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.


Requesting deletion edit

Hi, in the future, you can simply use {{delete|author request}} when you want a page you created to be deleted, instead of simply asking on the talk page. This way, the article will appear at the list of articles requested for speedy deletion at Wikinews:Admin action alerts, and will probably get deleted more quickly. Cheers, Tempo di Valse ♪ 16:01, 1 April 2009 (UTC)Reply

Hi, I see you have been reviewing articles, as you did at the above page. Unfortunately, only users with the editor permission are able to review and publish articles so they will appear on the main page. This is due to technical limitations, not because we don't trust our contributors. If you want editor status, you can apply for it at WN:FR/RFP. Thanks for your understanding. Cheers, Tempo di Valse ♪ 18:19, 2 April 2009 (UTC)Reply

I though those with Editor status just had extra tools. I though if I reviewed other article, more might be inclined to review mine. Sorry. —Spshu (talk) 18:36, 2 April 2009 (UTC)Reply
No worries, thanks for understanding.   Best regards, Tempo di Valse ♪ 18:48, 2 April 2009 (UTC)Reply

Dungeons & Dragons co-creator Dave Arneson dies edit

I went ahead and cited your changes. Normally, you would have to create a new article for new information, but as this article was an obituary, it makes very little sense to have more than one article. Also the sources you used were not past the original date of publication. Thanks for taking the time to make the article better. The changes you made defiantly improved the article. —Calebrw (talk) 14:22, 13 April 2009 (UTC)Reply

Replies have been made at DragonFire's talk edit

Tempodivalse [talk] 21:04, 11 May 2009 (UTC)Reply

As per your request at DragonFire's talk page, I've undeleted your article and placed it here: User:Spshu/Dealer leads offer for Pontiac brand. Cheers. Tempodivalse [talk] 19:34, 12 May 2009 (UTC)Reply

I am really sorry. We could not review in time.
acagastya PING ME! 06:07, 6 August 2017 (UTC)Reply