User talk:Magdogra

Welcome!

Hello,, and welcome to Wikipedia! Thank you for your contributions. I hope you like the place and decide to stay. Here are some pages that you might find helpful: I hope you enjoy editing here and being a Wikipedian! Please sign your messages on discussion pages using four tildes ( ~ ); this will automatically insert your username and the date. If you need help, check out Questions, ask me on, or ask your question on this page and then place  before the question. Again, welcome! Fiddle Faddle (talk) 16:31, 16 November 2008 (UTC)
 * The five pillars of Wikipedia
 * Tutorial
 * How to edit a page
 * How to write a great article
 * Manual of Style

PRS
Good job well done. It's hard making the transition to Wikipedia from the real world. I'm going to experiment and copy in an essay that I hope may be of use. Please let me know if you find it helpful, useless, patronising etc.

Guidelines that I feel may help a new editor
This is an essay, intended for new editors, to help them to understand things at Wikipedia.

If you are to have an enjoyable time here adding articles and editing articles you need to understand how the place works. It doesn't matter about how it, perhaps, ought to work, nor about how you want it to work. What matters is how it works. Once you understand this then you will be able to add new articles to your heart's content, confident that they will survive.

I'm afraid this means a bit of reading for you. Look at What Wikipedia is not first. Look especially at Wikipedia is not an indiscriminate collection of information. Once you understand this then you have the entire trick to it.

It means that just adding a new article is insufficient. Wikipedia does require some work from its contributors. Creating an article with minimal information, providing no other citations, and doing no other work is doomed to failure.

To create a successful article there really should be:
 * notability of the topic that is the subject matter of the article. This is non-negotiable.  Read Notability.
 * citations to the topic from reliable sources. Check the definition of reliable sources
 * wikilinks to other articles. An article that is a dead end is sometimes reasonable, but usually there are useful places to link to. Check that the destination is the article you expect, do not just create a wikilink and hope for the best.
 * wikilinks to the article you have created from other articles. This means that the article is not "orphaned" and that others will find it.
 * inclusion of the article in the most relevant category (or categories). Read Categorization.
 * If a short article, deploy Stub in the article, or, better, deploy the best possible stub tag. Read Stub.

One very important thing is to "let go" once you have posted the article. The only time it is "yours" is when it;sin your head. The moment you place it on Wikipedia it becomes "everyone's" Letting go of your baby is hard. Read Ownership of articles.

Doing these things, even imperfectly, means that others are likely to be kindly disposed to the new article, and, if it is about a notable topic, likely to expand it. Even if they do not expand it the survival of the article is enhanced because it is likely to be suitable for inclusion in the encyclopaedia. This is because it is a useful article since it gives information. It is insufficient for an article simply to exist, it must have value.

Things "ought to have articles here." I hope you understand that every editor here thinks that things ought to have articles here, too, even those who propose articles for deletion. There must, though, be initial article quality. That initial article may be very short, but, even in extreme brevity, must meet the guidelines, and must have the building blocks from which it may be expanded alongside genuine and verifiable notability. Read Verifiability.

If those building blocks are not present and the article is not about a notable thing, and has no verifiability from reliable sources then the article has no value to anyone, however well-written it is. Read No original research.

I truly hope this helps you understand how to start to create good articles and enjoy being here. You may have had a baptism of fire and learnt that it is not a gentle place. Working within the rules can be rewarding. Trying to push the envelope always fails.

These are my thoughts. You may disagree, so may others. That's fine, that is part of what Wikipedia creates - we work together. If you disagree, please let me know by using User talk:Timtrent/A good article and we can discuss it. Fiddle Faddle (talk) 18:15, 25 November 2008 (UTC)