User talk:MilesAwayGirl

Hello, a good way to start would be here. Welcome to wikipedia. Cheers and happy editing. Lectonar (talk) 14:40, 28 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

You're welcome; and do not hesitate to be bold; almost everything is easily repaired/undone. Lectonar (talk) 15:01, 28 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Starting out[edit]

I've seen your question on the new contributors' help desk and I'd like to help you find a spot in Wikipedia. What are your interests? Do you like learning about films, books, people, science, volcanoes, etc? If you enjoy a particular topic, writing or reading about it is going to be much more fun. Also, it's handy to know what skills you have. Are you good at grammar and spelling, are you a photographer or particularly apt at finding hard to find books and websites?

If you can give me an insight into what makes you tick, I think I can figure out where you'd fit best. Also, I'd be happy to give guidance on writing new articles if you have particular topics in mind.- Mgm|^(talk) 12:06, 29 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

P.S. If you want, I'd be happy to fulfill your adoption request. - Mgm|^(talk) 12:07, 29 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
From what you're saying, I suspect that you're perfectly qualified and capable of writing good articles as long as I give you a little guidance about Wikipedia specific coding and rules. So if you can find a missing article you'd like to write I'd be happy to help you with it. It's the quickest way to learn all the ins and outs of writing articles. If you still don't feel comfortable doing that, we could do an adoption of the type Hersfold gives his adoptees (see User:Hersfold/Adopt). This adoption course of his teaches you basic coding, how to get around, how to handle vandalism and the like (it's more aimed at maintenance than creation). So you can choose: what would you prefer? - Mgm|^(talk) 21:10, 29 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Hope you had a nice weekend. Are you ready to start editing or writing? - Mgm|^(talk) 11:14, 2 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]
I created some adoption pages. One (User:MacGyverMagic/Adopt/MilesAwayGirl) especially for you. I've taken Hersfold's example and formatted it into a series of lessons. Please let me know if the page has any traces left that indicate he wrote it. I want to personalize it (I'll credit him for the writing). Feel free to tell me if you think you don't need a particular lesson or if you want to do something I haven't covered yet. I won't follow Hersfold's format when it comes to required and non-required lessons. My 'final exam' will be for the adoptee to write a solid article using all the skills they've learned. If you end up preferring to focus on maintainance of existing pages, I'll adapt the final exam to reflect that. Please visit the adoption page I made for you and read it. I'm open to answer questions. - Mgm|^(talk) 10:28, 3 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Sorry for not noticing your response sooner. It got buried on my talk page. If there's more than a couple of responses below the original thread, don't hesitate to start a new one to make sure I notice your comment. I'll look at your sandbox tonight and send you a new tutorial after that. - Mgm|^(talk) 12:51, 9 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Verifiability and sources[edit]

One of Wikipedia's base policies is verifiability (check this link in edit mode; it's a piped link that actually points to WP:V links like these are called shortcuts and are used to easily get to common policy pages and other highly visited pages on the site). Verifiability means that we should strive to provide readers with reliable sources so they can check the veracity of our articles. Since you're interested in maintenance this is a key skills. There are a lot of articles left from times when criteria were less strict that still need sources. Your assignment this time is to read User:Uncle G/On sources and content and apply what you've learned to an unreferenced article. (Wikipedia:WikiProject Unreferenced Article Cleanup may be of help in finding one.) If you come across any unreliable sources in your search, I'd like you to mention a couple in a section on the adoption page and say why you think they're not reliable. - Mgm|^(talk) 19:26, 9 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]
How are you doing? It's been a while since we last talked. Adoption is not just to follow lessons; you can ask questions too. :) - Mgm|^(talk) 20:13, 25 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]