Wikipedia:Esperanza/So you've joined Esperanza...

You have just put your name on the members list - how do you help us reach our goal? Well, follow these steps and you'll be well on your way to making our mission of a peaceful Wikipedia happen.

1. Watchlist the following pages to keep up with what's going on: Wikipedia:Esperanza, Wikipedia:Esperanza/news and Wikipedia:Esperanza/Alerts.
2. Consider volunteering in one of our programs, such as the Collaboration of the Month or the Tutorial Drive to help other users.
3. Add one of the Esperanza Userboxes to your userpage to help spread the word!
4. You may want to promote Esperanza through your signature. Esperanza's symbol is a green "e" (or other letter if there's no "e") as one of the letters in your name. If you do,
   1. Create a page called User:[Your username here]/Esperanza
   2. Put the template {{greene}} on it. The parameters are 'char', the character you are turning green, and 'user', your username. For example: {{greene|char=e|user=foo}}.
   3. Click "my preferences" at the top of the screen.
   4. In the nickname box, replace one of the "e"s with
      [[User:[Your username here]/Esperanza|<span style="color:#00FF00;">e</span>]].
   5. Click "raw signatures" and save! Then, when you use the 4 tildes (~~~~), your username will have a green "e" in it and a link to a directional page to Esperanza.
5. Join the mailing list. Information on doing this is here.
6. Sign in to IRC. Esperanza has an IRC channel - a place where Esperanzians can go to find both guidance and support, as well as just to have fun! See it at: #wikipedia-esperanza. If you don't have an IRC client, follow the instructions here and get one.
7. Check the calendar - make people feel important by making sure their birthday or anniversary is celebrated in style!
8. Lastly and most importantly, if you see personal attacks or incivility going on, don't just let it pass. Confront the user who is doing it with kindness - if you get no response, let us know - and we'll come in to back you up. As one, we are weak, but acting as a whole, we might just be able to win over this community.