Template:Welcome

(Revision as of 16:50, 15 Mar 2005)

93 and Greetings...Welcome to Thelemapedia! If you've been here a while, then consider this a "Glad to still have you here!" letter...

Table of contents

1 Getting started

2 Contribution strategies

3 The Zen of Wiki

4 Other important links

Getting started

Go through our quick and easy Tutorial to get a good start on creating, editing, and formatting articles.
When creating or editing an article, remember to avoid the first person and signing your name. Write in a concise, straightforward way—avoid romantic, poetic, or speculative language. Articles should reflect two things: the knowledge base (i.e. stuff in print) and common knowledge. When taking info from print, cite your sources!
To sign your posts on Talk Pages (where you can write however you want), use the '~' symbol. To insert just your name, type ~~~ (3 tildes), or, to insert your name and timestamp, use ~~~~ (4 tildes).
Consider putting something on your user page—just hit your name in the box at the top right and start typing.

Contribution strategies

There are many ways you can contribute to Thelemapedia:

Begin a new topic. Find a red link or create a brand new topic and get writing. The beauty of the wiki is that you don't have to write a complete article. Just write as much as you know or have time for.
Edit existing topics. Many articles are too short, have missing information, or need a Thelemic perspective. Such articles really need your help. There is a link to lists of articles that fall in these categories right on the Main Page in the box called "Editor's Corner".
Fact-checking. Comb through articles and make sure that things stated as facts really are.
Correcting spelling and grammar. Pretty self-explainetory, huh?
Formatting. You don't need to change content to make it more legible. Take what's there, move it around, add headers...do what you must to make it easier to read (please!).
Adding citations and links. If you see quotes or statements that you know come from specific sources, help the article out by putting in a citation and links to relevant materials.

The Zen of Wiki

Being a Thelemapedia editor is an exercise in emotional detachment. Always keep in mind that everything you add is open to editing, changing, mangling, and even deletion. This is the nature of a wiki, and if you take too much ownership of what you write here, you will end up angry or disappointed. However, if you can get into the groove of knowledge evolution as you watch articles take on a life of their own, then you can expect to be quite happy here.