Greetings, and welcome! I'm known here as Cascadia, and I personally extend a welcome to you to our project. I personally hope you decide to stay and help out. Whether you create new articles, watch for vandalism, improve existing articles, or just offer your help any way you can, there is lots to be done.

By now you've figured out a lot of things: how to setup a username, and perhaps how to edit an article. There's lots of cool things to learn how to do within Wikipedia. This template I made by hand! You can make your own items too to help further our goal. I've provided a list of helpful things to get you started. They are just the beginning of things you'll need to know. Should you need more help, all you have to do is ask.

Getting Started

Sometimes getting started is all the help you need. Here are a few places to learn how to do just that:
General Help•The Tutorial•Formatting Cheatsheet

Some additional links of interest:

• The Sandbox, a place to test out Wikipedia's features.
• What Wikipedia is.
• What Wikipedia isn't.
• How to edit a page.
• Tips on how to write a great article.
• The Manual of Style.

These links will get you going as far as starting with Wikipedia.

Get Personal

Don't become another Wikipedia robot! Get personal! While that doesn't mean take everything personally, but let you show through in your commenting. Setup your Userpage, let us know who you are, where you from... in general, what makes you tick! No need to give out droves of personal information, just "Hi! I'm Bob (or Jane)! I'm from (someplace) I'm interested in (subjects)" will suffice. Show that you are a Real person on the other side of this network! To begin editing, click on your username at the top of the window.

Talk!

Discussion is a major factor of Wikipedia. Don't be afraid to talk! Just remember to sign your posts with ~~~~, or four (4) tildes. It will translate into your username followed by a timestamp.

Rules, Regs, and all that mumbo-jumbo

Now, as part of an online community, there are some rules and such that everyone needs to be aware of. A full list of those are availble here. However, there are a few I want to share with you:

1. Be BOLD! Wikipedia can't expand unless we hitch up our boots and do what needs to be done. Occationally, that means coming under some fire, but be bold none the less! If it needs to be changed, change it! If someone argues with you, explain your actions.
2. Perfection is NOT required So, you want to write an article about something that interests you. GREAT! Don't be afraid about your edits if you're not that good at writing. Thats why it's a Wiki, someone will surely come along and help you improve your article. The best advice is to write your article using Word, or another word processor that checks for grammar and spelling. Copy and paste this into a Notepad to clean it of any extra formatting. Copy and Paste it again into Wikipedia, add any formatting, pictures, etc., and save. Done! If it's not perfect, DON'T WORRY!
3. Verifiability, not Truth Okay, so you got the HOT SCOOP on something. You know how how so-and-so died. You know how much corruption was behind some project. Can we verify it? Has someone published this information in a Newspaper, or a valid book? If you can't verify it, it can't go in. Sure... common knowledge is common knowledge. You may not be able to without a shadow of a doubt verify that at exit 123 on some road there is a narrow bridge, or something of importance, but it is there. Attribute sources as much as possible. If you can't, it may be deleted or challenged. If it is a common sense thing, then it may be left.
4. Keep it NEUTRAL Don't let your opinions show through in your edits, as much as possible anyways. Everyone here is human, and humans are opinionated beings... it happens. Just, try to keep from being POV'd.
5. Assume Good Faith Blatant vandalism is vandalism, but if it's something that is not as obvious as adding an obscenity in the middle of an article about puppies, assume it was a good-faith mistake. Correct it, but don't get mad at the editor.
6. No Personal Attacks Things can get heated sometimes. Just remember to keep it cool. It's not always possible, and people frequently find themselves saying something they didn't mean. But if you watch out for it, you can avoid it!

I hope you've found these links helpful. These are by no means the end of the information available, but it is a start. Should you need help, remember I am here for your assistance. Ask a question if you need, but above all remember...

Be Bold!
Sincerely yours,
Cascadia ^{TALK| HISTORY}