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Welcome to Wikipedia...

Shortcuts: WP:WEL WP:WELCOME

Welcome aboard! We're glad you wish to help develop Wikipedia, and hope you enjoy participating in its community as much as we do. As a new contributor however, you may feel a little overwhelmed by the sheer size and scope of this project... but don't worry, it will become easier and clearer as you go, and if you have any problems, there will always be other Wikipedians happy to help. There are some resources set forth below to help you get started. Good luck and have fun! -- The Wikipedia Welcoming Committee

One of the best places to get started after reading this page is Wikipedia:Introduction.

If you do get stuck, the following people have volunteered to give you a helping hand learning the ropes:

Wikipedia:Welcoming committee/members

Tip: Sign your name on talk pages by adding four tildes (~~~~) after your question; this will automatically produce your username and the time, aiding the flow of discussion.

Even more volunteers are standing by to answer your questions on the following pages. You can usually expect an answer quickly, often within just a few minutes:

We also have an intuitive guide to Wikipedia if you would like to know a bit about how things are done.

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Finding your way around

To understand Wikipedia, it is easiest to think of this website as having two types of pages: pages that are part of the encyclopedia itself, and pages of the community (used by contributors to help build and operate the encyclopedia).

To find your way around the encyclopedia, either enter a term into the search box on the left side of the screen, or go to Wikipedia's table of contents.

Wikipedia's community pages include instructions, help pages, policies, guidelines, discussion forums, places to make requests, pages to report problems, and user pages. These are all pages which we use to develop the encyclopedia and to communicate with each other in that mission. Some directories to help you find your way around the community are:

Wikipedia:Department directory - what gets done where.
Wikipedia:Community Portal - Wikipedia's hub of activity. It includes announcements, news, ongoing projects, and task lists. This is where to find out where your help is needed most.

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Tip of the day

Making the edit summary input field larger

Did you ever think the edit summary input field is too small? Add this to your monobook.css (or whatever skin you are using):

`input#wpSummary { width: 80%; }`

Our "Rules"

The Five Pillars of Wikipedia
Policies and guidelines - Help page/Overview
List of policies
List of guidelines

Be sure to read the above pages! They are very important, and they will help you — even if you're not perfect the ~~first~~ ~~second~~ ~~tenth~~ seventeenth time!

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If you need help...

If you've made a mistake and wish to undo it, revert it. Here's how: click history at the top of the page you made the mistake on. Then click on undo at the end of the first line which is your edit. Then save page. See more detailed instructions at Wikipedia:Reversion.

There are two main styles of help on Wikipedia: self-help and assistance...

Self-help involves reading the help and instruction pages around Wikipedia. Some very informative self-help pages are:

For when you get stuck, confused, or befuddled, assistance is available on Wikipedia's "desk" and "request" pages - use these when self-help hasn't provided you with an answer:

Wikipedia:Newcomers help page - volunteers check this for new questions every few minutes.
The Help Desk - is also checked very often.

Almost anyone on these lists will help you as well: