If you believe Wikipedia is the most crucial comprehensive resource of knowledge in the human age. Despite of being one of the most valued websites as per the Alexa ratings, it remains paywall free. Wikipedia’s toils to make knowledge highly accessible to every individual present on the planet close enough matching the World Wide Web original vision. Even though it takes feelings of pride in being an encyclopedia that is open to editing for everyone, but still you must learn the basics very first. So are you ready to become a professional Wikipedia editor in no time, we have got you covered
Create a profile
As far as you can make edits on Wikipedia without being registered still, it’s not a good move. The website usually bans all vulnerable public IP addresses inclusive of the VPN users from contribution, which is justified as per the higher chances of fraud. The simplest ways to edit articles without being questioned is to create your own Wikipedia profile, offering an email address is your choice, though it saves a more significant amount of time in the longer run.
Starting with a beginner account
Soon after registering you can very next begin making edits. Though it’s recommended to wait for at least four days and make ten contributions to be auto confirmed users. As per the survey results on March 23, 2019, there were 141, 264 active users. So the figure explains that being promoted in Wikipedia takes much time and patience. As soon as you register, you need to edit your subject of interests from the top-right option of the window. This includes observing your page presence, keep in touch with lists, global preferences, and relevant notifications.
Add signature edits
Make sure you add signature edits. This is quite helpful when you are leaving points of discussion on the talk pages. For regular registered users, your signature is quite valuable for your recognition as it stands you out from the everyday spammers. Moreover, you might want to disable email access as it can be quite disturbing. If you would like to check on reviews on your contributions as per your pace, merely add the articles to watch list.
Work with the wiki editing skills with sandbox
Wikipedia offers every user with a sandbox so that they can practice their editing skills. Make sure you use the space constructively, while you are in line to becoming an auto-confirmed account holder. So there are several tutorials available on the internet, but the best way to master the skills is just by copy paste the code from other published article, and within just a few hours you will get the hang of everything.
Start with editing subjects of your interest
Practically, you can start working on almost any article. However, some of them will remain under protected. These are the applicable limitations, such as only one contribution a day. It’s good to start practicing your edits on an article that is not much famous. The best way to earn respect in the Wikipedia community is to edit the items that need attention.
Then some articles need a cleanup and expert opinion if you have enough knowledge of the subject. So far you are done with your edits, make sure you add an edit summary that describes the modifications. Once you are done merely publish and add to watch list. It’s easy as it sounds. So you should have several numbers of edits that are associated to your name before you create a new page for Wikipedia. It can be done from the reference of any new page domain of your choice.
Disagreement with other editors
As soon as you publish your article, a point comes when other high profile editors will jump in to correct. While many of these edits are fruitful and assist in learning. But in some cases, there are bitter comments. The rule of thumb is to be tolerant with the fellow editors even they strictly disagree with your suggestions.
Wikipedia controversial topics and disputes
You are permitted to argue with the reversal of edits to your contributions on the talk page. Make sure you don’t go personal and assume good faith in it. Remember that your articles follow the basic rules of neutrality, verifiability, and no original research. Every contribution you make must be supported by evidence. Wikipedia has a particular tone in all its articles that you need to follow with lesser edits. At the most, you can take help from the Wikipedia arbitration committee to resolve you’re at hand differences with other editors with all the facts on your side.
In a nutshell
It has never been possible before to collaborate with several intelligent minds to create a standard objective knowledge hub. In spite of often expressed criticisms of complete bias, Wikipedia takes pride in maintaining excellent standards in the quality of its information.
