User:Browncoatamanda/adoption

Adoption?

Hello! I'm not sure if I'm doing this right (hence the need for adoption. :P ) but I saw you on a list of potential adopters and really liked the look of your page. I don't plan on being a super huge wiki editor, but I would like someone who I could come to with questions and stuff. Are you available? Browncoatamanda (talk) —Preceding comment was added at 02:23, 2 February 2008 (UTC)

Hello Browncoatamanda, I'd be absolutely delighted to adopt you - anyone whose first ever edit is to offer a very useful reference to an article, and who appreciates Firefly, is doubly welcome! If you want to go ahead, what I'd suggest we do is set up a page in your user space - say Adoption page - where we can keep all our conversations. That way you'll have them all in one place rather than spread across one or both of out talk pages. The as to how we proceed - either you could just use me as a source of advice, and come and ask me if you have a question, or if you'd prefer I could set you some tasks to go and try out, and you could come back and we'd discuss how you got on. Which do you prefer? I can also keep an eye on your edits, and offer unsolicited advice if I see you struggling with something, or can suggest a shortcut to you.

I should let you know my limitations: I'm not very good at Wiki mark-up: these pages look good because I stole (well, borrowed) them from another editor and just straight copied the code. The technical stuff is really beyond me, but I do know about writing articles, sourcing, and procedural stuff like nominations for deletion etc etc.

I edit every day, not all day because I don't edit from work, but will get back to you within a day at all times except holidays. My first bit of feedback would be to use ~~~~ at the end of your talk page posts, to make your signature appear - like mine at the end of this paragraph. Get back to me about how you want to do this, and we can make a start! Best wishes - Kim Dent-Brown ^(Talk) 08:36, 2 February 2008 (UTC)

Thanks for the speedy reply! As you can see, I'm not a daily log-inner (yet!). I like the idea of making a dedicated page and I saw a tutorial on how to do that, so I'll get it set up as /adoption like you suggested. I also like the idea of a few tasks to try out. I feel like wikipedia is such a huge place and all the things I'm interested in are already covered so heavily and well that I'm not sure where to start. Oh, and thank you for the feedback on my first "edit." I wish I could've formatted it myself but I was a little lost with the footnote and all.

If it's okay to steal code, I'll be set!  ;) I saw some really cool talk pages and whatnot but wasn't sure if it was bad ettiquite around here to just swipe away. While I think that kind of formatting is interesting it's not my primary goal to know how to do it, so I'm not too worried about your limitations in that area. I don't see myself as being extremely high maintenence and I usually won't be waiting by the computer and refreshing or anything.  :) Browncoatamanda (talk)

Hi Amanda, as you see I've copied our discussion from my talk page into here - do de;ete whatever you find unhelpful - this is your user space, not mine! But I find it helpful to keep discussions all together in one place, so I thought I'd start with this. I have a few suggestions for things to set you off - see which of them takes your fancy. Reply here when you have any feedback about any of these suggestions: I'll watch this page and reply to you here. My suggestions for places to start are:

• The central Help page - a good central place to go if you need to find something
• The interactive editing tutorial - ignore if too simple
• There are some really helpful suggestions about drafting, improving and perfecting articles at the blue links shown. But unless you really want to start an article, I'd suggest reading these links and then:
• Find an existing article on a topic you know something about, read it and do some uncontroversial editing - eg look for typos, spelling mistakes, references you could add etc. Look at its talk page and history to see how it's developed and who is busy on it. Then when you're ready to make a more substantial edit, find a piece of information to add (ideally with a reference) and work it in.

Try any/all of the above and get back to me here. BTW, there's also a pretty little userbox somewhere that means we can each namecheck the other as adopter/adoptee: I'll put one on my user page and it's entirely up to you if you want to do the same! PS - it's almost always fine to pinch code, but it's polite to tell the person you're stealing from, and also acknowledge them on your talk page/user page. Talk to you soon! Kim Dent-Brown ^(Talk) 19:56, 4 February 2008 (UTC)

I just wanted to let you know I got this and I'm sorry for the delay! It's been an outrageously busy week. I will definitely read those pages start small. That seems far less intimidating to me. :) Thanks so much for your help thus far. Browncoatamanda (talk) 17:05, 10 February 2008 (UTC)

No problem: far better to take your time than to rush in and edit indiscriminately! I'll keep an eye here and on your contributions, and any time you need any advice just post here. I see you've worked out the adoptee template anyway! Kim Dent-Brown ^(Talk) 18:30, 10 February 2008 (UTC)

Well, I tried! *laugh* I think I could've been bolder (I kind of think the whole paragraph I cleaned up is useless in context they're presenting it, since they don't really explain *why* those events are important) but I'm still a bit nervous about just hauling off and deleting things. I do think I improved the flow of the paragraph, though, and that's what counts, right? Browncoatamanda (talk) 21:48, 15 February 2008 (UTC)

I agree, the paragraph reads better now - well done on your first real edit. And on a favourite of mine too - love Amber Benson's voice on Once More With Feeling. If you're going to be really bold, try discussing it on a talk page first. Otherwise, just go for it. Kim Dent-Brown ^(Talk) 23:14, 15 February 2008 (UTC)