RationalWiki:Newcomers
From RationalWiki
These are responses to questions frequently asked by very new users. They may be useful to you if you are either:
- Very new to Wikis in general
or
- New to RationalWiki
If you can't find what you are looking for here you should also try RationalWiki:Help - or just ask somebody.
Before reading this guide, new users may wish to read this page, which explains what a RationalWiki article is. It will also be referred to repeatedly in this FAQ.
[edit] All RationalWiki articles seem to have a specific point of view - why is this?
Yes, we have a Rational Point of view. We create our articles from this rational perspective, and we attempt to demonstrate the strength of science and the scientific method, and the folly of cranks. If you create an article yourself, please remember that we are not an encyclopedia and follow our mission statements:
- Analyzing and refuting the anti-science movement.
- Analyzing and refuting crank ideas.
- Explorations of authoritarianism and fundamentalism.
[edit] Who writes these articles?
They are written by our international (mostly) English-speaking community. No single author "owns" any RationalWiki article although some may have (or have had) primary authors. A primary author has no more say in an article once it is in the community than any other member of the community. As a member of this community you have as much right to edit an article as anybody else.
However, before editing you might wish to read our description of a RationalWiki article, and read about our Point of view, as following these guidelines may help your prose to stay in the article. If you feel that you may be making a contentious edit, you might wish to raise the issue on the article talk page first.
Instructions for starting your own article may be found here.
[edit] I have read one of your articles and I totally disagree with it. What should I do?
First please check out our page on what is a RationalWiki article and read our Mission Statement as this may help you to understand where the article is coming from.
If you still have objections then you should raise them on the article talk page. It is better to point out specific errors in the article than it is to post something like, "This is all wrong!!!!" Please remember that if you are trying to change a controversial article, then your objective is to persuade people using reason and logic. If you adopt a condescending or aggressive tone then you are significantly reducing your chances of persuading others.
Under no circumstances simply write a new article on top of an existing article or delete the article. This will probably be reversed as vandalism and you will have reduced your opportunities to make a reasoned case. There are more suggestions about polite editing here.
[edit] What standards of behavior are expected?
Please read our Community Standards.
[edit] I've seen what looks like an in-joke. What does it mean?
Have a look at our special RationalWiki DysLexicon. It defines many of the terms we use.
[edit] How can I can tell when you are being serious and when you are joking?
The vast majority of our articles are trying to make a serious point. We often use humour to help make that point.
[edit] What are articles and talk pages?
Every article has an "article page" (in some namespaces called other things, like "projects page", etc.) and a "talk page". The content of the article goes on the article page and debate and comment on the article should go on the talk page. Please do not put commentaries on the the article page. They will probably be deleted and (hopefully) moved to the talk page for further comment.
[edit] What can I do with my user page?
You can put whatever you like on your user page. (With some obvious restrictions like obscenity, slander or racism.) Only you can edit your user page - unless you are arbitrarily convicted of vandalism in which case you will be put in the vandal category and your user page may be edited accordingly. You may appeal this conviction by contacting any RationalWiki sysop. Apart from these exceptions nobody else can edit that page.
Your talk:user page, however, can be edited by anyone and you may not delete items from this page. (Although you may archive them periodically.) The reason for this rule is to prevent the retrospective re-writing of history which has been known to happen at other Wiki projects.
Most RW members reply to comments on the same page on which they originated. In other words if somebody writes on your talk page you may freely reply there. In other, other words, we don't usually engage in ping-pong conversations.
[edit] Why does my name always come up in red?
Your name will continue to come up in red until you put something on your user page. Writing anything on that page will stop your name being shown in red.
[edit] How do I put those cool userboxes on my page?
Full instructions can be found here: RationalWiki:Userboxes
[edit] How do I sign my posts to talk pages?
To sign normally, enter ~~~~. If you want to make a fancier signature, full instructions can be found here.
[edit] How do I indent talk pages?
You will notice that, on talk pages, each comment is indented to the right from the previous comment. This is not an automatic function but users make it happen by inserting colons before their comments. The first replier inserts one colon, the second two colons etc etc. It makes things a lot easier to read.
If you edit (comment) a long talk page, readers will find your words more easily if you edit by clicking on the Edit link on the section header. This gives a link directly to that section in "Recent changes" and "Watchlists", which is where most will find your contribution.
[edit] Who is in charge of RationalWiki?
RationalWiki is referred to as a mobocracy. It is primarily driven by the entire community with no overall head or heads. Although one user does control the server which the site is hosted on as well as the very high level administration of the site, said user does not utilise any more power or influence than any other user because of this.
For advice regarding editing or queries regarding the site in general, ask a question on the talk page of practically anyone on this list, remembering to sign your username afterwards so we can get back to you.
[edit] Aren't the sysops in charge?
Not really. Although sysops have some extended abilities to prevent vandalism to the site and move articles around to clean up the site's content they are not a better class of user. Almost anyone can become a sysop (often referred to as "being demoted") after a couple weeks, and a number of more-or-less useful contributions to the site.
[edit] Is there some way I can see what's live at the moment?
Clicking on Special:Recentchanges in the Navigation box will take you there.
[edit] How can I keep an eye on articles that interest me?
Click the "observe" tab at the top of the page. They will show up in bold in "Recent Changes", and you can see what changes have been made to only those article by clicking on "My Watchlist". You can also edit your Preferences to automatically add any article/talk page you edit to your watchlist (it adds both). More instructions can be found in the help files.
[edit] Is there a "Talk about Anything/Everything" page?
If you wish to raise a subject of general interest to the Wiki or you cannot think of a more specific location then Talk:Main Page would be the best place to start. If it turns out that there's a more appropriate place, such as an article relating to the subject or WIGO, someone should point it out and the conversation can move to where it will be more likely to attract interested users.
If you want to talk about something which mainly affects you, then putting something on your own talk page may generate interest.
[edit] I am not a vandal but I keep running into this message when trying to edit
You are seeing this message because you are a newly registered user and attempted to make two quick edits in a row. In order to make vandalism less fun newly registered users can only make one edit every 15 seconds. This limitation will automatically be taken away from your account very soon. What is this?
This is an anti-vandal measure called the "Vandal Brake" applied to all new accounts. It should go away in two or three days.
[edit] I was just blocked for a short period of time for no apparent reason - why?
The concept of a "friendly" or "welcome" block is perhaps unique to RationalWiki. New users and especially new sysops are likely to receive a short "friendly block", this is simply our strange way of saying hello. Unblock yourself and give a short block to the person who blocked you. If you've never blocked anybody before it's good practice.
[edit] I created some red links and they were removed - why?
Please remember that RationalWiki is not an encyclopaedia; we have a specific mission and somebody probably felt that your links did not contribute to this mission.
If you create a red link, it is a good idea to also create a corresponding stub article. This is easily done by clicking on the red link and entering a short paragraph or a few sentences on the subject and adding the stub template. If in doubt, raise the issue on a relevant talk page to see what the community in general thinks about it. The odds are that the article will be kept and expanded upon in the fullness of time by the many editors on this site, however, please don't feel offended if the consensus is that the article/link doesn't have a place on the site.
See our full red links policy here.
[edit] See also
RationalWiki RationalWiki:Project Whitewash/What is a RationalWiki article
| Help pages for RationalWiki
| ||
|---|---|---|
| - RationalWiki -- Blocking -- Comments -- Standards -- Jargon -- Main help page -- Templates -- Bored -- Listing your creations -- Colors -- Image copyright -- Cover story -- Edit summary -- Summary abbreviations -- Editing etiquette -- Navigation -- Day counter -- Copying code -- Image -- Index -- Links -- Lists -- Lurking -- Common mistakes -- Namespaces -- Writing a new article -- Titling pages -- Permanent links -- Quotations -- Link colors -- Redirects -- References -- Why register -- Headers and sections -- TOC (table of contents) -- Tables -- Template list -- Toolbar -- Watchlist -- Wikipedia help files -- Wiki language -- Signatures -- Vandalism -- Whitewash (the project) -- Side by side comparison -- Sysop guide -- Userboxen - | ||
.
