View source for NARA:Contributing

This page provides information and resources needed to edit the Wiki.

== Our purpose ==

Our purpose is to provide information about the history and archives of Vindex Nation (and other countries, although that is not the priority of anyone officially working at NARA.), in an atmosphere of mutual respect and cooperation. The goal of an article should be to create a comprehensive and neutrally written summary of knowledge about a certain topic.

Editors are encouraged to be bold in editing in a fair and accurate manner with a straightforward "just-the-facts" style. Articles should have an encylopedic style with a formal tone instead of essay-like, argumentative, promotional, or opinionated writing.

== Before we begin ==

=== Create an account! ===

You do not have to [[Special:UserLogin|log in]] to read this Wiki. However, in order to edit articles, you do need an account. To create an account in seconds, click [[Special:CreateAccount|Create account]] and fill out the few required fields. This will be [[Special:Log/newusers|logged]], your account will be created, and you will be provided with a link back to this page.

== Getting started ==

As a new editor, you may feel a little overwhelmed. Don't worry too much if you don't understand anything at first, as it is acceptable to use common sense as you go about editing. We not only allow you to create, revise, and edit articles - but we ''want'' you to do so. You just need to remember that you can't break the wiki and '''perfection is not required''', as it is a constant work in progress.
Collaborative editing means that incomplete or poorly written first drafts can evolve, over time, into excellent articles.

=== Creating a page ===

If you (or anyone else) create a link to an article that doesn't exist yet, the link will be colored red, <u style="color:#ba0000">like this</u>. Clicking a red link will take you to the edit page for the new article. Simply type your text, click save and the new page will be created.

Once the page has been created, the link will change from <u style="color:#ba0000">red</u> to <u style="color:#002bb8">blue</u> (<u style="color:#5a3696">purple</u> for pages you've visited) indicating that the article now exists. Usually this is the best way to create a new page, because it means that right from the start, the page will be linked from at least one other place on the wiki.

You can also search for a page that doesn't exist, then you will be provided with a link to create the new page.

=== Useful resources ===

In addition to reading useful information, it is encouraged that if you are stuck on something, you look at another page that has done a similar or equal thing to what you want to achieve, and copy it.

This type of learning is called social learning, and it has to do with the people around you. That is, you learn from and about others by watching and interacting with them. For example, seeing someone else's mistakes may teach you to avoid falling into the same trap.

* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:Getting_started Wikipedia's getting started guide] - As we use the same Wiki software as Wikipedia, most of Wikipedia's guides and tutorials will provide you with transferrable skills to use.
* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Contributing_to_Wikipedia Wikipedia's contributing to Wikipedia page], which is what heavily inspired this page.
* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:VisualEditor Visual Editor help] - provides information on how to visually edit pages.
* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:Editing Wikitext editor help] - provides information on how to edit pages using wikitext.