A Feminist Intro to Editing Wikipedia

After reading Rose Afriyle’s post on Wikipedia’s Gender Gap and the ensuing comments, I thought I’d post a basic intro to editing WP (Wikipedia).  I’ve accumulated this knowledge over the four years I’ve been editing, and I hope it will help any of you who are interested.

Anyone can edit WP.  As you might guess, this can lead to disputes.  When two or more editors disagree on an edit, they discuss it until a consensus is reached.  This is where policies come in.  Policies are meant to be used as discussion points in consensus-building conversations, not rigid rules.  Policies can be looked up just like any other article.  For instance, the WP:CONS article describes the policy on building consensus.

Three of the most important policies are verifiability (WP:V), neutral point of view (WP:NPOV), and no original research (WP:NOR).  Verifiability means that any fact that could be debated should cite a reliable source.  Neutral point of view means that the article should balance all significant points of view on a given topic.  No original research means that WP is a secondary source; even if you know something is true, you can’t add it to WP until it has been published in another primary source.

Every article has a corresponding "discussion" page that you can see by clicking the tab towards the top of the page.  Discussion pages are where all the consensus-building discussions take place, and one of the best ways to get started with WP editing is by following the discussion pages of articles you are interested in.

If you are logged into your WP account, you can click the "watch" tab at the top of any article or discussion page to add it to your "watchlist".  Then, when you click "my watchlist" in the upper right, it will show you any recent changes to pages you are watching.  You can click "diff" to see what changed, or "hist" to see a list of all changes to that article.

To edit a page or leave a comment in a discussion, you can click the "edit" tab at the top, or the "edit" link next to any section header.  When leaving a comment on the discussion page, you should end it with four tildes (~~~~) which will sign the comment with the time and your name.  Also, when you are responding to someone, you should use one or more colons (:) to indent your comments.  When editing, you can always preview how a change will appear before you submit it.

Changes to WP follow the "bold, revert, discuss" cycle (WP:CYCLE).  That means if you want to make a change, be bold and add it.  But, if someone reverts it, don’t add it back until you’ve discussed it on the talk page and reached a consensus.

In reality, people don’t always follow the policies on WP, and sometimes a group of editors just can’t reach a decision.  Two ways to resolve a deadlocked dispute are to get a third opinion (WP:3) or to go to mediation (WP:mediation).

My own recommendation for handling disputes is to break them down into the smallest pieces possible, and discuss them one at a time, and focus on policy rather than content.  Sometimes this will lead to people figuring out exactly why they disagree, and reaching a compromise.  Other times, it leads to one editor trying to derail the conversation, which makes it obvious who is trying to reach consensus and who isn’t.

That’s really all you need to know to begin editing Wikipedia. The best way to get started is to follow some articles and their talk pages.  Reverting vandalism to the articles will gain you respect from other editors, and reading discussions will familiarize you with how disputes are handled.  Of course, WP can sometimes be hostile to newcomers, so be prepared and try to go into it with a thick skin.  Also, if any other editors out there have additions, please feel free to add them in the comments.