User talk:FlashKat7

Welcome!
Hi, FlashKat7. Welcome to Wikipedia! Thank you for your contributions. I hope you like the place and decide to stay. Our intro page contains a lot of helpful material for new users—please check it out! If you need help, visit Questions, ask me on my talk page, or place   on this page, followed by your question, and someone will show up shortly to answer your questions. Xover (talk) 05:13, 18 August 2015 (UTC)


 * Hi, Xover. Thank you for the welcoming note. As a newbie, I do have questions!


 * First, how do I reply to a talk page? :-)


 * And second, I moved a completed article and now it has an odd title, "User:Thomas E. Kennedy." How do I remove "User"? FlashKat7 (talk) 03:45, 19 August 2015 (UTC)


 * Hi! To answer your first question, you "edit" the talk page just like you would any other page. Generally, your reply goes below the last message in that section, and is indented one intent level past the previous reply, using the colon symbol  for each indent. For example:
 * :::This produces a message indented three levels.
 * You sign your message with and then save the page. See Help:Talk pages for more info.
 * As for the Thomas E. Kennedy page, it seems like you figured out how to move the page yourself! Face-smile.svg Nick&#8288;—&#8288;Contact/Contribs 06:27, 19 August 2015 (UTC)


 * Hi FlashKat7,
 * To illustrate replying and indenting on talk pages I've refactored your and Nick's replies above to how they would have typically looked: your reply to me indented one level, and Nick's reply to you indented one further level. Since I am here replying to you in parallel with Nick's reply, my reply is indented to the same level as Nick's. Don't worry, conventions such as these is stuff you'll pick up quickly. Do note, though, that refactoring other editor's comments, as I have done here, is a big no-no. I've done it here for illustration, but you should avoid doing so, even by accident or to correct another editor's mistake, until you've acquired more experience with Wikipedia's conventions.
 * In any case, congrats on writing your first article! I've looked at the Thomas E. Kennedy article and I must say it is impressively good for a first effort. The article did have a few issues, but all of them that I spotted in a quick look through were stuff related to Wikipedia's technical peculiarities or house style, which is pretty much impossible for even experienced editors to get right without quite some effort. This was a first contribution you should be proud of!
 * I've gone through the article and corrected some of the issues. You can see the changes I made in the article's history (there should be a big tab named "View history" at the top somewhere, possibly depending on what preferences settings you've chosen). For each edit (change) in the list I've included an Edit summary that explains the changes I've made and, if relevant and available, a link to further information. Looking through these changes should be a good way to learn more about the house style, and a start to learning to navigate the various policies and parts of the style manual. Writing good edit summaries is a habit you should cultivate at once. It's immensely helpful for other editors in myriad situations, and you'll probably find it a great help to yourself both short term and long term.
 * I've also added some categories to the article and WikiProject banners to it's Talk page. Both are navigation aides and help people find the article. Categories, among other, help readers find interesting articles, and the WikiProject banners (signifying that the article falls within the scope of a given WikiProject) help other editors find the article and help improve or maintain it. You should take a look at the banners I put on the talk page and see if you want to join one of those WikiProjects, and keep them in mind if you need assistance (they're a good way to find other editors with relevant knowledge).
 * There are still things that could be improved at a more or less "technical" level (using citation templates for citations, for example) in the article. I'll try to have a look at that as time permits.
 * In case you weren't aware, writing on Wikipedia you should be prepared for your work to be edited mercilessly by other editors. There are certainly conventions for respecting another editor's work, and not stepping on someone's toes, but ultimately all articles are free for all to edit, and you should be prepared for that. However, a part of this is also that if you disagree with a change someone made you should feel free to revert their changes (you can do this easily from the article's history). Be sure to explain your reasoning in the Edit summary, and be prepared to discuss the issue with other editors on the article's talk page. Wikipedia maintains a policy of three reverts; intended to avoid editors endlessly reverting each other. If the situation arises, be quick to take the issue to the talk page and hash it out there. Also, don't be afraid to ask for help from other editors: the "helpme" template is one good way to do that. You should also feel free to ping me on my Talk page any time, but I don't have a lot of time for Wikipedia right now so I may not be able to respond promptly.
 * Welcome to the project, and good luck! Xover (talk) 13:03, 19 August 2015 (UTC)


 * Hi NickW557,
 * Thank you so much for responding so soon! I appreciate the tips. There's a lot to learn here at Wikipedia and I'm so glad for your help.


 * Hi Xover,
 * A thousand thanks for answering my call for help! It's wonderful to receive such support and encouragement! I especially appreciate your kind words about the article, which I worked hard to bring in line with Wikipedia guidelines. I knew upfront that the article would be edited mercilessly, and even rejected if it didn't meet criteria! Glad to know that my first efforts passed muster, at least initially. :-) Thanks so much for correcting some of the issues and for your guidance about edit summaries. Yes, I'm an archivist at heart and understand the value of keeping accurate records (if only to make my own job easier down the road). I'm grateful, too, for the tips about editorial etiquette. There's so much more to learn here, but I'm committed to doing my best. Again, thank you for your help! I very much appreciate your time.