Wikipedia:Help Project/Link repository

''This is a long list of Wikipedia help resources, which used to be on the Help:Contents/Draft (see that page's history, 19 Dec 2005). It really should have been moved using the move tab; if someone knows how to move histories, please restore the history to this page. Thank you.''

Learn more about Wikipedia

 * Please see About for general information about the project.
 * Please see News for recent developments.
 * For media inquiries, please see Press Kit.

(News will be merged with Community Portal once the help content has been merged with this page.)

Tips for reading

 * If English is not your first language, try the Simple English Wikipedia. It is smaller, but easier to understand.  (Described at Simple English Wikipedia.)
 * At the bottom of most pages, you will find a list of categories. Click on the name of a category to see related pages on that topic.
 * You can search Wikipedia using the search box on the left-hand side of the page.
 * You can browse Wikipedia, starting from the Main Page.
 * Remember that any Wikipedia reader can also be a Wikipedia editor. Just click "edit this page" at the top of almost any page.  Scroll down for editing help.
 * Wikipedia is available in many languages. See the wikipedia.org multi-lingual portal.

Partial merge with Main Page?
 * Category schemes
 * Category:Wikipedia featured content
 * Featured articles
 * Category:Current events
 * Searching
 * Common words, searching for which is not possible


 * Explore
 * Portal:Browse
 * Searching
 * Go_button
 * Media help
 * meta:Help:Reader - expand!
 * List of basic topic lists
 * List of images (replace with link to commons?)

Advanced navigation
 * Namespace
 * Canonicalization

Using Wikipedia for research

 * Researching with Wikipedia - What every researcher should know about Wikipedia
 * Citing Wikipedia - How to cite Wikipedia as a source
 * Category:Wikipedia resources for researchers

Ask a question
To be synced with Contact us and Where to ask a question?
 * Help desk - For questions about Wikipedia and how to use it
 * Reference desk - For factual questions
 * Research resources - External sites which might be useful if you haven't found the answer on Wikipedia.
 * Category:Wikipedia help forums
 * Talk page
 * User page
 * IRC channels - Internet Relay Chat
 * Instant Messaging Wikipedians

How can I help the project?

 * Contributing to Wikipedia has some excellent ideas to get started.
 * The Community Portal, which has lots of information about things to do, active collaborations, and ongoing projects.

Get help from an administrator

 * Wikipedia administrators can protect (lock), unprotect, and delete pages, and block editors for violations of certain policies. See Requests for administrator attention.
 * Only bureaucrats can change your username, and only in certain circumstances. Please see Changing username.
 * For stewards and developers, see the descriptions on Administrators.

Report or fix a problem

 * Problems FAQ

Content problems

 * Please keep in mind that in many cases, it's actually easier for you to fix the problem yourself. (Yes, you can do that!)  Just go to the page you'd like to fix, and click the "edit this page" tab near the top.  If you find a problem you don't have time or don't know how to fix, there are several things you can do to draw attention to the problem. We certainly encourage you to do so; quality is a top priority of our project.
 * If you encounter abuse or defacement, please see Vandalism.
 * If there is a problem with a specific article, the fastest thing to do is to leave a note on the talk page associated with that article. Go to the article and click the "discussion" tab at the top of the page.  Then click the "+" tab to start a new section.
 * To make sure your note doesn't get lost, it's a good idea to "tag" the article for attention. If you find an obvious and commonly encountered problem, you might not have to write a note at all.  Cleanup resources has a list of commonly used "problem" tags, and Template messages has a complete listing.
 * The chart on the right lists some other commonly used pages to deal with specific problems. Category:Wikipedia maintenance has a complete listing.
 * If you find a page that is unsalvagable, our deletion policy page explains the deletion process.
 * See also Content review, below.

Legal problems

 * Copyright problems - For reporting possible copyright violations
 * Request for immediate removal of copyright violation - If you are the copyright owner
 * Libel

Technical problems

 * Media - Sound and video help
 * Troubleshooting - Having trouble with your browser?
 * Bug report - Let us know if the software that runs our site is malfunctioning or could be improved
 * Wikimedia servers - Check on the status of our servers
 * Technical FAQ

Systematic problems

 * The Community Portal is the coordination page for editing projects. There are many ongoing projects intended to solve encyclopedia-wide problems.
 * Category:Editorial validation - Ideas and projects for systematic review to enhance accuracy and credibility
 * General complaints
 * See also Discussions, below.

Disputes
You can avoid some disputes by being aware of common practices and rules. See the Rules for editors section, below.


 * Resolving disputes (how to resolve peacefully, how to file a complaint if necessary)
 * Vandalism
 * Writers' rules of engagement
 * Assume good faith
 * Truce
 * Negotiation
 * Staying cool when the editing gets hot
 * Please do not bite the newcomers
 * Wikiquette alerts
 * AMA Requests for Assistance
 * Arbitration policy
 * See Get help from an administrator, above.

Discussions and proposals
'''Move to the Community Portal? Merge or cross-reference multiple "central" discussion lisings?'''


 * Village pump: News, Policy, Technical,  Proposals,  Assistance,  Miscellaneous
 * Mailing lists
 * Current surveys
 * Category:Wikipedia community forums
 * Category:Wikipedia proposals
 * Straw polls
 * How to create policy
 * Requests for comment


 * Talk page

Content review

 * Third opinion - Ask for a quick look at an article from a random Wikipedian
 * Requests for comment - Ask for several Wikipedians to look at an article
 * Peer review - Ask for a thorough going-over of an article
 * Category:Editorial validation - Ideas and projects for systematic review to enhance accuracy and credibility
 * You can nominate a page to be a featured article, featured picture, or featured list, if you think it is of outstanding quality.

New editor orientation
'''Note: Welcome, newcomers, Introduction, and this section all serve essentially the same purpose - to get new editors the information they need to get started. Possibly the Welcome page could be transcluded here or merged with the Introduction.'''


 * Welcome, newcomers
 * Introduction - An alternative, 3-page orientation to editing and the Wikipedia community.

Rules for editors
'''Note: There are way too many different pages that list the "most important" policies and guidelines. A good streamlining approach might be to merge the most popular "most important" lists into the beginning of Policies and guidelines, and tell people they can stop reading after the first 3, or 5, or 14, if they choose. Should the top N most important policies be listed here directly?'''

Wikipedia has rules for editors. Official policies are quite firm and either have very widespread support, are mandated by the Foundation, or both. Guidelines range from widely enforced, to controversial, to neglected. These include "style guidelines" (documented below) which are simply the project's conventions about how encyclopedia articles should be presented to readers.

Familiarizing yourself with the most basic rules before you start editing might save you some trouble, but don't feel you need to read everything up front. Be bold and start editing as soon as you like!

Quick summaries of important rules, from different perspectives:
 * Policy trifecta - A 3-point summary for the most impatient
 * Five pillars - A 5-point summary
 * Simplified Ruleset - A 14-point summary

Excellent pointers for new editors:
 * Etiquette
 * Your first article - Good to read before creating a new article.
 * Avoiding common mistakes - Good to read before starting to edit in earnest.
 * Editing policy - Our official policy on our general philosophy.

To learn more, see Policies and guidelines for a listing of our most important policies and guidelines, or Category:Wikipedia policies and guidelines for a complete listing.

See also the section on disputes, above.

How to edit a page

 * Sandbox - This is a "safe" area for playing with wiki syntax and making test edits.
 * How to edit a page
 * Tutorial - If you would like everything you need to know about the mechanics of editing explained step by step, this is the place to go.

Legal concerns about adding content

 * Copyrights
 * Category:Wikipedia copyright
 * Image copyright tags
 * Image use policy
 * Fair use
 * Libel

Style guidelines and conventions
A complete listing is available at Category:Wikipedia style guidelines. The most commonly used are listed below and in the chart to the right.


 * Manual of Style
 * Naming conventions or Category:Wikipedia naming conventions (for choosing titles)
 * Guide to writing better articles
 * Categories, lists, and series boxes - How to organize multiple related articles
 * Disambiguation - How to deal with articles with similar titles
 * List of WikiProjects - WikiProjects often come up with style guidelines relevant to a specific topic

ORANGE CONE
'The following how-to sections are under active construction. -- Beland 11:31, 19 December 2005 (UTC)'

Wikipedia editing basics

 * Using talk (discussion) pages
 * Creating talk archive subpages
 * Using the Recent Changes page
 * Using the Related Changes page

Wiki syntax help

 * Links
 * Interwikimedia link - How to link words in articles to articles on sister projects]]
 * How to link to sister projects - How to link to related articles on sister projects]]


 * Lists
 * Redirect


 * How to use tables / m:Help:Table - How to make tables using the wiki synta
 * meta:Help:Formula (Mathmatical markup in TeX)


 * Infobox
 * How to link to Wikimedia projects

(The below links are from meta:Help:Editor and may not be specific to Wikipedia!)


 * Help:Editing - Confusing to new editors, due to transwiki mismash

Help:Starting a new page Referencing Formatting Organizing
 * 1) Help:Page name
 * 1) Help:Link
 * 2) Help:Piped link
 * 3) Help:Interwiki linking
 * 4) Help:Variable
 * 5) Help:URL
 * 6) Help:Anchors
 * 1) Help:Formula
 * 2) Help:List
 * 3) Help:Table
 * 4) HTML in wikitext
 * 5) Image &amp; File uploads
 * 6) Image page
 * 1) Sections
 * 2) Templates
 * 3) Categories
 * 4) Redirects
 * 5) Namespaces
 * 6) Renaming (moving) a page

Fixing mistakes and vandalism
 * 1) Reverting edits
 * 2) Testing

Saving effort
 * 1) Editing shortcuts
 * 2) Editing toolbar
 * 3) Magic words

Communicating
 * 1) Edit summary
 * 2) Talk page
 * 3) Edit conflict
 * 4) Minor edit

Special characters
 * 1) Turkish characters
 * 2) Romanian characters

Extensions
 * 1) WikiHiero syntax &mdash; warning: lots of images! (for Egyptian hieroglyphs)
 * 2) EasyTimeline syntax

Frequently Asked Questions

How to...
<How_to_edit_a_page
 * Category:Wikipedia how-to
 * Help:Starting a new page


 * How to write a great article
 * How to categorise
 * How to create an article series
 * Contributing
 * Improving articles


 * Deletion
 * Requested moves, naming policies, meta:Help:Moving a page
 * Requests for page protection and unprotection, Protection policy
 * How to revert a page to an earlier version
 * Help template


 * Merging and moving pages
 * How to archive a talk page
 * How to archive Current Events

Accounts

 * Account benefits
 * Choosing and Changing a username
 * Logging in
 * User preferences
 * Changing attribution for edits
 * Account deletion
 * Logging in
 * Customising Wikipedia
 * Changing your signature

Advanced help for contributors

 * MediaWiki user's guide
 * Customizing your display with CSS
 * Category:Main Page help - Only administrators can edit the Main Page, but anyone can make suggestions.

Multimedia help

 * Category:Wikipedia images
 * Maps
 * Category:Wikipedia image help
 * Image use policy / Image copyright tags
 * Media - Sound and video

Probably to be merged with the above:
 * Picture tutorial
 * Graphics_tutorials
 * How to reduce colors for saving a JPEG as PNG
 * Special:Upload

Foreign language issues

 * Help:Interlanguage links - Link an English Wikipedia article with an equivalent article in a different language
 * Contributing to articles outside your native language
 * Unicode - How non-English characters and symbols are handled
 * m:Help:Special characters
 * Technical assistance for katakana
 * Category:Wikipedia multilingual coordination
 * Wikipedia is available in many languages. See the wikipedia.org multi-lingual portal.

Resources for editors

 * Category:Wikipedia boilerplate text
 * Resources for researchers - Reference sources for verifying existing content and adding new material
 * Template messages - A list of existing useful templates

Enhanced reading and editing

 * Tools - Enhance your browser, go mobile, use an external text editor, etc.
 * m:Help:Preferences
 * Category:Wikipedia bots

Technical information

 * Technical FAQ
 * Troubleshooting - Having trouble with your browser?
 * Bug reports
 * Wikipedia server software (called "MediaWiki")
 * Wikipedia server hardware - info, status, and problems
 * Database download - Get a copy of Wikipedia for your own use or for republication
 * Database queries - Run a SQL query on our database
 * Bots - Automated editing
 * Export page(s) in XML
 * Contingency page for when the main Wikipedia server is down

The MediaWiki User's Guide (links to another website) is for those who have installed the MediaWiki software that runs this site, and need help using it.

The IRC channel #mediawiki on irc.freenode.net is also available for discussion of MediaWiki software issues. (Not Wikipedia or Wikipedia server issues.)

Help for administrators

 * Administration FAQ
 * Administrators' reading list
 * Administrators' noticeboard
 * Requests for adminship
 * Category:Wikipedia logs


 * Administrators
 * List of administrators
 * Bureaucrats
 * Meta
 * Purge
 * How to fix cut and paste moves
 * Protected page

Project leadership and related projects

 * Elections
 * Wikimedia Foundation organizational chart
 * The Wikimedia Foundation, the non-profit which owns the hardware that runs the site and coordinates various projects
 * Fundraising - Coordination page for fundraisers
 * Main Page - The Meta wiki is for cross-project issues, including technical issues, financial development, publicity, and starting new projects
 * Category:Wikipedia related projects
 * Category:Wikipedia publicity
 * Category:Wikipedia statistics
 * Main Page - The Meta Wikipedia is for essays and discussions about topics related to Wikipedia.
 * Meetup - In person meetings

More information

 * An even more comprehensive listing of help pages is available starting from Category:Wikipedia help.

Unsorted

 * Category:Disambiguation (and abbreviations)
 * FAQ
 * Technical FAQ
 * Glossary
 * Overview FAQ
 * Readers' FAQ
 * Schools' FAQ
 * Miscellaneous FAQ
 * Contributing FAQ
 * Editing FAQ / Help:Editing FAQ

Need work

 * Long article layout (needs cleanup)
 * As of (needs categorization, to be featured?)
 * Bypass your cache (needs add'l categorization)
 * Edit conflicts (needs merge with m:Help:Edit conflict)
 * URLs (needs add'l categorization)
 * List of abbreviations in the CIA World Factbook (what is this used for?)
 * How to contribute
 * Guide to improving articles (lifecycle - needs merge)
 * How to write a great article (needs merge)
 * Guide (needs multiple merges)
 * What is an article (to be merged?)
 * Projects of Wikimedia (to be merged with a more comprehensive list?)