Wikipedia talk:Simple guide to creating your first article

Edit notice

We currently have an edit notice imbedded into this page and I'm not sure why that's necessary or beneficial. I think it should be removed. Best. Biosthmors (talk) pls notify me (i.e. {{U}}) while signing a reply, thx 15:09, 28 September 2013 (UTC)

@Biosthmors: It's been overwritten with a misplaced article once already, and the page has only been here a week. But, yes, OK, we could try it without the edit notice and see how often it gets overwritten. Wikipedia:Your first article has an edit notice and semi-protection, and it still gets overwritten every few months. You'll need to attract an admin with {{Edit protected}} to have it removed. -- John of Reading (talk) 15:30, 28 September 2013 (UTC)

Boilerplate template

I like this page...need some work but good concept - perhaps making a boilerplate template like {{WikiProject}} would also be helpful. -- Moxy (talk) 16:22, 6 October 2013 (UTC)

Why the double brackets at the end?

What is the purpose of the "[[Your article]]" at the end of the markup example? Butwhatdoiknow (talk) 12:24, 6 October 2014 (UTC)

@Butwhatdoiknow: It's mentioned in the instructions at "...just 1) click on the red link...". This gives a new user a fairly easy way to create the page with the intended name. -- John of Reading (talk) 12:39, 6 October 2014 (UTC)

Thanks. Butwhatdoiknow (talk) 02:04, 7 October 2014 (UTC)

Completely unhelfpul and misleading page - get rid of it

I think that this page is a dangerous and utterly unhelpful trap, and should be removed. I considered proposing it for deletion, but much better would be a redirect to either WP:YFA or WP:Article wizard. I think this is such an egregious problem, that I was tempted to redirect it without discussion; but I haven't.

The problem that led me to this page (which I didn't know about) was WP:Teahouse/Questions#clearing sandbox for a new start. The instructions have led this new editor to paste [[Your topic]] into their sandbox, and pick it, leading them to try and create a new page called Your topic! Clearly, at least three people have done this before, and got as far as creating the wrong page: an unknown number of people have tried it and, like Otmarpub, quailed at the deletion messages and not gone ahead.

But even if this were made clearer (that you need to substitute the title for 'Your topic' before adding the link), I don't understand what the page is trying to get you to do. I think it must be encouraging you to create the content in your sandbox, and then using the redlink to copy and paste the content to the real page - but even understanding how Wikipedia works, I have struggled to understand that. Only after unpicking it do I realise that it only makes sense if you're going to perfect your page before copying it.

In any case, this is a terrible way of creating a page. First, it uses Copy and Paste rather than Move. Second, it encourages a new editor to put their page directly into article space rather than seeking review. --ColinFine (talk) 10:48, 31 January 2015 (UTC)

I share these concerns. This page is getting 120 views per day and this appears to be increasing. It's linked from WP:YFA itself (in the Introduction) and from WP:Contributing to Wikipedia (as a How-to page under Article creation and notability). YFA is a good deal longer, largely because full of Things to Avoid and Cautions, but these are necessary and should be prominently shown at the outset to all those intending to create their first article. The only equivalent on this Simple Guide page is buried under "Another note" a long way down. Yes the page could be confusing, and yes it teaches a non-recommended process for getting a first article into mainspace. Finally the "Click here" link to Popular redlinks takes you to a list of 300 topics of which about 295 certainly should not become new articles: Noyster (talk), 11:17, 31 January 2015 (UTC)

I agree, this is a horrible "guide". It guides the beginner onto a path that almost unavoidably ends at speedy deletion and confusion. Kill it with fire or even high explosives. There are a number of infinitely superior beginners guides than this page. Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 15:46, 31 January 2015 (UTC)

As we've had no dissent I've gone ahead and redirected the page to WP:Your first article: Noyster (talk), 10:45, 8 February 2015 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 31 January 2015

Ravi kc verma (talk) 18:31, 31 January 2015 (UTC)

Not done: it's not clear what changes you want to be made. Please mention the specific changes in a "change X to Y" format. -- Orduin ^Discuss 19:44, 31 January 2015 (UTC)