FamilySearch Wiki:FAQ/Contributing: Difference between revisions

== Getting started  ==

:No. '''Anyone''' can edit without any kind of registration (except disruptive users who have been banned.)&nbsp; <br>

:Real names are not required; some users use real names, some don't.

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=== What is the difference between a page and an article?  ===

:The term "page" encompasses all the material on the Wiki, including topics, talk pages, documentation, and special pages such as Recent Changes. "Article" is a narrower term referring to a page containing an factual entry. Thus, all articles are pages, but not all pages are articles.&nbsp;

:An orphan is an article that no other article links to. These can still be found by searching the Wikipedia, but it is preferable to find another article where a link can be added. You can find a list of orphans at&nbsp;:Category:Orphaned articles.

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:A stub on the Wiki is a very short article, usually of one paragraph or less. Many excellent articles started out as short stubs. Likewise, our hope is that existing stubs will be expanded into proper articles.&nbsp;

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:When editing a page, a logged-in user has the option to flag an edit as "minor." Use of this flag is largely a matter of personal taste. A general rule of thumb is that an edit that corrects spelling or formatting, performs minor rearrangements of text, or tweaks only a few words, should generally be flagged as a "minor edit". A major edit, in contrast, generally performs a change that close watchers of the page are likely to want to review. Of course, if an edit performs a major semantic revision, but is limited to only a few words (for instance changing "freedom fighter" to "terrorist" or ''vice versa'', then the edit should ''not'' be flagged as minor.

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:See the Manual of Style.

:See Help:Reverting.

:They both indicate that a page with that name has not yet been started. You can click on that link and start a page with that name. But be careful: there may already be articles on similar topics, or an article on the same topic under a different name. It's pretty important to hunt around for similar topics first.&nbsp;If you just registered, your username is probably shown as linking to a page that doesn't exist. Don't worry! This just means you haven't filled out your user page yet. Click on the link and tell the world all about yourself!&nbsp;

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:This is called an edit conflict, and only happens when two users try to edit the same part of a page. You'll get a conflict screen that displays both versions in separate windows, along with a summary highlighting the differences (typically showing the edits of both users, except those which both have made exactly the same), and instructions on how you should proceed. It's virtually impossible to lose any data.

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:If you are a logged-in user, on every page you will see either a link that says "Watch this article", or a small five-pointed star next to "View history". If you click on it, the article will be added to your personal watchlist. Your watchlist will show you the latest changes on your watched articles.

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:New articles are deleted for not following Wiki policies and guidelines. If your article was deleted, future contributions from you are still welcome.  

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:There are a variety of reasons. The first thing you should do is look at the history page for the article you edited. This will tell you who changed it, when they changed it, and hopefully a short reason why they changed it. If it says something like '''see talk''', then you should look at the talk page for the article. Also, you should look at your own talk page to see if you have a message there. If you don't find a reason that is satisfactory, politely ask in the article's talk page about your proposed change, and maybe you will get suggestions about changes that you can make so that your change will go in, or you may get reasons why your change should not happen.