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) 20:48, 29 January 2015 (UTC)Reply

Welcome to Wikinews, TheGracefulSlick. (The links in the tabbed template above may be of great help to get started.) --Gryllida (chat) 23:54, 15 October 2018 (UTC)Reply

The freshness thing edit

Don't worry overly. Yeah, so now you have an elevated awareness of how freshness-at-submission interacts with review availability. So now you know to avoid that particular glitch. Our initial learning curve is a bit steep, but for most people it's pretty short, and once past it, though you hopefully never stop learning, the articles you submit mostly pass on the first review — which sets up a resonant synergy; as you earn a reputation for consistently supporting smooth successful reviews, not only do your articles get published more consistently and sooner, but the overall average efficiency of Wikinews review rises, which is usually a key magical ingredient in our sometime periods of increased project output (we've been in a dry spell just lately, which of course ends with a sudden glut on the review queue :-). --Pi zero (talk) 15:48, 16 October 2018 (UTC)Reply

US student appeals expulsion order in Israel edit

Urk. I've backed off from reviewing it, to avoid stepping on toes; I hadn't noticed, when I marked it for review, you'd very recently edited it. I'll take it up again later. --Pi zero (talk) 19:43, 19 October 2018 (UTC)Reply

Published. Congrats! Review comments, history of edits during review. --Pi zero (talk) 04:52, 20 October 2018 (UTC)Reply
@Pi zero: thanks for being patient with me. I feel I will get the hang of this soon enough!TheGracefulSlick (talk) 01:57, 21 October 2018 (UTC)Reply
:-) --Pi zero (talk) 02:07, 21 October 2018 (UTC)Reply

Hi edit

  The Order of the Modest Pencil
Great work as a newbie, TheGracefulSlick!
•–• 11:25, 20 October 2018 (UTC)Reply
Hello, TheGracefulSlick. I also wish to thank and congratulate you on your first published article. It has been enlightening and a big pleasure to collaborate with you on the story about Lara Alqasem. --Gryllida (chat) 00:30, 22 October 2018 (UTC)Reply
Could not have done this without you @Gryllida:! I am glad her case had a more happy ending than most in the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. Her new fellow students did not welcome her with open arms, but no story is perfect.TheGracefulSlick (talk) 03:29, 22 October 2018 (UTC)Reply
Oh dear. Would think such posters are against university rules...? I hope the university supports her. --Gryllida (chat) 03:58, 22 October 2018 (UTC)Reply

Train derails near Xinma station in Yilan, Taiwan edit

Published. Fwiw (I realize this one was partly you and partly Gryllida), besides the "copyvio" stuff (term of art: really includes plagiary as well as copyright), I found there should have been a good deal more attribution. --Pi zero (talk) 02:03, 23 October 2018 (UTC)Reply

Published. See review comments, detailed history of edits during review. --Pi zero (talk) 18:20, 24 October 2018 (UTC)Reply

Thanks for reviewing it @Pi zero:. I will be mindful about “analysis” in the future.TheGracefulSlick (talk) 19:33, 24 October 2018 (UTC)Reply
Dealing with analysis and opinions might be tricky sometimes in certain articles. Maybe reading some stories from archives and more writing experience would help you how to deal with them, and how to handle them.
•–• 20:03, 24 October 2018 (UTC)Reply

Hi. I reviewed this (though I'd like to have gotten to it sooner). Found some problems. See my review comments, and detailed history of edits during review. --Pi zero (talk) 23:24, 7 November 2018 (UTC)Reply

Editing on a tablet edit

Hi TheGracefulSlick

If you

  1. go to the desktop version of the website on mobile,
  2. in your preferences enable Timeless skin,

does it look reasonable at your screen resolution? Just checking - it has a few advantages and I think you may like it:

  • meaningful links in the sidebar
  • more meaningful tabs for page actions
  • availability of edit notices, designed specifically for news writing, when writing a story
  • availability of user scripts and gadgets which may make editing easier
  • more proper view of the article history
  • easier page categorization

Also if you do not mind me asking, what mobile device are you using? I am looking for a new phone -- tablet for navigating maps -- and any advice would be greatly appreciated. :)

Gryllida (talk) 01:36, 8 November 2018 (UTC)Reply

@Gryllida: it will take some adjusting, but I see the benefits in this setting. I have been so use to the default settings on Wikipedia that I either adjusted to the lack of links and tabs or never noticed what I was missing. The device I am currently using is the IPhone 6s. With older versions, editing could get frustrating because the page tended to refresh if I looked at another tab for more than a minute. If I was working on a sizable edit, all my progress would just be erased.TheGracefulSlick (talk) 02:40, 8 November 2018 (UTC)Reply
iphone 6S is a 4.7-inch device? Gryllida (talk) 04:23, 8 November 2018 (UTC)Reply
@Gryllida: yes that is correct!TheGracefulSlick (talk) 05:15, 8 November 2018 (UTC)Reply

Happy New Year, TheGracefulSlick edit

Wish you the best for the new year, TheGracefulSlick. Wish you use the portable device to report, and it helps you with writing and organising your work, and wish you the best with your work and family. May F-Droid help you if it hasn't already. --Gryllida (talk) 00:45, 1 January 2019 (UTC)Reply

Re: follow-up edit

Hi TheGracefulSlick :-)

How are you? To follow up on our writing earlier, you are welcome to sign up at User:Gryllida/welcome a bit if you like. I am simply looking for testers to check that the message delivery is working correctly. The end aim is to assist newcomers with writing their articles, but simply testing that the system works from technical perspective would be greatly appreciated.

--Gryllida (talk) 04:16, 8 March 2019 (UTC)Reply