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.


My sigh in IRC...

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...was not addressed at you. I hope that's not why you quit. It was addressed at a previous comment. My apologies if it came off as directed at you. Philippe (WMF) (talk) 05:26, 1 February 2010 (UTC)Reply

Oh, alright, I thought I was being a nuisance. PoeticVerse (talk) 04:35, 3 February 2010 (UTC)Reply
Philippe's such a meanie-poo! (joke). Bawolff 04:39, 7 February 2010 (UTC)Reply

Contest

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You should consider joining the contest. Cheers, Mikemoral♪♫ 20:26, 6 February 2010 (UTC)Reply

I joined just now. How does it work? PoeticVerse (talk) 04:30, 7 February 2010 (UTC)Reply
Basically write articles. Add [[category:PoeticVerse (WWC2010)]][[category:Writing contest 2010]] to the bottom of any article you write. If it gets published, you get points (how many varies depending on how long it is, there is a gadet in special:preferences to see how many points you'd get). After an article is published, it gets added to WN:WWC2010LOG. Person with the most points at some time in april, wins. Since your late entering, you're going to be playing some catch up, but there is still lots of time left, and some of the people aren't submitting as many now as they were at the begining. The most important thing is to have fun. Cheers. See Wikinews:Writing contest 2010 for the full details. Bawolff 04:38, 7 February 2010 (UTC)Reply

Your article

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I nominated you article, US East Coast devastated by blizzards, for speedy deletion because there was already and article, Major snowstorm sweeps across Eastern US. Please do not give up and continue your work on Wikinews. Mikemoral♪♫ 20:37, 6 February 2010 (UTC)Reply

Quite understandable. Sorry for failing to notice the original. PoeticVerse (talk) 04:24, 7 February 2010 (UTC)Reply
There's no problem. :) --Mikemoral♪♫ 05:24, 7 February 2010 (UTC)Reply

Welcome to the contest!

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To keyboards!!

 

Points to remember

The competition page is here. Remember, you'll need to move from the newcomers to experienced section as the competition progresses.

Everyone who's new to Wikinews remind yourselves of the article guide and style guide. And, use the Enter an article tab in this template to correctly start your competition articles.

Getting Help

Possibly the fastest way to get help is to look for the regulars in the #wikinews IRC channel on Freenode. See this page for more details. Remember, many people will lurk, connected long-term, but not regularly checking for messages. Please be patient when looking for answers to queries, it can be annoying to see someone ask a question but leave before you notice it.

The usual places to look
Start here for competition-ready templates

Use this form to create a competition-ready article. Be sure to check the Main page and Newsroom to see you're not creating a duplicate. Please also add your article and point score to the log so that your score can be counted.



Good luck!

If you has signed up in the beginning, my bot would have delivered this, but here's the necessary information. Happy editing, Mikemoral♪♫ 05:22, 7 February 2010 (UTC)Reply

Writing contest newsletter: week 2

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—Message delivered by MikemoralBot on 03:31, 8 February 2010 (UTC)Reply

Contest newsletter: weeks 3-4

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—Message delivered by MikemoralBot on 22:35, 21 February 2010 (UTC)Reply

Contest newsletter

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—Message delivered by MikemoralBot on 00:40, 11 March 2010 (UTC)Reply

Wikinews Writing Contest Newsletter

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