Welcome

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WikiMD is an encyclopedia written collaboratively by its readers. The site is a WikiWiki, meaning that anyone, including you, can also edit any article right now by clicking on the Edit this page link that appears in the frame of every WikiMD article.

Browsing WikiMD

WikiMD contains a huge amount of information on all sorts of subjects. To check it out, go to the Main Page, find a subject that looks interesting, and start exploring. There's also a search box at the top of every page so you can find information quickly.

If you read something, and you really like it, why not drop a note on the article's talk page? First select the Discuss this page link (look for it in the sidebar to the left of the page), to get to the talk page, and then select Edit this page on the talk page. We always love to get a bit of positive feedback.

If there's something we don't cover, or you're having difficulty finding what you're after, just ask us at the reference desk, or add the topic to our list of requested articles.

See also: WikiMD:Explore

Editing

Everyone can edit pages in WikiMD (even this page!). Just select the Edit this Page link on the top or bottom of any page if you think it needs any improvement. You don't need special credentials; you don't even need to be logged in. If you want to experiment first, without risk of "messing up" a real article, head over to the sandbox, where you can practice editing to your heart's content. To practice editing an existing page like this one, just copy and paste it into the sandbox. If you want to learn more, check out the WikiMD Tutorial to learn the basic info you should know as a member of our project.

A simple way to start helping is just to use WikiMD as you would any other encyclopedia, but when you spot a problem—a spelling mistake, perhaps, or an unclear sentence—click "Edit this page" and fix it. Be bold in editing pages; if you can see a way of improving a page, do it. Don't worry too much about making mistakes; when you do get something slightly wrong, then you, or anyone, can always fix it later. You may find this a bit scary, but see replies to common objections for an explanation of why the system still works. Although WikiMD already has a lot of articles (370,863 at the last count), WikiMD is constantly expanding with new articles written by people like you. You can start a brand new article, or find an existing article and add an entirely new section to it.

We've got a few policies and guidelines you might want to look at. In particular, the neutral point of view policy means that articles should not be biased, and should represent differing views on a subject fairly and sympathetically. If you find that your change gets removed or modified, check the page history, your talk page, or the article discussion page for reasons. All contributions to WikiMD are released under the CC BY SA no commercial use (See WikiMD:Copyrights for more information).

Want to join up?

Anyone can edit, of course, but there are advantages to creating an account if you want to contribute on a regular basis. If you want to join up, create an account and then introduce yourself to the community at the new user log. </translate>