Wikipedia:Things to do
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This is a list of things you can do if you're new, bored, feeling useless, or want to help the project. Most of these things are doable by anyone - from anonymous user to Steward. However, some of these things require that you have certain privileges (such as blocking users) or be logged-in.
[edit] Recent Changes - All users
- Recent Changes - You can patrol Recent Changes and try to find vandalism. Of course, it's futile to try to combat all the vandalism that appears, but you can try to weed out the vandalism by seeking out edits made by IPs, users with no userpages/talk pages, and edits made without an edit summary. Vandalism is reverted by going to the edit history and selecting the version before the vandalism. You click on the date of the revision, then click on "edit this page". You then save the previous revision over the vandalism.
- New pages - New pages are created a lot. Some of them are legitimate articles, some are pointless drivel about unnotable persons, some are cruft, and some are nonsense or attack pages. You can tag pages for a speedy delete that are non-legitimate with
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- {{db-bio}}, for vanity pages about unnotable persons or events, etc.
- {{db-nonsense}}, for random sentences ("HARRY POTER!!!! ALKE7IGHU") and other non-relevant things such as an article about a train line which proclaims "I am a person who likes to go swimming and eat food."
- {{db-test}} for pages created by new users testing out Wikipedia ("Wow, can I really create a page? This is awesome!")
- {{db-attack}} for pages created by vandals solely to attack/slander the subject ("JIMBO WALES IS A GAY FAGGOT!"). These can be targeted at anyone.
- {{db-advert}} for pages created solely to advertise a company's product (Buy your lighting fixtures from NuCorp!)
Some pages are created in good faith and should not be speedied. For example, if an article is factual and well-written, but does not cite its sources, you can put {{unreferenced}} at the top. If it is written in good faith but is poorly constructed, you can put {{cleanup}} at the top. If it is lacking Wikilinks, you can insert {{Wikify}}.
