UlladullaWiki:Getting started
From UlladullaWiki
Before continuing, please ensure that you have read our Disclaimers page and understand the terms under which you use this web site.
The software we use for Ulladulla Wiki is called MediaWiki which is the same software used for the Wikipedia project and many other Wiki-based web projects. If you've never heard of a Wiki before, a great place to start is over at the Wikipedia 'Wiki' entry. What is Wikipedia? See Wikipedia's entry on itself.
Much of the material referenced here comes from the Wikimedia Foundation's Meta-Wiki pages. Wikimedia is devoted to the management of the various Wikipedia-related projects and has excellent resources on using the MediaWiki software.
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[edit] Getting started reading Ulladulla Wiki
For help on navigating, tracking changes and accounts, visit the MediaWiki Reader Handbook, but don't forget to come back to Ulladulla Wiki!
[edit] Getting started contributing to Ulladulla Wiki
[edit] Copyright information
We're glad that you're keen to start contributing to Ulladulla Wiki, we would first ask you to read our copyright information page to gain an understanding of how the copyright of contributions is governed. It is important that all contributed material not come from sources with incompatible copyright licences to Ulladulla Wiki - Generally, if it is copyrighted and you don't understand the licence, don't copy. Often it is OK to copy material as long as it is referenced. Please check the licence of all sources before you copy (if you really need to copy at all)! This applies to all types of contributions, text, images and other media.
Information on referencing sources can be found at the Community News page where there is a short writeup about the Cite extension that is enabled on this wiki. More detailed information on how to use the Cite extension can be found on the Cite - How it works page.
[edit] Accounts
Like Wikipedia, we don't require that you create an account and log in before you can edit our pages. However there are many benifits to having an account and we would encourage you to do so.
Creating an account is easy, all you need to do is click on the Log in / create account link at the top right of any Ulladulla Wiki page and follow the link to Create an account. You will need a username, password and email address. Your username will be associated with your edits so think it through! Before your account is created Ulladulla Wiki will send an email to your specified email address, this email will contain a link that you need to click on to verify your address. This procedure is to prevent people using fake addresses or addresses they don't own.
[edit] How do I contribute?
There are a number of ways you can contribute. We will always be in need of original content. Editors are necessary to clean up content to remove spelling mistakes, typos and fix document structure. In addition to contributing directly to our content your thoughts are welcome in our discussion pages.
[edit] Discussions
Every page has a discussion page associated with it. At the top of every page you will see a 'discussion' link that will take you to the discussion page. Discussion pages are designed for talking about the content on it's associated page, any issue is open to discussion - accuracy, structure & style, points of interest, suggestions, etc. If you are not keen to contribute directly to content we would encourage you to contribute to discussion about content.
Additionally there is the Community Portal which is a general community space for users of Ulladulla Wiki.
[edit] Editing
The most common activity on most Wikis is editing. Every page (other than a few special protected pages - such as the main page) is editable and we encourage you to edit any page you think needs attention. The simplest editing may take the form of fixing punctuation or spelling mistakes however you are also welcome to contribute original content, even possibly replacing content on any page where you think you have a better contribution.
Contributing content to Ulladulla Wiki requires a bit of specialised knowledge. To edit a page, simply click on the 'edit' link at the top of a page and you will have a space where the content is available for changing. Unfortunately it's not as simple as a normal word processor might be, you have to have a bit of an understanding of the markup language used to define the structure of a page. The content of a page is plain text with formatting and structure defined by special elements contained within the plain text. For example:
| What it looks like | What you type |
|---|---|
|
You can italicize text by putting 2 apostrophes on each side. 3 apostrophes will bold the text. | You can ''italicize text'' by putting 2 apostrophes on each side. 3 apostrophes will bold '''the text'''. |
Some of the most useful places to get information about editing are:
- MediaWiki Handbook Editing Introduction (recomended)
- MediaWiki Handbook Wikitext Examples
- MediaWiki Handbook Editing all-in-one guide
- Wikipedia Editing Help
If you want to have a play, head over to our Sandbox, it'll be periodically cleaned up
[edit] Original content
Ulladulla Wiki doesn't make sense without people willing to contribute original content. Anyone with a knowledge of the Ulladulla area is welcome to contribute to our site, our aim is to build up a comprehensive informational web site about the area with information from everything from Restaurants and cafes, Churches, Things to see and do to Personalities and History.
The easiest way to contribute original content is to find a wanted page. On the left side of every page there is a link to Special pages, in this list you will find an item called Wanted pages. These are pages that have been referenced by someone but do not exist. References from one page to another is what makes the content of a Wiki so valuable. When people create content they will often put in items which they believe deserve a page all of their own so they will create a link to it. A link without a page to link to will show up in the Wanted pages, it will also show up as a red link instead of the normal blue. Clicking on any red link will take you straight to the edit page for that link since no content for it actually exists. The edit page will give you a blank slate from which you can carve our a new unique corner of Ulladulla Wiki.
Don't be afraid of the red links!
For more information on starting a new page, visit the MediaWiki Handbook Starting a new page guide.
[edit] Things to keep in mind
Some things to keep in mind when using this wiki:
- Don't be afraid to just have a go, there are people who keep an eye on changes to the wiki on a regular basis and they will be sure to come in and clean up if you make a bit of a mess. Your contributions don't have to be perfect, some people are better at just getting content up while others are better at cleaning up what's already there.
- If you are unsure about something relating to the content of a page, click on the discussion link at the top and leave a note there. Others who are interested in that page will also share their thoughts there or answer any questions you might have.
- Just because you create a new page, add new content or change existing content doesn't mean you have a rightful claim to any portion of that page. We are a public wiki and everyone who registers is free to add their own content or alter yours.
- We don't exist to promote businesses or organisations, please don't treat Ulladulla Wiki as if it as promotional space. Don't expect any promotional content to last
- Respect the copyright sources and take the appropriate actions when using information from third parties
