Welcome! Welcome to Wikipedia! Welcome!

Editing cheatsheet
Forgot how that code worked?

Summary of policies and guidelines
A quick reference for Wikipedia's "rules"

Find the page for your course
Forgot the link to your course's page?

Choose a mentor
Contact an ambassador to work with

Help with article assessment
Help us assess these articles!

Starting an article
Guide to starting your first article

Comments or suggestions? Need help?

Language edit

  In a recent edit to the page Hogwarts staff, you changed one or more words from one international variety of English to another. Because Wikipedia has readers from all over the world, our policy is to respect national varieties of English in Wikipedia articles.

For a subject exclusively related to the United Kingdom (for example, a famous British person), use British English. For something related to the United States in the same way, use American English. For something related to another English-speaking country, such as Canada, Australia, or New Zealand, use the variety of English used there. For an international topic, use the form of English that the original author used.

In view of that, please don't change articles from one version of English to another, even if you don't normally use the version in which the article is written. Respect other people's versions of English. They, in turn, should respect yours. Other general guidelines on how Wikipedia articles are written can be found in the Manual of Style. If you have any questions about this, you can ask me on my talk page or visit the help desk. Thank you. Carl Sixsmith (talk) 19:37, 20 January 2011 (UTC)Reply

Edits to Nancy Sutley edit

Saw your work over at Nancy Sutley and I'm glad you're getting the hang of the citation templates. Since the NYT is cited so often, I figured I'd give you a quick tip on how I usually do it:

  • {{cite newspaper |title= <insert title> |last= <insert author surname> |first= <insert author given name> |authorlink= <insert article name if author is notable enough to have a Wikipedia article> |work=The New York Times |publisher=The New York Times Company |date= <date> |accessdate= <today> |page= <usually listed near bottom of article> |url= <link>}}

If there's no author listed (like with the article you added), just include the field |author=No author listed. Anyway, keep up the good work and let me know if you need any help with anything (and I'm interested to see what you're main project will be). Keep making those edits - it's the only way you'll learn. :) upstateNYer 02:19, 22 February 2011 (UTC)Reply

Re: your email edit

If you're planning on writing a biography on Nancy Sutley for your main project of the semester, here are a few tips I'd give you:

  • You'll want to expand the 'Early life' section; no reference to Obama's administration is really relevant here.
  • You'll want to rename 'Previous work'. Previous to what? I know, to working for the president, but that's not the only thing she's done, I'm sure.
    • You'll want to expand this section. Maybe make it 'Education and early career'. It may be difficult to find early info on her, but once you do, it will be rewarding and make for a nice, complete article.
  • You'll want to rename 'Current accomplishments'. We never use words like current because it always becomes out of date.
  • Maybe a section on viewpoints, major projects, associations (memberships to professional societies or organizations and/or who she is a known colleague of) is probably appropriate.
  • I'm currently working with NY Senator Kirsten Gillibrand and her campaign to rewrite her article. You may be surprised that if you contact the White House, you may be able to get some information on specific questions that frustrate you. Some people can be very receptive to that, and the Obama admin is pretty progressive in the technology field, so they may help out, believe it or not.

I'll look around for some other bios that could be comparable and you can get some ideas from those. Trust me, I can appreciate basing work off a proven template. upstateNYer 04:07, 24 February 2011 (UTC)Reply

Executive Order 11478 edit

I noticed you removed "red links" from within the quoted text of this Executive Order, but I think you didn't go far enough. The Manual of Style at Quotations, Linking says:

"As much as possible, avoid linking from within quotes, which may clutter the quotation, violate the principle of leaving quotations unchanged, and mislead or confuse the reader."

Bmclaughlin9 (talk) 20:33, 17 March 2011 (UTC)Reply

Wave edit

Just saying hi! I put together a list of my mentees for this semester and I'd like it if you can confirm that the articles I listed are indeed those you're working on (it's an educated guess based on your contributions). Don't forget, I'm always here if you need some help or some questions answered. Thanks! upstateNYer 05:01, 3 April 2011 (UTC)Reply

Re: promotional template edit

Hi Allie, I read through the article. I don't disagree that the tag should be there. To get it removed, here are the sentences that should be reworded:

  • "Sutley has committed more than 20 years to protecting public health and the environment and to energy and climate change issues." Sounds like something you'd have on a resume.
  • "Her parents came to the United States in search of a better life, and who ultimately shaped her values of hard work and the importance to giving back to the community." I would change this to just 'Her parent immigrated to the United States in XXXX (year).' The rest is fluff that describes characteristics about her that can't really be backed up.

I made a few other wording revisions, but they aren't a big deal. Once those are tidied up, we can get that tag removed. upstateNYer 17:45, 1 May 2011 (UTC)Reply

GOCE drive newsletter edit

Invitation from the Guild of Copy Editors
 

The Guild of Copy Editors invites you to participate in their September 2011 Backlog elimination drive, a month-long effort to reduce the size of the copy editing backlog. The drive will begin on September 1 at 00:00 (UTC) and will end on September 30 at 23:59 (UTC). We will be tracking the number of 2010 articles in the backlog, as we want to copy edit as many of those as possible. Please consider copy editing an article that was tagged in 2010. Barnstars will be given to anyone who edits more than 4,000 words, with special awards for the top 5 in the categories "Number of articles", "Number of words", and "Number of articles of over 5,000 words". See you at the drive! – Your drive coordinators: Diannaa, Chaosdruid, The Utahraptor, Slon02, and SMasters.

Sent on behalf of the Guild of Copy Editors using AWB on 17:04, 21 August 2011 (UTC)

GOCE drive newsletter edit

Invitation from the Guild of Copy Editors
 

The Guild of Copy Editors invites you to participate in their November 2011 Backlog elimination drive, a month-long effort to reduce the size of the copy edit backlog. The drive begins on November 1 at 00:00 (UTC) and ends on November 30 at 23:59 (UTC). We will be tracking the number of 2010 articles (and specifically will be targeting the oldest three months), as we want to copy edit as many of these as possible. Barnstars will be awarded to anyone who copy edits more than 4,000 words, and special awards will be given to the top 5 in the following categories: "Number of articles", "Number of words", and "Number of articles of over 5,000 words". We hope to see you there! – Your drive coordinators: Diannaa, Chaosdruid, The Utahraptor, Slon02, and SMasters.

Sent on behalf of the Guild of Copy Editors using AWB on 02:12, 29 October 2011 (UTC)

GOCE newsletter edit

Greetings from the Guild of Copy Editors
 
 

Elections are currently underway for our third tranche of Guild coordinators. The voting period will run for 14 days: 00:01 UTC, 16 December – 23:59 UTC, 31 December. All GOCE members, as well as past participants of any of the Guild's Backlog elimination drives, are eligible to vote. There are five candidates vying for four positions. Your vote really matters! Cast your vote today.

Sent on behalf of the Guild of Copy Editors using AWB on 11:24, 21 December 2011 (UTC)

GOCE 2011 Year-End Report edit

Guild of Copy Editors 2011 Year-End Report
 
 

We have reached the end of the year, and what a year it has been! The Guild of Copy Editors was full of activity, and we achieved numerous important milestones in 2011. Read all about these in the Guild's 2011 Year-End Report.

Highlights
  • Membership grows to 764 editors, an increase of 261
  • Report on coordinators' elections
  • Around 1,000 articles removed through six Backlog elimination drives
  • Guild Plans for 2012
  • Requests page report
  • Sign up for the January 2012 Backlog elimination drive!


Get your copy of the Guild's 2011 Year-End Report here
On behalf of the Guild, we take this opportunity to wish you Season's Greetings and Happy New Year. We look forward to your support in 2012!
– Your 2011 Coordinators: Diannaa (lead), The Utahraptor, and Slon02 and SMasters (emeritus).

Sent on behalf of the Guild of Copy Editors using AWB on 06:52, 2 January 2012 (UTC)