SashaFAQ

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.

-- Wikinews Welcome (talk) 17:45, 6 April 2017 (UTC)

Request for help

{{Helpme}} I am a parishioner of the New Apostolic Church. I regularly receive threats to blow up our church. We want to state this publicly, that God sent us salvation, but Wikinews requires proof of news. I have screenshots of letters where they threaten to blow up our church. Will this work as evidence? We can also collect signatures or record video appeal. God bless you. SashaFAQ (talk) 15:14, 13 April 2017 (UTC)

Hi. Sorry it's taken me a while to get back to you.

Wikinews publishes only verified news. We have a system of review by authorized reviewers for quality assurance; it's mentioned as the first "pillar" at WN:PILLARS. Verification isn't an automated process; we have to think about the situation, to be alert for potential problems. The sheer number of separate accounts involved with these articles is suspicious; it suggests (though does not prove) sockpuppetry or meatpuppetry. We don't know you. You ask whether screenshots of letters would be evidence. Well, no. Screenshots clearly could be faked — and again, we don't know you. --Pi zero (talk) 18:35, 19 April 2017 (UTC)

As I remarked at the article review, you would need to learn the project, rather than thinking of it too much in terms of how to get a particular article to succeed. I would suggest starting with WN:PILLARS. Perhaps it would also be useful to read through WN:Article wizard. Then there's WN:WRITE. --Pi zero (talk) 15:49, 20 April 2017 (UTC)

Copyright violations

Please don't upload Google Street View screenshots to Wikinews, or photos of people you found online - these are copyright violations. --McGeddon (talk) 09:00, 21 April 2017 (UTC)

In principle, if they were here in real support of a publishable/published news article, and if the copyright were not held by a competing news org, we could host images under our fair use policy (hammered out years ago with Wikimedia legal). In this case, I don't expect that to stand; just saying, it's not quite as simple as "if it can't be hosted at Commons, it can't be hosted at Wikinews either". --Pi zero (talk) 12:23, 21 April 2017 (UTC)