Wikipedia:Welcome
Welcome to the Simple English Wikipedia! We're glad you want to help make this site better. What can you do to help? You can find some pages below that explain what you need to know to use, comment, and make changes to Wikipedia. |
As a new member, you likely want to know how you can help. It may seem that the amount of instructions and rules is hard to grasp. But don't worry! The pages listed here will help you learn the basics. You can find links to many of these useful pages on the left sidebar.
Getting started
- Introduction: Our tutorial on how to make changes here.
- Simple start: Looking for something to do? This page lists out some of the areas you can help with.
- Simple talk: Our location for community discussion. Have a question or need help? Post it here. Just remember to sign your messages on Talk pages by typing "~~~~" at the end of your words.
Helpful pages
- Help: The entry to our help pages.
- Policy: The rules and guidelines you need to follow here.
- What Wikipedia is not: It's easy to misuse Wikipedia. This page explains some things to stay away from.
- Student tutorial: Are you a student? This page is especially for you.
- Useful pages list: A lot of other useful pages are linked from here.
Setting preferences
You can set your own preferences or choices for the Simple English Wikipedia software at Special:Preferences or at any time by clicking "my settings".
- TIP: Click on "My settings", then click on the "New changes" tab, then check the "Better new changes" box to make your 'New Changes' list look a lot more organized! (You need JavaScript for this). You can also choose this for your watched pages.
Writing
We have a special page that describes how to write Simple English articles. Some new pages that need to be written now may be listed at Wikipedia:Requested articles.
Speakers of English as a Second, Third, Fourth or Foreign Language
Non-native English speakers are welcome to work on Simple English Wikipedia. To write here, you do need to know some English, because all of our articles are in English. For many writers here, English is not their first language!
What non-native English speakers write on Simple English Wikipedia is special and valuable. We may not have many articles on their cultures, and they can give more information. Native speakers will help and correct articles; don't feel bad if they change your article. Also, remember that they probably can't speak your language as well as you can speak English.