Wikipedia:Editor advice for newcomers

This page is a work in progress. Please feel free to suggest improvements to this page on the talk page.

This is a page where experienced editors provide helpful advice that will help them grow and become the best editors they can possibly be. It is not a discussion forum. Please feel free to provide your words here. Please keep a maximum of 5 sentences because it can be overwhelming for other newcomers. Comments that do not adhere to this goal or are duplicates will be removed. Only the best comments will stay.

Editing in general edit

Making mistakes is an important part of editing. As long as you learn from them, you'll be OK. Interstellarity (talk) 18:43, 8 July 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Start out your editing session by editing something you like. That will help get the creative juices flowing and let you enjoy it. Ghinga7 (talk) 16:34, 19 July 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Trolls just want to waste your time. They want you to become trolls as well. Don't listen to them. Be a contributor instead. Interstellarity (talk) 22:10, 29 July 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Become familiar with Wikipedia's Manual of Style. MiddleAgedBanana (talk) 15:01, 30 July 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Creating articles edit

Your first article will likely get deleted "speedily". If that happens, don't panic. If it has anything of merit at all, you can easily get it back by contacting the deleting administrator. Usedtobecool ☎️ 05:59, 12 July 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Only write articles about subjects who are discussed in multiple reliable sources. Three best sources in an article are probably enough to establish notability, but add more if you can find them. —Nnadigoodluck🇳🇬 00:43, 30 July 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Improving articles edit

If you find as something as simple as a typo in an article, just fix it! If you can't edit the page due to it being protected, then you can ask somebody in the talk page to edit for you. SuperGoose007 ^(Honk!) 19:38, 31 July 2020 (UTC)[reply]
If you think something is worth adding to an article, don't be shy; just add it, even if no one has covered it at all in the article yet. and if you know something is factual and true, then add it, and then find a few reliable sources for it. in other words, all facts need to be sourced, but if you already know something is factual, you will eventually find a source for it. don't worry if you need a few sources to prove a factual detail; that is totally fine here. --13:17, 12 August 2020 (UTC)

Getting going edit

Interacting with others edit

I find it helpful to preview my comments and replies before publishing them, that way I can fix typos and, more importantly, make sure I'm not breaching any personal attack or civility guidelines. Remember, even as a newer user, it's important to be excellent to each other! -- puddleglum^2.0 23:33, 14 July 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Always assume good faith. CompassOwl (talk to me!) 14:36, 29 July 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Getting help edit

Always go to the Teahouse. Your posts to other venues (including the Administrators' noticeboard) are likely to be reverted (deleted) if you get them wrong. Teahouse always explains to you the best course of action, even, and especially, if you mess up. Usedtobecool ☎️ 05:53, 12 July 2020 (UTC)[reply]