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* [[January 4]],[[2005]]- [[Tweekus]] Encyclotastic!
* [[January 4]],[[2005]]- [[Tweekus]] Encyclotastic!
* [[January 9, 2005]] - [[Crotcher]] - Anyone wanna smoke a joint?
* [[January 9, 2005]] - [[Crotcher]] - Anyone wanna smoke a joint?
* [[User:Abhorsen123|Abhorsen123]] 02:48, 11 January 2006 (UTC) says: help me! this is so confusing! what do i do!!?!?!?


== See also ==
== See also ==

Revision as of 02:48, 11 January 2006

Shortcut

Wikipedia Bootcamp is a training session for new users. On this page you'll learn how to start editing, and you can join in an IRC channel to talk with experienced contributors.

Everyone starts with first steps. If you take them barefoot, you cut your feet up. If you come here first, you'll walk in with your boots on, and are less likely to get your feet cut.

Wikipedia is a large "open content", "share-alike", free-for-any-use knowledge base in many languages for the whole world. It took thousands of people several years to find the hardest problems and work out the stablest solutions to them. A lot of people don't want to discuss the basics with others, they want to get on with advanced problems and solving them.

Accordingly, there's a need for a group of people devoted only to helping the newcomers. Some difficulty with the learning curve is to be expected, especially around computers and web editing. Some folks like to make that curve steep and slippery, and punish you for stepping in "their" turf. Others like to pretend that their standards are high and their behaviour is perfect. They like to pretend that there are many "unwritten rules" that only they personally can interpret, and which they can apply to throw you out for no reason...

Don't let them fool you! Mediawiki-based services are easy to use and all you need are some basic instructions to master mediawiki. The Bootcamp crew is here for you and the tractor is here to make sure you get some... well, Traction!

Your first edit

All users first encounter the Wikipedia as an anonymous user. Support for anonymous editing is very important; in fact, nearly all articles at Wikipedia have benefitted from at least one edit from an anonymous user. It is also important to maintain democracy that people be able to state unpopular opinions without necessarily attaching them to their real name. Unlike many services that demand that users "use their real names" (sometimes setting them up for a lifetime of harassment), at Wikipedia, your first edit should be anonymous, and it should be constructive. Those whose first edit is not constructive will probably be called names...

A good first edit is to simply fix a spelling error that is causing a link not to work. There are always a few of these around. If you see for instance a "red link" to something that is obviously misspelled, like Billl Clinton. Then you can simply "edit this page" and repair it to [[Bill Clinton]]

This will work, since there is a "redirect" that links this to the page

which is obviously what the original author, who misspelled the name, intended.

If all you do is a few things like that every once in a while, the world will be grateful. Feel no need to log in, no pressure to register, and do not listen to anyone who tells you that anonymous editing is bad. The so-called "fly-by user" does a great deal of good here, far more than the occasional Wikipedia:vandal. And many vandals later become very good editors.

Your account

For bootcamp purposes it may be preferable for you to simply set up an account so that you can reliably correspond with others helping you, and so that they can leave messages for you on your Wikipedia:Talk page. To do this please:

That done, you have a wonderful set of tools made just for you up there in the upper right-hand corner of every page you visit on Wikipedia. If it says Create account/log in, you should make that your first order of business. You will see your own little control panel, but trust me, it's not all that little! Your main tools are going to be "my contributions" and "my watchlist". These are automatic logs of everything you edit and everything you watch...

Keeping track

ALL of your edits are stored in your contributions log and tied to your username perennially. If you forget where you've edited, you can always go there and backtrack. Your watchlist is a way to see what you and everyone else is doing on pages you're watching. To watch a page, simply click the "watch" button and you're there. That link is "home base"! It is tied to your interests by you!

Edit summaries

An Edit summary is a nice way to remind yourself and show others what changes you made to an article or other page. Edit summaries show up in recent changes (a.k.a. the rc log), your watchlist, your user contributions log, the history for that page, and a few other places. Click the history tab above to see the changes to this page and notice the edit summaries and the other data about who made the edit and when. A good Wikipedian will furnish thoughtful edit summaries, most of the time.

Your User page

Your user page is how people know you. We at the Bootcamp rely on realtime conversation over Freenode IRC (the best). If your IRC nick is different from your Wikipedia User name be sure to make that clear in both spaces. Your user page is your Home directory. You can use it as a bookmark tool if you like. Check out as many User pages as you can and look at all the diverse ways people here use them!

Your User_talk page

Your User_talk page is a discussion page others may use to leave messages for you. It may initially take time for this page to be useful; however, as you become a more active Wikipedian it should populate. Additionally, projects such as the Welcoming Committee and Kindness Campaign hope to help spread recognition in the Wikipedia community.

Your friends

You will no doubt meet people you like, or whose edits or attitude you like, while using the Wikipedia. In many ways Wikipedia operates as a social network service, since it lets you talk about shared interests with friends, and form social groups. However it pays to remember that Wikipedia does not exist to produce content that you and your friends like, it exists to produce content that non-editors, such as poor children in African villages who have no other encyclopedia, or senior citizens researching history, or students researching political science, want to read. You and your friends are writing not only to these people, but also to people who may strongly disagree with statements that you are certain are true. So while you are encouraged to talk with friends at Wikipedia, you must realize that you are not writing for your friends, you are writing for strangers here.

The Wikipedia:WikiProject Community deals with some of these issues. There is controversy on the degree to which cliques, factions, cabals, interest groups, and so on, should have any identity or power at Wikipedia. As an introduction to some of the issues regarding this you may want to read Meta-Wikipedia which is the proper place to discuss the community issues.

Internet Realtime Confirmation

Just as Wikipedia is not just to write to your friends, Internet Relay Chat - IRC is not just for chit-chat with friends. In #wpbootcamp, we get with it! Our sessions are intense and focused. That's why it's called a boot camp! When you come in, be prepared to spend at least an hour or wait till you have the energy. Sure you can pop in and say a word or lurk in the channel. We all appreciate well-formed relaxed quality time. But around noon and midnight Eastern Time (US east coast) we buckle down, especially if there is a victim!

The Wikipedia Bootcamp is a regular group or one-on-one session for introducing new users to Wikipedia. Although we have certain expectations, It is intended to be a friendly, interactive way to quickly introduce new users to the resources and policies of the community.

Below is the Sandbox we work in. What is really great is that newbies can quickly become trainers. We hope to institute the Bootcamp Way as a good tradition that will grow in time. So don't worry about the initial shock of being "victimized". It's just a fun way to help you reach your potential :)

If You are New to IRC

You may have heard some strange things about Internet chat rooms that might make you leery, and there's probably a good reason for that. Wikipedia, however uses an IRC network called freenode that has an international reputation for being friendly, courteous and civil. Much of the open source software you hear about was developed through the Freenode network.

An IRC client is a special program that is installed on your computer that connects to an IRC server network like Freenode.

Please see Freenode's website and IRC.org for more information about the Freenode network and IRC in general. Follow the instructions there to get an IRC client installed on your computer.

Once you have a client installed, connect here to connect to the Wikipedia bootcamp. If that doesn't work, you may have to manually direct your client to irc.freenode.net on port 6667. If your client has taken you to a different network, type /server irc.freenode.net and press enter. Once all the connecting is done type /join #wpbootcamp If you still have problems, don't be discouraged! Read the documentation that came with your client and try again. We are confident it will be worth the effort!

Please keep one browser window open to this page and we'll see you there!

Some History

Bootcamps started up in February 2005, and petered out a bit after the first week of enthusiasm. We now have three trainers and are focusing in on at least one of us being there at the zero hours Noon and Midnight seven days a week. It doesn't always work out that way. But as of 07:08, 16 July 2005 (UTC) we've been consistently there for a few weeks and our traditions are gelling.

+sj Sj is the founder and a most experienced Wikipedian. He definitely knows the ropes.
Quinobi talkCQ was himself a victim only back in June of 2005, but is now a mainstay on the channel as tractor.
Talrias just became a Wikipedia administrator and is present in the channel continually.
Bjelleklang -- Have been around since september'05, is present on IRC whenever I'm awake (normally 0900-2400 GMT+1)
YOU - This is a tremendous opportunity for you to make friends, share your knowledge and improve your interpersonal skills!


Please add your own suggestions! +sj +

Coverage

1. Editing

Edit this page to add yourself next to the line for your evening's session. Careful of edit conflicts+
Uploading files (Commons, here)

2. Community Pages

RC, VfD, VP

2-1. Useful Portals

WP:FA, WP:FP, Periodic Table, Centuries, List of lists, List of authors...

3. Wikiprojects

ToL, Geo, Ships, Biography, etc.
Automobiles (well categorized)

4. Editing tips and tricks

Template basics
Editing under load, Editing tools, external editors
How to wikify [Style guide note?] - deep links, what to link
How to create a new art, pick art titles [pick namespaces?]

5. Other projects in Wikimedia

'tionary, 'books, 'quote, 'news

6. ... see the list of potential metrics at the end of the talk page. 7. anonymous

Ritual

  • Present basic discussion topic in the topic on IRC. Helpers: check your talk pages.
  • Ask everyone to add selves to the victims list; make introductions.
  • Ask for urgent questions; get to topic. Include 2 or 3 important reads.
  • Finish with a short 3-minute project demonstrating the topic. Collab if possible.

Tools

  • Wikipedia!
  • Bootcamp calendar
  • cgiirc, X-chat, etc.
  • some kind of shared text-editing mode online? screenshots? watch-my-pc type of web sharing software?

Bootcamp victims (new recruit dates)

See that 'edit' button over there? Just click it and add the date and your username to the bottom:

See also

Shortcut
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