User talk:Sysecho01

Welcome and introduction

Hi, Sysecho01. This is NOT some automated message...it's from a real person. You can talk to me right now. Welcome to Wikipedia! I noticed you've just joined, and wanted to give you a few tips to get you started. If you have any questions, please talk to us. The tips below should help you to get started. Best of luck! Chzz ► 03:27, 23 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

You don't need to read anything - anybody can edit; just go to an article and edit it. Be Bold, but please don't put silly stuff in - it will be removed very quickly, and will annoy people.

Ask for help. Talk to us live, or edit this page, put {{helpme}} and describe what help you need. Someone will reply very quickly - usually within a few minutes.

Play in your user area. For example, create User:Sysecho01/test.

Edit existing articles, before you make your own. Look at some subjects that you know about, and see if you can make them a bit better. For example, Wikipedia:Cleanup#2009.

When you're ready, read about Your first article. It should be about something well-known, and it will need references.

Good luck with editing; please drop me a line some time on my own talk page.

There's lots of information below. Once again, welcome to the fantastic world of Wikipedia!

-- Chzz ► 03:27, 23 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Getting started
A tutorial • Our five pillars • Getting mentored How to: edit a page • upload and use images Frequently asked questions • Tips Where to ask questions or make comments Request administrator attention
Policies and guidelines
Neutral point of view • No original research Verifiability • Grade sources • Cite sources What Wikipedia is not • Biographies of living persons External links • Spam • Vandalism Deletion policy • Conflict of interest • Notability

The community
Signpost • IRC channels • Mailing lists • Best articles Build consensus • Resolve disputes Assume good faith • Civility • Etiquette No personal attacks • No legal threats
Writing articles
Be bold in editing • Develop an article The perfect article • Manual of style Pages needing attention • Peer review The missing manual

Old warning notes

I removed the warnings that were on this page - I figured we didn't need those any more. Of course, you can see them in the history if you need to. I'll add my guide to references, and some ideas.

Was nice to meet you. Speak soon, Chzz ► 05:13, 23 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

How references work

Simple references

These require two parts;

a)

Chzz is 98 years old.<ref> "The book of Chzz", Aardvark Books, 2009. </ref>

He likes tea. <ref> [http://www.nicecupofteaandasitdown.com Tea website] </ref>

b) A section called "References" with the special code "{{reflist}}";

== References ==
{{reflist}}

(an existing article is likely to already have one of these sections)

To see the result of that, please look at user:chzz/demo/simpleref. Edit it, and check the code; perhaps make a test page of your own, such as user:Sysecho01/reftest and try it out.

Named references

Chzz was born in 1837, <ref name="MyBook">
"The book of Chzz", Aardvark Books, 2009. 
</ref> in Footown.<ref name="MyBook"/>

Note that the second usage has a / (and no closing ref tag). This needs a reference section as above; please see user:chzz/demo/namedref to see the result.

Citation templates

You can put anything you like between <ref> and </ref>, but using citation templates makes for a neat, consistent look;

Chzz has 37 Olympic medals. <ref> {{Citation
 | last = Smith
 | first = John
 | title = Olympic medal winners of the 20th century
 | publication-date = 2001
 | publisher = [[Cambridge University Press]]
 | page = 125
 | isbn = 0-521-37169-4
}}
</ref>

Please see user:chzz/demo/citeref to see the result.

For more help and tips on that subject, see user:chzz/help/refs.

Ideas

Some ideas - there are so many diverse areas on Wikipedia, it depends very much on your personal tastes - some editors like to make minor fixes to articles, some write featured articles, others work 'behind the scenes' - checking new pages, deciding which articles to delete, and that sort of thing.

You might be interested in the cleanup campaign, requested articles, requests for feedback, or the huge backlog of tasks.

You could help out with peer reviews, look at the newest articles, or maybe just something random.

One of the best ways to get involved is to join some projects - you could browse them in projects. Hopefully, this will give you some ideas. Chzz ► 05:16, 23 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Ref testing

Glad to hear you're doing OK; User:Sysecho01/reftest looks fine. If you have questions, you can always ask me, any time. Cheers, Chzz ► 07:36, 24 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Interested

Note: I originally answered on my talk page, but because that page is so busy, the reply has been archived. Therefore, I though it would be useful to copy the question, and my response, onto your own page - so that you have the links.

Please feel free to start a new section on my talk page for any follow-up. Cheers, Chzz ► 09:55, 1 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Chzz,

I'm interesting in doing more here at wikipedia, but I'm a bit overwhelmed and don't have any idea where to start. I'm used to some sort of training before I jump into doing things because, frankly, I don't want to jump into editing anything and then have people come behind me deleting everything I tried to edit. LOL That would be a real discouragement for me ... I'm the sort of person who wants to learn how to do things the right way in the beginning. Is there any sort of training that goes on here for new people so they know and learn the ins and outs of what is good to do, when to do it, what to look for, and so on? I learn by doing ... trying to learn by reading all the wiki info just puts me to sleep because it's a bit overwhelming. Too much information at one time, if you know what I mean?

I'll check back for any response... thanks.......... Sysecho01 (talk) 03:09, 30 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Hi there. This is a common problem; Wikipedia is enormous, and often seems overwhelming. Nobody knows all areas; indeed, many people find a 'niche' - for example, some people just work on featured articles, or update the "Did you know..." queue. There are many, many ways to get involved - it depends on what you enjoy doing.

I am more than happy to help you, and can suggest ideas whenever you like. I'm glad that you are the type of person who learns by doing because, frankly, it is impossible to document all aspects; there are many, many pages that give guidance in specific areas, but again, it is overwhelming. The missing manual is the closest thing we have to a general reference, and you may find that useful.

For now, I suggest that you look at Category:Articles needing cleanup from March 2010 - look at any article listed there, and see if you can improve it a little bit; perhaps just fixing the spelling, putting the title in '''bold''', fixing == Section headings ==, or something. If the article has no references, put {{unreferenced}} at the very top of it. If it needs more references, put {{refimprove}}. Have a go. In doing that, you will no doubt come across things that raise more questions; please ask me. Start out small; pick things up by doing.

I wish you the very best of luck. Please ask as many things as you like. Chzz ► 15:02, 30 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Adoption

Greetings Sysecho01, I see you're up for adoption, and I'm in the market. If ever you need advice or answers, just ask me -- any question, any time. I'd like to help however I can. Happy editing - Draeco (talk) 04:02, 5 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Survey

A new user asked for help in getting some Wikipedians to complete this survey - anonymous, and only for research. If you have a few spare minutes, perhaps you could complete it. Cheers, Chzz ► 06:07, 10 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]