have any other questions, you can ask me via the talk link in my signature—though I can't promise a quick answer—or by checking with Wikipedia's many internal resources. Most editors in general are willing to help by pointing you in the right direction. Introduction is the place to start if you haven't been there already.

My last word here: by joining Wikipedia and editing an article, you have entered into a community, and whenever you do that, there are always the "rules of the road" to learn. Fortunately, there aren't too many for Wikipedia, and people will generally be willing to help you out because that helps the whole venture succeed.

--SWalkerTTU (talk) 10:05, 13 February 2008 (UTC)