Wikipedia edit-a-thon in mind? Kindly start here
Are you thinking to conduct a Wikipedia edit-a-thon? That's great. In this article I'll explain a few thinks, which might help to plan your ediit-a-thon your better?
First thing first, a few questions:
- Do you want to contribute to Wikipedia or other projects? Other than Wikipedia, there are a few other interesting projects such as Wikisource, Wikidata, Wiktionary, Wikimedia Commons.
- Do you want to contribute to other language Wikipedias/projects such as Tamil Wikipedia, Kannada Wikipedia, Telugu Wikisource, Bengali Wikisource etc., other than the same old English Wikipedia?
If you are planning to do an English Wikipedia edit-a-thon, it is comparatively more difficult, and needs much more preparation. I'll explain some of these things below.
Now let's talk about edit-a-thon structure:
- Do you want to do it an offline edit-a-thon? Or is it going to be an online edit-a-thon?
- What is the duration?
- How many people are going to participate? Are they already Wikipedians or new to Wikipedia?
Help pages: Getting started with Wikipedia
Let's start by gathering a few help pages' link which will help to get started with Wikipedia:
- Introduction to Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Introduction
- CheatSheet: learn how to write using Wikicode https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:Cheatsheet
Policies and guidelines
It is really important to know about a few policies before you start editing Wikipedia. Please explain these policies and guidelines to edit-a-thon participants as well.
- Notability: we have "notability" policy. What are the topics we can write about? Please read here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Notability Now, these are "General Notability Guidelines or in short we call it GNG (please read the "General notability guideline" in the page). Now, we have detailed explanation pages on different notability topics: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Notability_guide, please read the pages you need such as https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Notability_(people). Now in every guideline page you'll get something called "basic criteria", and/or "additional criteria". These are the guidelines you need to pass. A good argument goes like this: "The article meets Wikipedia notability because it meets "this", "this", "this", and "this" (or #1, #3, #4, and #5) of the mentioned notability guideline.
- Verifiability: The next important policy is Verifiability. Please read https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Verifiability. Please also read, what are reliable references or how to identify reliable sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipediaa:Identifying_reliable_sources. There is a fine list of references such as forum posts, personal blogs, eCommerce websites, press releases, user-generated content etc. etc. we should not use as references on Wikipedia.
- Neutral point of view: Neutral point of view is absolutely important. Please read: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Neutral_point_of_view
Frequently asked questions
Question: I do not have references, can I create pages or add information?
Answer: No, references are important. Specially, on English Wikipedia, where content are reviewed more, reliable secondary references are absolutely needed.
Question: But, I am writing the "truth".
Answer: Wikipedia works with :verifiability, and not truth. Please read: Verifiability, not truth
Question: I can not provide the things you are asking, but I am working for a cause. Can't you help?
Answer: That's a good question. A2K cares about bridging gender gap, knowledge revolution, and diversity. However, please note, it is a standard practice Wikipedia is not a soapbox or means of promotion, and Wikipedia is also not a place to do advocacy, propaganda, or recruitment of any kind. If you really want to advocated about your cause, why not try your own website, blog, or some forums?
