Wikipedia

Want to be part of the largest group-writing project in human history? Learn how to contribute to Wikipedia, the user-generated online reference for the 21st century. Considered more popular than eBay, Microsoft.com, and Amazon.com, Wikipedia generates approximately 30,000 requests per second, or about 2.5 billion per day. It's become the first point of reference for people the world over who need a fact fast.

If you want to jump on board and add to the content, "Wikipedia: The Missing Manual" is your first-class ticket. Wikipedia has more than 6 million entries in 250 languages, over 2 million articles in the English language alone. Each one is written and edited by an ever-changing cast of volunteer editors. You can be one of them. With the tips in this book, you'll quickly learn how to get more out of -- and put more into -- this valuable online resource.
"Wikipedia: The Missing Manual" gives you practical advice on creating articles and collaborating with fellow editors, improving existing articles, and working with the Wikipedia community to review new articles, mediate disputes, and maintain the site. Up to the challenge? This one-of-a-kind book includes: Basic editing techniques, including the right and wrong ways to edit Pinpoint advice about which types of articles do and do not belong on Wikipedia Tips on using Wikipedia page histories and reversing inaccurate edits Ways to learn from other editors and communicate with them via the site's talk pages Tricks for using templates and timesaving automated editing tools Tools for fighting spam and vandalism Guidance on adding citations, links, and images to your articles You also learn about other Wikimedia services, such as Wikinews, Wikiquote, and Wikibooks. Wikipedia depends on people just like you to help the site grow and maintain the highest quality. With "Wikipedia: The Missing Manual," you get all the tools you need to be part of the crew.

About the Author

John Broughton has been editing Wikipedia articles since 2004, with over 10,000 edits to date. He has extensive witing experience both as a student (B.S. in Mathematical Sciences, Johns Hopkins University; M.B.A., Golden Gate University; M.S. in Education, University of Southern California; Masters in Public Policy and PhD work, University of California at Berkeley) and as an auditor and analyst in public agencies at the federal, state, and local levels in California and Washington State. He is an Eagle Scout, a National Merit Scholar, and a retired Lieutenant Colonel (U.S. Army Reserve). His first experience with computers was a programming course in a 1969 National Science Foundation summer program.