Vikidia:Don't hesitate!

Building and rebuilding is just like playing with building blocks — every small contribution adds another brick to something much bigger.

Adding to Vikidia is fun and simple, and everyone is invited to give it a try. Don't hesitate to fix a mistake, finish an unfinished article, start a brand new one, or even reorganize how articles fit together across the site.

The wider internet is a great place to look things up and to chat with people, but a wiki is different: here, you actually get to help build the site itself. Every edit, every uploaded photo, is a small step toward learning the tools that make a wiki work.

Why boldness works

Wikis grow faster when the people writing them aren't afraid to dive in. Fixing a typo, filling a gap, linking two related articles, adding a picture — there is no shortage of ways to help, and none of them require permission first.

Vikidia belongs to its readers as much as its writers, so it really is made by kids, for kids — though parents and teachers are always welcome to lend a hand, or to set up an account for a whole class.

How to help

Spotting an error or a gap is really an invitation to act: correct it, add to it, or simply take it out, since that is exactly what makes a wiki different from other kinds of writing. Naturally this only works smoothly when everyone stays reasonably polite toward the people they're editing alongside, but in practice it tends to work out well. The same goes for writing that simply reads awkwardly; if a passage feels clumsy, there is nothing wrong with rewriting it entirely in your own words.

The one thing worth doing before a large rewrite, especially one that replaces an older version outright because it no longer holds up, is leaving a short explanation on the article's talk page so other editors understand the reasoning. And whatever the size of the change, a quick note in the edit summary box at the bottom of the editing window goes a long way toward keeping everyone on the same page.

Don't take it personally

Of course, the same freedom applies to everything you write, too — other Vikidia members will go on to change it without a second thought, and that's worth not taking personally. Like everyone else here, they are simply trying to help Vikidia grow into a better encyclopedia.

Vikidia is never finished

There is always something left to correct, improve, or add, and that ongoing process is exactly what keeps the site getting better over time. The more people, young and old, who pitch in, the sooner Vikidia becomes the rich, wide-ranging encyclopedia it's meant to be.

Type the title of the article you want to create:

Portal maintenance — Access Vikidia articles about help and maintenance.