How to Become a Wikipedia Editor

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Last Updated: June 2, 2022 Tested

The open nature of a wiki lets anyone be a Wikipedia editor. However, to be trusted within the Wikipedia community and ensure that your contributions stay requires a bit more effort. Follow these steps and you'll be a respected member of the community, given a bit of time.

1

Create a Wikipedia account.

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Only registered users can create new Wikipedia articles.

2

Familiarize yourself with the policies.

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Read the five pillars of Wikipedia to know about Wikipedia's main principles. You'll want to do this before making any edits or creating new articles.

3

Read existing articles before making edits.

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This will help you learn the proper tone and formatting.

4

Start small.

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It's good to get some practice before jumping straight into creating a new article.

5

Ask for help.

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Don't hesitate to ask for help. If you need help, there are many ways to get help on Wikipedia, including :
- Help:Cheatsheet - a basic guide to wiki text. If there's some syntax you don't know, check here first.
- Community portal - a place where you get to know which articles need small editing.
- Contact the Help desk for on-wiki support.

6

Take the Wikipedia Adventure.

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Wikipedia Adventure has seven missions, each with its own skills and surprises. It will teach you about the basic principles and rules of Wikipedia and is designed to help you to become a great Wikipedian.

7

Follow Wikipedia's best practices.

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This will help you be a good Wikihow citizen. Some best practices include:
- Use edit summaries.
- Avoid controversy and edit wars.
- Engage in a collaborative and constructive manner (building good and featured articles or expanding stubs).
- Do maintenance tasks like reverting vandalism, removing copyright material
- Enable your e-mail address for communication.

8

Stay active.

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As you continue to make valuable contributions, you will be recognized for your efforts.

Community Q&A

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Question

Why is the Wikipedia community harsh and unwelcoming?

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Community Answer

Some experienced Wikipedians might dislike new editors as many of them only vandalize Wikipedia and cause a huge workload for admins and other volunteers. Also, new users are unfamiliar with Wikipedia policies and usually make mistakes. Of course, there are welcoming, friendly, and helpful Wikipedians, and they won't mind pointing out mistakes of new editors. Some of them might be tired of such new editors and become unwelcoming though.

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Are there other roles/positions for Wikipedia editors?

Community Answer

There are, but they require certain prerequisites. Check out Wikipedia:User_access_levels for more.

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Question

Would I get paid to be an editor?

Community Answer

No. Wikipedia is an open project that relies on volunteers, not paid staff editors.

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Tips

Make unbiased neutral edits on Wikipedia. For example, an edit about how dreadful a certain politician is does not belong in an encyclopedia. However, statistics and facts are allowed, so long as they are from reliable sources. Wikipedia does not allow opinions such as "X's politician suck."

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Each fact requires a cited source and you should double check that these sources are reputable and trustworthy.

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Always be civil, kind, supportive, and assume good faith. Remember Wikipedia is a collaborative effort and everyone makes mistakes.

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Warnings

Do not create an article about yourself, family, friends, clients, employers, or your financial or other relationships on Wikipedia as it is against Wikipedia Conflict of interest policy.

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Do not create multiple accounts on Wikipedia as you might get accused of abusive sock puppetry. If that happens, all your accounts will end up being blocked/banned unless you have a legitimate reason to start a new account.

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