Drew R. Smith

Welcome to Wikinews

Getting started as a contributor How to write an article Pick something current? Use two independent sources? Read your sources before writing the story in your own words?. Do choose a unique title? before you start. Follow Wikinews' structure? for articles, answering as many of who what when where why and how? as you can; summarised in a short, two- or three-sentence opening paragraph. Once complete, your article must be three or more paragraphs. If you need help, you can add {{helpme}} to your talkpage, along with a question, or alternatively, just ask? Use this tab to enter your title and get a basic article template. [RECOMMENDED. Starts your article through the semi-automated {{develop}}—>{{review}}—>{{publish}} collaboration process.]

Welcome! Thank you for joining Wikinews; we'd love for you to stick around and get more involved. To help you get started we have an essay that will guide you through the process of writing your first full article. There are many other things you can do on the project, but its lifeblood is new, current, stories written neutrally. As you get more involved, you will need to look into key project policies and other discussions you can participate in; so, keep this message on this page and refer to the other links in it when you want to learn more, or have any problems. Wikipedia's puzzle-globe logo, © Wikimedia Foundation   Used to contributing to Wikipedia? See here.

All Wikimedia projects have rules. Here are ours. Listed here are the official policies of the project, you may be referred to some of them if your early attempts at writing articles don't follow them. Don't let this discourage you, we all had to start somewhere. The rules and guides laid out here are intended to keep content to high standards and meet certain rules the Wikimedia Foundation applies to all projects. It may seem like a lot to read, but you do not have to go through it all in one sitting, or know them all before you can start contributing. Remember, you should enjoy contributing to the project. If you're really stuck come chat with the regulars. There's usually someone in chat who will be happy to help, but they may not respond instantly.

The core policies Neutral point of view Cite sources Writing an article Content guide Style guide Reviewing articles

Places to go, people to meet Wiki projects work because a sense of community forms around the project. Although writing news is far more individualistic than contributing to Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, people often need minor help with things like spelling and copyediting. If a story isn't too old you might be able to expand it, or if it is disputed you may be able to find some more sources and rescue it before it is listed for deletion. There are always discussions going on about how the site could be improved, and your input is of value. Check the links here to see where you can give input to the running of the Wikinews project.

Find help and get involved The Water Cooler The Latest News The Newsroom Articles for deletion Audio Wikinews Recent Changes

Write your first article for Wikinews! Use the following box to help you create your first article. Simply type in a title to your story and press "Create page". Then start typing text to your story into the new box that will come up. When you're done, press "save page". That's all there is to it! It is recommended you read the article guide before starting. Also make sure to check the list of recently created articles to see if your story hasn't already been reported upon.

--SVTCobra 11:22, 26 August 2009 (UTC)

RE Hi

The best place to start for now would be the above welcome message. It contains a lot of good links like the Style Guide, Writing an article and Content Guide. The section on Reviewing is also helpful. I contribute here quite a bit, so if you need help let me or anyone else know. A good place to ask for help if no one responds on their talk pages is the Water Cooler. DragonFire1024 (Talk to the Dragon) 11:32, 26 August 2009 (UTC)

Template:Weather World F

This template is automatically maintained by a bot. Please do not add information to it - it is lost as soon as the bot applies a new update. Check the page history, and you might can get the bot owner to have it add additional details. --Brian McNeil / ^talk 16:02, 26 August 2009 (UTC)

Images

Wikinews does allow some images under fair use doctrine, however you can never take an image from a competing news service. --Brian McNeil / ^talk 09:45, 3 September 2009 (UTC)

Ok, didn't know that. I'll make sure not to do that again. Drew R. Smith (talk) 09:47, 3 September 2009 (UTC)

WN:FRRFP

Hi. I've had to close your Request for Editor status as unsuccessful, as there was no support to promote you. Please, do not let this discourage you from contributing more in the future; my suggestion to you would be to read up on WN:SG, write three or so more pages to demonstrate you understand how to correctly format and write articles, and then consider applying again. Thanks, Tempodivalse [talk] 00:08, 6 September 2009 (UTC)

Drew, feel free to ping me any time on my talk page if you need help with an article. The style guidelines are pretty easy once you get the hang of it! –Juliancolton | ^Talk 00:41, 6 September 2009 (UTC)

Makua Valley Wildfire‎‎

Se my comments on the talk page of that article. Also, you probably need to change the title to something like Wildfire rages across Makua Valley, Hawaii - ie be a bit more descriptive. Hope this helps. --RockerballAustralia c 09:30, 25 July 2010 (UTC)