Welcome to Wikinews

A nice cup of coffee for you while you get started

Getting started as a contributor
How to write an article
  1. Pick something current?
  2. Use two independent sources?
  3. Read your sources before writing the story in your own words?. Do choose a unique title? before you start.
  4. 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.
  5. 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
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
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
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.


-- Wikinews Welcome (talk) 10:44, 5 December 2018 (UTC)Reply

Contributing edit

Hi. I see you've been creating shortcuts for templates. It seems obvious these are meant to be helpful, but my sense is they create more work than they save, since they greatly increase the surface area of the infrastructure we have to maintain going forward.

Have you read WIkinews:Pillars of writing? It's meant to be a highly compact overview of what we do at Wikinews, all the most core principles packed into a short page. Later, if you're interested to try your hand at Wikinews writing, there's a great tutorial on writing a first article at Wikinews:Writing an article. --Pi zero (talk) 12:15, 9 February 2019 (UTC)Reply

Thank you for copyediting, Geolodus edit

 
A highly mobile arrangement.
Image: Granada.

Hi Geolodus :-)

Thank you for editing others' stories, seemingly from a mobile device. If you do not mind me asking, what mobile device are you using? I am looking for a new mobile or tablet, and would be glad to know what you find useful.

Note: If you switch to the desktop version, there is the Timeless skin (view) which is more mobile friendly than than the mobile frontend. If you like, switch to desktop version, and set your skin in your preferences. This is, of course, optional -- only that in my personal opinion, the Timeless skin can be more convenient...

Again thanks and keep up the great work.

--Gryllida (talk) 23:21, 16 April 2019 (UTC)Reply

Hello, and thanks! I mostly edit from a Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge, but I actually do browse on desktop from time to time (actually prefer the latter's interface for several reasons, but it's nearly unusable on a mobile device). I was not aware that I could switch skins; will try Timeless to see if it's better. On a final note, I was surprised to see that this message was not merely a template like the ones people mostly use on Wikipedia, such as this or this. Geolodus (talk) 04:41, 17 April 2019 (UTC)Reply
If I were to believe gmsarena's specifications, that is a 5.5 inches screen of 1440 x 2560 screen res. That's impressive; my desktop's screen resolution is 1080 by 720 or so (at a 15" screen size). In your case I think the timeless skin could possibly work well. If it is difficult to read, just zoom in, and it will respond appropriately.
I'm glad you like the non-template message. (I find them particularly annoying at Commons.) --Gryllida (talk) 04:33, 24 April 2019 (UTC)Reply

Re Over 200 dead after attacks in Sri Lanka edit

Hi Geolodus

This story has been written a while ago, and new events may have occurred. Could you please check? If so, and if someone updates the article within the next several hours, its likelihood of publication may increase. --Gryllida (talk) 04:29, 24 April 2019 (UTC)Reply