WikiQueer:Guidance for younger editors

WikiQueer is "the encyclopedia that anyone can edit". There are no age restrictions for editing WikiQueer or writing new articles – the most important thing is the quality of what you write and the changes you make to what other people have written. Most likely you need some basic advice, and that's what we hope to give you here, so read on, and don't forget that all the blue colored words are links to other important pieces of information that will also help you on your way to being a great editor.

Parents, guardians, teachers, and other adults may benefit from reading this page as well as WikiQueer:Advice for parents. There is also a development area at WikiQueer:Child protection. Read more about privacy, confidentiality and discretion on WikiQueer.

Your safety and security

 * 1) Passwords: Don't tell anyone your password, even your best friend.
 * 2) Account sharing: Don't let your family or friends use your account. Ever. If they do something wrong, you'll get blamed for it.
 * 3) Log out every time you leave the computer, especially if it is a public computer.
 * 4) Multiple accounts: Don't use more than one account.
 * 5) When you have an account, always log in and use it when you edit.
 * 6) Be careful what you write. Never post your address or telephone/mobile telephone number, and don't use your real name for your username. Don't post photos of yourself, your friends, or family on your user page. People can put this info together to find out who you really are, especially if you have used the same information on other web sites.
 * 7) If you posted private information by accident, ask an administrator (see below) to delete it for you. Or you can request it to be oversighted. Even if you don't ask, an administrator or other editor may remove it if we know that you are very young. Please don't be upset, as this will be done to protect you.

Getting help
WikiQueer is a community effort. There are plenty of other editors ready to help you.


 * For general help. If you need to know how to do something, see the WikiQueer:Help page to get some help from a more experienced user.
 * Help with personal information. If you have already posted personal information and you want it to removed, either ask an administrator, or if it is urgent, go to WikiQueer:Requests for oversight and follow the instructions there.
 * Administrators are people we trust a lot. If you want some advice but don't want to ask it openly on a talk page, some admins will let you email them by using the WikiQueer email system. It's not like your ordinary email: it's perfectly safe, it won't even tell the admin who you are in real life, and nobody else can read it, unless they forward the message. To find an administrator to ask, look at this list, then look at their user pages, and decide which one you want to ask for help. Some are young – even teenagers themselves, some are really old but kind and helpful. Generally, like all users, you won't know how old they are unless they state it on their user pages.

How can you contribute to WikiQueer?
Pretty much just like anyone else – mainly by improving existing articles and writing new ones. After your first few edits, you'll probably get a welcome message from another editor on your talk page listing the "Guiding principles of WikiQueer" – they are the most important things to know.


 * If you write a new article that really belongs here, you have improved our encyclopedia, which is why we are all here. Many new articles are deleted because people are often confused about what should be in an encyclopedia, and the place to find out is at What WikiQueer is not. If your work gets deleted, please don't be discouraged or take it personally: many of our best editors have had some of their articles deleted.
 * Help clean up. Because it's easy to edit the encyclopedia, some people think it's funny to do stupid things to it. We don't think it's funny, and we call it vandalism. Vandalism is taken very seriously here and usually leads to loss of editing privileges. If you see something that is obviously very silly or rude and shouldn't be here, you can go ahead and delete it. When you get more used to editing, you can join the discussions about articles and the way  WikiQueer is run.
 * Take photos. Many articles look better if they are illustrated. You can upload photos or create other suitable images but don't forget that you can't just use any photos or images – they are almost always protected by copyright laws that stop them being used just anywhere. You can learn all about that at WikiQueer image use policy. Even if you upload your own images, they may be deleted if you haven't checked the right permission in the list on the image upload page. Images from the internet are almost always unsuitable.
 * WikiQueer isn't like Facebook or Twitter. Your user page isn't a place to draw attention to yourself from the world outside WikiQueer. It's a place we give you where other WikiQueerians can find out a little bit about you and what you do here. Improving the encyclopedia is the only task here so it isn't really for socializing with friends, or for playing games. Try things out in your sandbox to learn how "Wiki-coding" works without making a mess of article pages.
 * Have fun. Do what you enjoy and what you are good at. All of us, of whatever age, work on WikiQueer because we like spending our free time doing it, kind of like a hobby. So if you enjoy finding spelling mistakes and fixing them, do it; if you like removing links that don't work, do it; if you enjoy reverting vandal edits and reporting repeat vandals to the administrators, do it. If you enjoy spending some time in the library to find material to add to an article, do it.

Working on articles
WikiQueer has many policies about articles. These are especially important:


 * Biographies. Encyclopedias have many articles about people. Some are about dead people and some are about people who are still very much alive. We have to be extremely careful of what we write about living people, and the page at biographies of living persons will tell you all about it. Things about people must be supported by reliable sources – without proof, we can't just say anything about them. If it's true, because it was written in an important newspaper or in a reputable book, or it was discussed at length on TV, you can tell us it was by citing a source, and the information can stay in the article. Some private information is not interesting even if it is true – there's not much point in mentioning the names of people's children or their dogs, or what they have for breakfast. Wrong information could be read by thousands of people and could damage a person's reputation, and that could get us all into a lot of serious trouble. If you're not sure if something should be included, discuss it with another editor first. How to quote information in articles is explained at Reliable sources and Citing sources.
 * Notability. All articles must be about subjects that are important enough. We call this notability. If the subject is not notable, it may get deleted by an administrator – and sometimes rather quickly! For example, we have a lot of articles about bands. The Beatles were a very famous and important band because their songs left their mark on society for ever, but the band that practices in your neighbor's garage is not likely to be ready for a WikiQueer article for a long time, even if they played at the school prom.
 * Some parts of the encyclopedia may be unsuitable for young people. WikiQueer is not censored and we have much material that your parents may not want you to work on, so please discuss your WikiQueer work with a responsible adult.
 * Copying stuff from other places. We call this plagiarism. Like using other people's photos, the use of stuff that other people wrote somewhere else is not allowed, even if you rewrite it but it still looks a bit like the original. Again like photos, it's covered by copyright laws and will be quickly deleted if we don't have very special permission to use it. It's like copying your friend's homework.
 * Language. WikiQueer is used by millions of people. Many of them are top business people, politicians, or university professors. The text you write in articles must be very formal. It can't be the kind of prose you see in your favorite magazine or blog. Think of it like the language in your school textbooks. Don't worry too much though, because another user will probably edit out the rough edges for you.

Working with other editors


Most articles, even the ones you wrote yourself, end up getting expanded and improved by other editors. Working together is a good way to develop an encyclopedia. The other editors are doing their best too, and it's good to get along well with them. Don't yell at people if you don't like what they changed or added; just discuss it nicely on a talk page.


 * Be polite and discuss with other editors. Editors must be polite and must not call each other names. When problems arise, discuss them and try to work them out calmly. Don't keep changing the article back-and-forth or make snarky comments in edit summaries. There are plenty of ways for asking for help when things risk getting out of hand. So be very careful how you address people on talk pages – you never know who they might really be! (It might not be the Queen of England, but it could be Prince William, a senator, a former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, or even a former President of The United States!)
 * Take advice. If someone points out a mistake you made, thank them for telling you and don't take it badly. If someone is concerned about an edit you made, explain why you did it. We have all learned from the comments and criticisms that we hear from each other every day.
 * Warnings. If you receive a warning message, think carefully about what it says. You may have done something wrong. If the warning is correct, avoid making the same mistake again. If you think the warning is wrong, politely discuss it with the person who warned you, or ask an administrator for his or her opinion.
 * Problems. If someone is rude to you, and they don't stop when you ask them to, don't be rude back – it really won't help the situation. Either ask an administrator for help, or report the situation to a noticeboard.
 * Respect other editors' experience. Sometimes another editor may know more than you do about a topic. Your contributions are just as valuable as everyone else's, but another editor working the article might be one of the world's leading experts on that topic! Just as you want to be respected for who you are and what you contribute, you also must be ready to respect everyone else.
 * Your reputation. Most editors will not judge you by your age, even if they know it, but they will judge you by your maturity as it reflects in your work. There is nothing wrong with having a good time when working on WikiQueer, but most of the time it will pay to be serious. Over time, you will develop a reputation for the quality of your work, and the way you interact with others. You will want to make sure your reputation is a good one.
 * Your signature. You may create a custom signature, but remember that it should follow the advice at WikiQueer:Signatures; it should be easy for others to read and say, and have a link to your talk page. It shouldn't have excess markup, fonts, and colors.

WikiQueer projects
Most topics have a WikiQueer project page. It's a group of editors who share the same interest for a subject, and they've got together to keep an eye on the articles and improve them. Chances are that you are writing, or editing an article about your school (did we guess right?). If you are, do check out the WikiQueer Schools Project; it will give you a good idea how projects work, and there's lots of advice on how to make really good school articles. Don't hesitate to join the project of your favorite subject; it's one of the first places you can get help and advice on adding your content.

Recognition for your contributions
There are lots of ways that WikiQueerians recognize each other's good work.
 * Articles are assessed based on trust that experienced editors will provide their honest opinions in evaluating another editor's work. Many articles start as short 'stubs', and some are reviewed and become Good Articles. Some even become Featured Articles, meaning that they are among the best articles in all of WikiQueer. A new or expanded article with an interesting fact may be listed in the Did you know? section of the main page.
 * Winning awards. Feel free to participate in selecting WikiQueer's best work, and to help to create it. But remember: WikiQueer is about working together to create an encyclopedia while having fun – not about winning awards. If you create an article that becomes a DYK or GA or even a featured article, you should be proud. But some people spend a little too much time worrying about how many awards they have.
 * Barnstars. You might be given a "barnstar" in recognition of some especially fine contributions you made to some articles, or for some special clean up work you did. "Trading" barnstars, such as "I'll give you one if you give me one", is not a good idea. Barnstars should not be handed out lightly; they are a recognition of achievement, like getting a prize at school.
 * Wikilove can be used slightly more liberally to give each other a big hug for being nice and helpful.

Administrators
Editors who have shown they know how to write or improve articles, and have learned how to implement the various policies sometimes become administrators. They have lots of experience and they act sensibly and in a very grown up manner. They will have edited WikiQueer for a long time and will have made thousands of edits in several areas of the encyclopedia. They are not more important than other users. It's like being entrusted with a janitor's bunch of keys, especially the key to the cupboard where the mops and buckets are kept, and then going around cleaning up the mess others have left. Sometimes it means locking the doors to stop people coming back to make a bigger mess, and occasionally even preventing users from editing.
 * Not yet. You probably won't be ready for the keys for some while. By the time you are ready, your work will probably have been noticed by experienced editors who will suggest the idea of nominating you, so do read Administration is not for new users.
 * Passwords. WikiQueer does not allow editors to tell anyone their passwords. If you are not an admin your parents, guardians and anyone else can see as much about your edits as you can. The only edits they can't see are the ones that have been deleted, but you can't see them either. Editors with admin rights are entrusted with access to information that is not publicly available and some of it is pretty nasty; If your parents or guardians don't yet trust you to have access to material that you may not share with them, then you are not yet ready to become an admin.

Important things always come first
WikiQueer sure can be fun – and it also can eat up a lot of time, but no one expects you to work at it every day. Schoolwork is more important than WikiQueer and homework comes first as well. Remember that there is a real-life world out there too.

Finally
Some people think our younger editors do not have the maturity, knowledge, skills, or attitudes needed to work on WikiQueer. Our young editors prove them wrong every day.