User talk:Bestofmed
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Getting started as a contributor
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Welcome! Thank you for joining Wikinews; we'd love for you to stick around and get more involved. To help you get started we have an essay that will guide you through the process of writing your first full article. There are many other things you can do on the project, but its lifeblood is new, current, stories written neutrally. |
All Wikimedia projects have rules. Here are ours.
Listed here are the official policies of the project, you may be referred to some of them if your early attempts at writing articles don't follow them. Don't let this discourage you, we all had to start somewhere. The rules and guides laid out here are intended to keep content to high standards and meet certain rules the Wikimedia Foundation applies to all projects. It may seem like a lot to read, but you do not have to go through it all in one sitting, or know them all before you can start contributing. Remember, you should enjoy contributing to the project. If you're really stuck come chat with the regulars. There's usually someone in chat who will be happy to help, but they may not respond instantly. |
The core policies
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Places to go, people to meet
Wiki projects work because a sense of community forms around the project. Although writing news is far more individualistic than contributing to Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, people often need minor help with things like spelling and copyediting. If a story isn't too old you might be able to expand it, or if it is disputed you may be able to find some more sources and rescue it before it is listed for deletion. There are always discussions going on about how the site could be improved, and your input is of value. Check the links here to see where you can give input to the running of the Wikinews project. |
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Write your first article for Wikinews!
Use the following box to help you create your first article. Simply type in a title to your story and press "Create page". Then start typing text to your story into the new box that will come up. When you're done, press "save page". That's all there is to it!
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Hia. I see that you recently attempted to create several articles about Tunisia. I presume that this is either where you live, or an area that is of interest to you. I also see that we don't seem to have anyone writing articles about, well, anywhere in that region;). We desire our representation to be as broad as possible, so I hope you stay and continue to try and get articles published.
However, that said, your recent article attempts did not quite meet Wikinews' standard of publication. I've posted our welcome template above, and the three tabs contain some useful material for beginners. I don't expect you to read all of the material it links to right now (of course), but if you chose to stay on Wikinews those pages will prove a valuable resource that you can refer to over time.
For now, I'll just note a few key points:
1) News has to be new, by definition. We generally don't publish rewritten articles that are more than 3 days old (articles based on the work of other news agencies). Exceptions are made for Original Reporting, where you go out and do what might be referred to as "street journalism". IE, conducting interviews, writing stories about the events of your area, etc.
2) Every article that is a rewritten article must have *at least* 2 sources, at least one of which as to be newer than 3 days old. Original Reporting doesn't need sources, since YOU are the source, but you do have to post your notes on the article's talk page.
3) No editorials. Wikinews does not publish opinion pieces, only unvarnished facts. Editorials are for blogs.
4) The Style guide is of great help, and so is the "Article layout in a nutshell" page that is linked to in the welcome template posted above. If you have to read one thing, read that Article layout in a nutshell. That's the basic starting guide to article writing.
Once again, thanks for contributing to Wikinews! Gopher65talk 03:01, 10 February 2009 (UTC)