User talk:Azi Like a Fox

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If you have any questions, check out Wikipedia:Where to ask a question, ask me on my Talk page, or type {{helpme}} on this talk page and a user will help you as soon as possible. I will answer your questions as far as I can. Again, welcome, and I hope you enjoy editing here and being a Wikipedian. V-Man - T/C 01:19, 1 May 2007 (UTC)

Contents

[edit] Jack

Ha back at you. I could say I know jack about what you're talking about .... but I'd be lying. Lying like a fox, that is.  :) JackofOz 09:12, 2 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Adoption

Hi Azi. Two of my adoptees are all but flying solo now, so I guess I could squeeze another in. Its really late here, so I must get some sleep. However, I'll drop by again tomorrow and explain a little more about the adoption process, and if you are happy with that we can get going. Rockpocket 09:18, 7 May 2007 (UTC)

Hi again, Azi. I'm sorry I had to put you off for 24 hours, things got a little hectic around here yesterday what with a bit of a flare up on the Ref Desk discussions and then spate of admin-account hijacking. Anyway, I have been reading through your contributions to the Ref Desk and they show all the signs of an excellent Wikipedian, so I'm really glad you are keen to get involved in the encyclopaedia too. I feel I should warn you though, that it can be highly addictive. I just found the animal testing page on a Google search one day and thought I would just make note of a few new statistics and get back to my daily life. 18 months and 8,000 edits later.... here I am.
I firmly believe the adoption process is a great way to get more involved, so I'd be pleased to help out however I can. Just so you know, the adoption procedure is entirely flexible and you (or I) may terminate the relationship at anytime, simply by letting the other know. You are also entirely welcome to seek other mentors at any time, either in addition to or instead of me. I try to keep and eye on my adoptees contributions and will offer advice unsolicited where I can. I'm also very open to questions about pretty much anything - simple or complex - and will try and reply as soon as I can. I'm also happy to help out on any editing projects or article you are interested in, to help it get off the ground, or to mediate if you get into any scrapes.
When I'm convinced you are up to speed on WP (not that you can't carry on learning, as I still find new things all the time. Today I found a smart little template that archives and hides off-topic text, see here), I will let you know and offer to "graduate" you. However, does not mean we have to terminate our relationship, as you will be welcome to remain an adoptee for as long as you wish, until you feel ready to graduate. Even then, I will always be available to offer advice as a colleague. If you are happy with this arrangement, then let me know and I can "do the paperwork". If - after reading this - you decide not to, thats cool also. Rockpocket 07:01, 8 May 2007 (UTC)
Great, we're on. So, I guess the next question is where would you like to start? You seem to have the basics on wiki-linking, external linking and signing your name down. But if you would like to learn some of the slightly more advanced coding, I can help you with that.
Alternatively, if there is a subject you are particularly interested in and want to start drafting an article, I can help you get going with that in a subpage. Or, if you just want to exercise your researching skills, there are some stubs that need to be spun out from the Ref Desk and some articles on my list of things to do that you could cut your teeth on. Or I could give you a quick tour of how the community pages work (the joys of WP:RfC and WP:RfA, for instance) or get you started on some vandal bashing, or we could check out some wikiprojects, do some categorising, deophanising, finding lonely articles, wikifying, stub sorting, fixing references, new page patrol or cleanups. There are, literally, thousands of articles that need that sort of attention (see here for the scary statistics). Just let me know whatever takes your fancy. Rockpocket 08:28, 8 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Nicely done

[1]. If I was wearing a hat, it would be off. -- Consumed Crustacean (talk) 08:05, 8 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Lets go to work

Hi Azi (which I presume rhymes with crazy?) So you mentioned you would be interested in article creation of stub expansion. Lets start with the stubs. The best place to find stubs is at Category:Stub categories. This is essentially a directory, by subject, of all the stubs in Wikipedia. If any subject takes your fancy, click on it to reveal all the stubs in that subcategory. Then simply choose one and get to work.

If you would prefer to start from scratch, and noting your interest in the Ref Desk you might wish to check out Wikipedia:WikiProject Reference Desk Article Collaboration. This is a project to attempt to benefit the encyclopaedia using th Ref Desk. Anyone can take part, all you need to do is see what articles are listed and choose one to get started on. A few current example include the El Alamein Fountain, Minnie D. Craig and Medical reflector. My current (albeit stalled) article in synthesis is on Sanjay Nigam (see my scrapbook page, below). You would be very welcome to make any improvements to that if you wish.

So, once you choose your article how to get writing? Well, I'm sure you are more than capable of finding your own reliable sources, so I'll leave the researching part out. As a general rule, the amount, credibility and reliability of the sources should roughly correlate with the seriousness of the subject. For example, biographies of living people should be scrupulously referenced (e.g. Robina Qureshi), as should scholarly subjects (chromatophore) and controversial subjects (animal testing). Articles like cork hat, or multiball system should still be referenced, but sources could be used that are slightly less rigorous and not every statement need be attributed. However, original research should be avoided in all articles. When writing the article, its important that a neutral point of view be maintained. This can be a tricky concept to grasp sometimes, especially on subjects that are controversial, but its not too difficult on more mundane subjects. There is also the issue of notability to consider, however we can get to that later when we do newpage patrol (over 50% of new pages tend to be on non-notable subjects.)

Thats the theory, now onto the practical matters. Some people prefer to write articles immediately in article space (so if you were going to write an article on The girl who went to jail, you would just click on the red link and get to work). Others prefer to work in user space, then when its more complete move it across to article space. I tend to do the former if I'm planning to write a a significant amount in one session, but the latter if I'm working over time. I would recommend you write your first few articles in user space to buy you the time to get the hang of things without some other helpful editor jumping in nominating it for deletion.

I tend to recycle a single user space page for my drafts (see User:Rockpocket/Scrapbook). You could use a similar system at User:Azi Like a Fox/Scrapbook, however feel free to create a specific sub page for each and every article, as you wish, e.g. User:Azi Like a Fox/The girl who went to jail.

Ok, so now you have an empty page. If you wish just to write a stub all you need at a few sentences, a few links and the correct stub-template. However, if you wish to write a whole article, there is a format one should adhere to. Wikipedia:Manual of Style covers pretty much everything you could want to know about this, but the short version is that:

  • You want a lead paragraph that summarizes the whole article,
  • Then the body of the article in suitable sections with relevent words wiki-linked,
  • Then a see also section (containing links to other articles that at not previously linked in the text),
  • Then a references section (I'll show you how to format those later, to begin with you can just insert your source in the text or write them at the bottom),
  • Then an external links section,
  • Finally, add the suitable categories (I'll explain this in more detail later too.)

Wikipedia:Annotated article is also quite a helpful resource. So, I think this is more than enough to get you going. Feel free to ask any specific questions, or if you need anything clarified. I'll also keep an eye on things and chip in with advice. Once you get going, I can explain templates, images etc when they become relevant.) I'll try and point out problems rather than correct them myself, but if I do change anything I will explain what I did and why also.

I hope this proves a useful primer. Feel free to work in your own time and on whatever you wish, and just drop me a line when I can be of further assistance. Rockpocket 06:03, 9 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Nice work

Nice work on Edward Burnett Tylor! Rockpocket 07:32, 23 May 2007 (UTC)

Thanks Rockpocket, I appreciate the encouraging words. Azi Like a Fox 16:02, 25 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Bit on Andy Weil

You added a bit about Weil thinking mushrooms have lunar energy on the Andrew Weil page but I can't find anything about that on google. Take a look at this search. Can you provide a citation? If not, the new info should be removed. de Bivort 19:23, 1 November 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for providing the citation. I did a minor change, moving the part you added from the "Honors" section to the "Medical Philosophy" section. Thanks! de Bivort 19:45, 1 November 2007 (UTC)