User talk:Patricknoddy
Welcome [edit]
Patricknoddy, welcome to Wikinews! I hope you like the place and decide to stay. Here are a few good links for newcomers:
Our key policies - if you read anything, read these!
- Wikinews:Neutral point of view - tell every side to a story in a fair and balanced way
- Wikinews:Cite sources - everything in a Wikinews article must be sourced
Here a few pointers to help you get to know Wikinews:
- Wikinews:Introduction - overview of the site
- Wikinews:Writing an article - how to write and publish a complete article
- Wikinews:Content guide - what's suitable for Wikinews
- Wikinews:Style guide - how articles should look before publishing
- Wikinews:Contents - the contents page.
There are always things to do on Wikinews:
- Existing articles need expanding and checking for spelling and mistakes
- The front page lead articles often need updating
- Developing stories need finishing and publishing
- Discussions need your input
- Audio Wikinews could always use more contributors
- And of course, stories need writing!
By the way, you can sign your name on Talk pages using four tildes (~~~~), which produces your name and the current date. If you have any questions, you can ask them at the water cooler or to anyone on the Welcommittee, or ask me on my Talk page. Again, welcome! --Cspurrier 27 June 2005 13:53 (UTC)
Walsh recieves Health Foundation of South Florida "Concern Award" [edit]
First off, we really appreciate your contribution.
But sometimes users submit an article from somewhere else, not realizing that Wikinews cannot keep copy-n-paste versions of articles which are published under a restrictive copyright. A copy and paste like that is a copyright violation, and Wikinews policy is to erase those even if they are excellent article ideas.
Another problem which sometimes comes up is press releases. Press releases are sometimes excellent sources, but they do not qualify as unbiased news articles so they can't be published as they are. Two key things to remember about press releases is that they're usually written to represent the viewpoint of an involved party (Thus likely running foul of our Neutral Point of View policy). And second, they are generally covered by copyright which can conflict with our open editing approach.
A better way to get an article on an exciting subject published here is to write an original article following the guidelines described in writing an article, or to write a brief explanation of the subject and include the url address of articles or websites to use as sources.
