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Wikipedia:Lessons (Pynts ti mind)

Frae Wikipedia, the free beuk o knawledge

Front page, 1: Editin, 2: Formattin, 3: Picturs, 4: Wikipaedia airtins, 5: Relatit steid airtins, 6: Ootside airtins, 7: Collogue pages, 8: Stairt an airticle, 9: Pynts ti mind, 10: Registration, 11: Namespaces, 12: Wrap-up

This airticle is pairt
o the Wikipaedia Lessons
Lesson pages...

Front page
Editin
Formattin
Picturs
Wikipaedia airtins
Relatit steid airtins
Ootside airtins
Collogue pages
Stairt an airticle
Pynts ti mind
Registration
Namespaces
Wrap-up

See forby...

Help page

There are a puckle things ti mind whan editin Wikipaedia.

Behaviour

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Wikipaedia encourages an air o freendliness an candour. O course, in practice there are disagreements frae time ti time, and een the ae fecht nou an then, but members o the community are expeckit ti behave in a fairly ceivil manner.

The maist important thing ti mind is that ye maun aye think the best o ither editors. Dinna assume that oniebodie is acting oot o spite or malice. Gin somebodie daes something that fashes you, pit a poleite message on the particlar airticle's collogue page or on the uiser's collogue page, and speir whit wey they've daen it. Ye micht finnd that ye've evyted a misunderstaundin an saufed yersel some embarrassment.

Editorial policies

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Neutral Pynt o View

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Wikipedia's editorial policy is the "neutral pynt o view", aften shortened til "NPOV". This policy says that we accept aa the signeificant pynts o view on an issue. Stead o juist statin the ae perspeckive, we try ti shaw aa relevant pynts o view athoot juidgin which ane is richt. Oor aim is ti be informative, nae persuasive. Oor policy DISNA ettle that oor airticles are expecked ti be "objective", sith in onie dispute baith sides think that their ain view is "objectively true".

It's fine ti state opeinions in airticles, but they maun be presented as opeinions, nae as fact. Forbye, it's a guid idea ti attribute thir opinions, for exemplar "Supporters o this sey that..." or "Notable commentator X believes that..."

Ye micht see Wikipedians referrin ti an airticle as "POV". This is Wikipedia slang for a biased airticle, or ane plainly written frae the ae perspective. Adverteising wad faa intil this category, as wad a poleitical diatribe. In a less extreme case, an airticle micht hae "POV" problems gin it pits a lot mair time intil discussing ae view nor anither, een gin ilka view is written neutrally.

Gin ye're aboot ti spend time on controversial airticles in subjecks like releigion or poleitics, it's important that ye read the neutral pynt o view policy page as suin as ye can. Ye shuid probably read Keepin a calm sough an aa. Gin ye be spendin yer time on less emotional subjecks like maths or video games, ye shuid read the policies een sae, but it's a less pressin concern. Mind the advice gien here, an read the full policy gin an NPOV issue comes up.

Subject maiter

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Wikipaedia is an encyclopaedia. Sae airticles shuid be encyclopaedic information aboot "notable" subjecks. Whit exackly maks for notability is aye a subjeck o debate on Wikipaedia, but there's nae monie thinks that there shuid be airticles aboot ilka chiel on Earth, ilka company that sells oniething, or ilka street in ilka toun in the warld.

This is nae the place forbye for "oreiginal research"—in ither words, new theories, an aa that, that haena bin supported bi peer review. For mair details aboot whit Wikipaedia shuid hae, see Whit Wikipaedia isna, Criteria for inclusion o biographies an Whit's in, whit's oot.

We dinna encourage authors ti screive aboot themsels or their ain works, sin this is a conflick o interest. Gin ye hae amazin feats til yer name, some ither bodie will screive an airticle aboot ye suiner or later. Wikipedia:Autobiography haes mair detail on this.

Citin soorces

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Wikipedia disna force ye ti cite soorces for the wittins you contreibute, but we'd liefer that ye cite them gin ye can. Gin ye're uisin a beuk (or beuks) ti help screive the airticle, leet them in a section cried "References". Gin ye're uisin a wabsteid, mak an "External airtins" section and airt til it. This helps oor readers ti check whit ye've written an finnd mair wittens. See Wikipedia:Cite soorces for mair wittins on this.

Spellin an Graimmar

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Here at Wikipaedia it's recommendit that fowk uises "tradeetional" pan-dialect spellins. Awtho thir isna sae strict as in English we ettle tae come up wi writin that's easy tae read an can be soondit bi readers in thair ain dialect. Ae thing tae mynd is that maist fowk that kens better disna uise the apologetic apostrophe onymair. Mair oot ower evyte slang in an encyclopaedia.

O coorse maist awbody haesna been teached siclike at the schuil but wi practice it shoudna be ower deeficult. A wheen resoorces is aboot that expounds on whit "tradeetional" spellins is an hou tae applee thaim in a conseestant mainer.

For mair anent writin Scots hae a read o wir page anent Spellin an grammar.

Copyrichts

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Dinna submit copyrichted material athoot permeission. The best airticles are maistlins screiven either frae yer ain knowledge, or frae pittin research thegither frae monie soorces. For a mair detailed collogue on copyrichts, see Wikipedia:Copyrichts.

Renamin airticles

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Gin ye find an airticle that ye think is mis-named, please dinna sned & batter the contents o the auld airticle intil a new airticle -- amang ither things, it pairts the aulder contributions frae their edit history (that we maun keep track o for copyricht reisons).

Gin ye are a registert uiser an loggit in ye'll see a flit tag at the tap o the page. Sneck on thon.

Fowk that isna loggit in winna see sicna tag:

  • Aither mak an accoont
  • speir some ither body dae it for ye on the collogue page.
  • Copy the template:Flit intae the tap o the page, mynd an write the new name in the template.

Gin a "disambiguation" page is involved, it is best tae review Wikipaedia:Disambiguation.

Gang on wi the lessons.

Front page, 1: Editin, 2: Formattin, 3: Picturs, 4: Wikipaedia airtins, 5: Relatit steid airtins, 6: Ootside airtins, 7: Collogue pages, 8: Stairt an airticle, 9: Pynts ti mind, 10: Registration, 11: Namespaces, 12: Wrap-up