I’ve been looking around the site a little, and some useful information is not easy to access. Is there a page that contains links to, and descriptions of, all Wikihow user policies and guides (e.g. Writer’s guide, deletion policy, merge policy, how to copyedit an article, etc.)? If so, could it be moved to a visible position on the homepage menu? Alternatively, if such a page does not exist, could one be made? It would be really cool to have all these in one place; a sort of style guide for what changes fall into what category, and a way to double check yourself, to save patrollers time, and yourself frustration if your edits are reverted. *Edit:The wikihow tour page actually some of what I’m looking for, but it does not seem to have a link on the homepage so that we can reach it easily, and does not contain several of the policies.
The community has found that giving too much information right away is often over-whelming and off-putting. Instead, newcomers are encouraged to jump in and start editing while the community provides guidance and support. First and foremost, we try to be friendly and make it fun. Second, we try to make it easy to access the most important resources on wikiHow—knowledgeable individuals and the articles. Hopefully you will find it easy to locate any information you need simply by asking an experienced contributor or by using the awesome search engine that the engineers have developed. Since there are so many areas that might be of interest to a specific individual, it is probably best to tailor lists of links individually rather than try to bring together a one-size-fits-all set of links. That being said, I will drop a message on your talk page which will highlight some of the cornerstone principles upon which wikiHow was built. The message will also provide three ways to store and organize links using the personal space set aside for each wikiHow user. I will also place multiple links to the guidelines for patrolling on your talk page as well as links to the policies (which are repeated here): - http://www.wikihow.com/wikiHow:Policy
Be aware that this is a massive amount of information which should be worked through slowly and understood well. At the same time, the links will always be readily accessible for your review and perusal.
Anna
3
+1 to @Alabaster
, and awesomely put. In the past, facing a huge “wall of links” on policy issues has been overwhelming to some editors, so we tend to provide information as folks ask. There definitely are some great resources out there, including the FAQ
and Glossary
, which Alabaster and other folks in the community have shined up into very helpful resources (and you can find those on the Help Team page, available under the Explore tab). And there is at least one how-to on pretty much every editing tool we’ve got - so plenty to dig into, for the keen readers! If it’s helpful to you at all, Joel, I’ve got a list of my own go-to guides, here
, too. It’s awesome you’re eager to find out about all the policies! Like Alabaster said, don’t be afraid to jump in, ask questions, and get feedback as you go - we’re all here to shed light and offer more advice as you edit. Happy wikiHowing!
Thank you both for your replies. These should be more than enough to get me started!
