| This is a Wikipedia user page. This is not an encyclopedia article or the talk page for an encyclopedia article. |
 | This is an essay on article creation. It contains the advice or opinions of one or more Wikipedia contributors. This page is not an encyclopedia article, nor is it one of Wikipedia's policies or guidelines, as it has not been thoroughly vetted by the community. Some essays represent widespread norms; others only represent minority viewpoints. |
 | This page in a nutshell: Starting an article from scratch is hard. Try working on something simpler first. |
Let's imagine every single one of the 6,853,652 articles on this Wikipedia as a statue.[a] Every single one is the result of a lot of time and effort, and every single one is unique. However, there are standard practices when it comes to crafting and maintaining these works of art so the community can properly enjoy them without them deteriorating over time. In addition, it takes some work to make these "statues" fit in with the others around them to create a consistent experience for viewers.
It's much easier to fix a broken statue that already has some structure than to carve a new one from scratch, especially for an inexperienced sculptor. It takes skill to learn how to make a good statue, and you'll probably want to work with other experienced sculptors before jumping in further all by yourself.
Editing
editThis concept applies very similarly to Wikipedia articles. Carefully crafting a brand new article is a daunting task, even for many experienced Wikipedians.
Before you dive into the shark-infested waters[b] of article creation, you should get acclimated with other basic editing tasks. Learning what makes an article great is a necessary step before trying to make one of your own.
In the meantime
editTo get yourself ready for article creation, there's an incredible variety of simpler tasks you can work on. A great place to start is the Task Center, which lists and organizes these tasks by the skill level generally required to participate comfortably. Some of my personal preferences that are suitable for all editors include:
- Random page patrol, a project that involves visiting a random article, learning something new about our world, and finding small ways to improve that article for other readers
- Citation Hunt, a tool that gamifies the process of finding reliable sources for unverified statements in articles
- Categorization, which organizes articles for readers to peruse (for example, adding categories to completely unsorted pages)
There are so many ways you can help improve Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Take a look around, see how you can contribute, and figure out how things work around here by practicing.
See also
editNotes
edit- ^ Credit goes to User:Spicy for the analogy.
- ^ This is an exaggeration, and while article creation isn't terrible once you get the hang of things, Wikipedia has policies and guidelines that are important and will be enforced as such.