Help:Contributing FAQ
From Wikibooks, the open-content textbooks collection
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[edit] Getting started
[edit] How can I contribute?
- By editing pages, creating new pages, publicizing Wikibooks, and many other ways, such as donating.
[edit] Why would I want to contribute?
[edit] Do I have to register to edit pages in this site?
- No. Anyone can edit without any kind of registration.
[edit] What's the point of getting a user ID?
- There are many reasons: see Help:Logging in
[edit] Do I have to use my real name?
- Real names are not required; some Wikibookians use real names, some don't. Some people may seek recognition for being a scholar through Wikipedia. The love of knowledge is a fundamental principle.
[edit] How do I change my username?
- The only way is to create a new user account.
[edit] Terminology
See also Wikibooks:Glossary
[edit] What's the difference between a page and a module?
- The term "page" encompasses all the material on Wikibooks, including instructional resource topics, talk pages, documentation, and special pages such as Recent Changes. "module" is a narrower term refering to a page containing an instructional resource entry. Thus, all modules are pages, but not all pages are modules. See Wikibooks:What is a module for more.
[edit] What is an orphan?
- An orphan is a module that no other module links to. These can still be found by searching the Wikibooks, but it is preferable to find another module where a link can be added. You can find a list of orphan modules here.
[edit] What is a stub?
- A stub on Wikibooks is a very short module, generally of one paragraph or less. Most people hate stubs, even though they are probably a necessary evil. Many excellent modules started out as short stubs. Existing stubs should be expanded into proper modules: there is a hand-made list at Wikibooks:Find or fix a stub, and a generated list at special:Shortpages. If you want to write a stub module, there are some helpful suggestions on Wikibooks:The perfect stub module
[edit] What is disambiguation?
[edit] What is a minor edit? When should I use it?
- When editing a page, a logged-in user has the option of flagging the edit as a "minor edit". When to use this is somewhat a matter of personal preference. The rule of thumb is that an edit of a page that is spelling corrections, formatting, and minor rearranging of text should be flagged as a "minor edit". A non minor edit is basically something that makes the entry worth relooking at for somebody who wants to watch the module rather closely, so any "real" change, even if it is a single word. If information is added to, or removed from a page then the edit should not be marked minor.
- This feature is important, because users can choose to hide minor edits in their view of the Recent Changes page, to keep the volume of edits down to a manageable level.
[edit] General
[edit] Where do I find more information beyond this FAQ?
- You can start by reading the introduction at Wikibooks:Welcome, newcomers. The Wikibooks:Help page has a useful selected index, and there is another list of of different links at Wikibooks:Utilities.
[edit] Are there any rules or guidelines I should be aware of?
- See Wikibooks:Policies and guidelines. That includes:
- standard forms for page names: Wikibooks:Naming conventions
[edit] I (and a community) have created a open source software. We want to write the documentation, user help and etc with wiki. Could I do it in wikibooks, or should I install a wiki in my own website?
Either way, really. But if you really want people to know where to find it, and you want to do it in a wiki, do it on your site. But hey, maybe doing it in Wikibooks isn't a bad idea.
There's an alternative -- you could use some wiki other than wikibooks.
If you have open-source game content or software, please post a message at the Free Games Wiki http://freegames.wiki.taoriver.net/ .
If you do install your own wiki, please add your wiki to the list at http://worldwidewiki.net/ .
[edit] What is "Recent Changes", and what do the abbreviations used there mean?
- Recent Changes lists all the edits that have been made over a given time period. See Wikibooks:Recent Changes for info.
[edit] Are there any standard formats, for things like dates for example?
- See the Manual of Style
[edit] What do I do if I find two modules on the same subjects?
- Well, you could merge them yourself if you are feeling bold. Pick the most suitable page name (which may not necessarily be one of the existing ones!). If you're not sure which name to use, or whether the two modules should really be merged, mention it on the talk page of one of them (and put a quick note with a link on the talk page of the other), and see what other Wikibookians think. You can also make a mention of the problem on the list of Wikibooks:Duplicate modules.
[edit] What is the ideal/maximum length of a module? When should a module be split into smaller pieces?
- Modules should not be larger than 30 kilobytes. See Wikibooks:Page size for details
[edit] Can we debate or talk about the subjects here?
- This is an instructional resource that strives to present subjects from the neutral point of view. Debate intended to convince someone else of your point of view on a certain subject may take place on Meta-Wikimedia. Discussion intended to improve modules is welcome here, however; it takes place in the Talk pages attached to every module.
[edit] I've found vandalism, or I've damaged a page by mistake! How can I restore it?
[edit] Which languages can I use?
- This is the English Wikibooks, so please use English for descriptions and explanations. Of course, foreign language textbooks do need to use vast amounts of non-English text, but that text is used for examples and for student reading.
[edit] Should I use American English or British English?
- People are writing in all sorts of English. However, it is good form to keep usage consistent within a given module and perhaps book.
- Use of one English variation in module titles can cause a Search in another variant to fail. In this case, it is recommended that you create a new module using the alternative spelling which is a redirect to the main module. Then, in order to prevent this redirect being an orphan, create a link to the redirect from the top of the Talk page of the main module.
[edit] How do I spell-check a page?
- A spell checker has been requested for Wikibooks' software, MediaWiki, but has not been implemented yet. When editing a larger module, it may be more convenient to paste the text into your favorite text editor or word processor first, edit and spell check there, and then paste back into your browser to preview. You can also use an online spell checker such as Spellonline.
- Additionally, some browsers include spelling correction for all text editing files. Such is the case of all Cocoa browsers for MacOS X (Safari, Camino, OmniWeb, etc) and Firefox. Please see the documentation for your particular browser/operating system to turn this option on.
- There is a list of common misspellings, which you can use to check if a listed misspelling is on any page in the database. Unlike a spell checker, an unrecognized word is considered correct.
[edit] Why are some links red? What are the ? links?
- They both indicate that a page with that name has not yet been started. Which one you see depends on your Special:Preferences. If you have "Highlight links to empty topics" checked, you'll see red links. Otherwise, you get the little blue question marks. See Wikibooks:User preferences help to learn how to set your preferences.
- Either way, you can click on that link and start a page with that name. But be careful -- there may already be modules on similar topics, or a module on the same topic under a different name. It's pretty important to hunt around for similar topics first. See Wikibooks:Naming conventions for information on naming pages.
[edit] What happens when two users edit a page at the same time?
- This is called an "edit conflict".
- The first person to click "Save page" wins -- his changes are saved as if he were the only one editing the page.
- The second person will get a conflict screen that displays both versions in separate windows, along with a summary highlighting the differences (typically showing the edits of both users, except those which both have made exactly the same), and instructions on how you should proceed. It's virtually impossible to lose any data.
- (The Wikibooks software developers have suggested that there may be a more advanced system that automagically merges in the future.)
[edit] What happens if my computer or browser crashes mid-edit, or if the server does not respond?
- You'll lose your edit. To some extent, you can guard against this by editing in Notepad or some other text editor, for major work (but note that with regard to a system crash this does not help, unless you save frequently to disk). When you get a time-out when you try to save, you lose your edit also. You can protect against this by copying the text (at least to the clipboard of your system). If you did not do this, you can at least recover the latest reviewed version by using the back-button of the browser and refreshing the page.
[edit] How do I learn about changes to certain topics without having to go there from time to time?
- If you are a logged-in user, on every page you will see a link that says "Watch this page". If you click on it, the page will be added to your personal watchlist. Your watchlist will show you the latest changes on your watched pages.
[edit] What file formats should I use for pictures/videos?
- For images, use JPEG for photographs, and PNG for drawings, logos and the like. GIF can be used instead of PNG, but it is discouraged because of patent reasons. As for video, good question; it hasn't come up yet. See Wikibooks:Image use policy for more.
[edit] What file format should I use for sound?
- Ogg Vorbis is preferred for sound; MP3 is tolerated but also discouraged for the same reason as GIF. See Wikibooks:Sound help for more.
[edit] One of the contributors is being unreasonable. Help!
[edit] Can I change the default number of contributions displayed in the "My contributions" list?
- Currently, no. You can, however, change the setting on the page and bookmark the resulting page.
[edit] Is it OK to link to other sites, as long as the material is not copied onto Wikibooks?
- External links are just fine. Arguably, they increase the usability of Wikibooks. Keep in mind, however, that Wikibooks is not a web directory; external links should support the content of the module, not replace it. The current convention is to place external links in a separate section at the bottom of the module. However, sometimes they are placed within the module as a footnote. See Wikibooks:How does one edit a page for different ways to create external links.
[edit] Copyrights
[edit] I have, or can get, special permission to copy an image or module to Wikibooks. Is it OK to do that?
- The text and images of Wikibooks are covered by the GNU Free Documentation License. Unless an item is covered by the same or a similar license, or is in the public domain, it cannot be used on Wikibooks. So you have to ask the copyright holder of the material to license it under GFDL (See Wikibooks:Boilerplate request for permission).
[edit] I have an out-of-copyright image (or text) that is reproduced in an in-copyright book. Can I scan / type it into Wikibooks?
- Providing they haven't altered the image then they can't claim a copyright on it. If it was in the public domain before they used it, it's still in the public domain afterward.
[edit] Does using a GIF image in Wikibooks violate the GFDL because of its patent?
- Note: the LZW patent owned by Unisys has expired on June 20, 2003 in the United States, and have also been expired in other countries since July 7, 2004. Some of the below may no longer be relevant Like all legal questions, however, there are still issues to be resolved, including other conflicting patents on the LZW algorithm, as well as data compression patents that may more generally apply. "Consult an attorney for more legal advice."
- The LZW compression algorithm used with the GIF format is patented . It is nevertheless legally permissable to produce gif's and release them under the GFDL, just like it is legal to produce a CD-ROM with GFDL material even though the CD-ROM format is patented. People who write or use gif creation programs are bound by the patent. There may also be separate licensing fees for distribution of patented multimedia data formats like GIF images, which if not in fact at least in philosophy violate the principles of the GFDL, preventing you from freely using the image or picture. That is why free software generally does not support the format anymore. That being said, we encourage Wikibookians to use the technically superior and patent-free PNG format instead of GIF.
[edit] Under the copyright law in Japan, copyright holders cannot make their works public domain, therefore there is no public domain in materials covered by Japanese copyright law. What can I do?
- Technically, there is still expiration in Japan too. So if the works exceeded expiration term, they are considered public domain. Otherwise, they cannot be public domain.
[edit] Miscellaneous
[edit] Wikibooks is great but I no longer have a life. I feel the urge to spread this affliction to my fellow human beings. How do I spread the word?
- See Wikibooks:Building Wikibooks membership for some ideas. Good luck with your insidious plot. Mwahahaha!
[edit] How do I donate to Wikibooks?
- To learn how to donate to Wikibooks parent organization, Wikimedia, visit and click on Fundraising and Donations
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