User:Landfish7/FishyAdvice

In no particular order, here is some advice I've come up with for new or inexperienced users. This page is just for advice, for rules and regulations, see the welcome template on your talk page. Don't have one? Then ask a user to welcome you ASAP!

Recent Changes

• If you can't find anything to do, click the "Recent changes" option on the left side of the screen to find something that you find should be changed.

Random Page

• On the left side of the screen, you can also click "Random page" and look through that page for something you feel is missing or needs to be changed.

Edit Focus

• Find something that you are good at doing and make that your main way of editing. Some people help Bulbapedia projects that specialize only on certain types of articles.
• Join a project. If you have one thing that you are focusing on than you can find yourself making tons of useful edits.
• Please try to focus your edits on the facts and not stuff like Trivia.
• If you can't think of something new and useful, try looking at the errors in the article and fix those.
  • This could include spelling or grammatical errors.
  • This could include factual errors.
• If you search for an article and you don't get the one you are looking for, if you do find the article you are looking for, you might want to create a redirect for that page so that people in the future can locate it.
  • For example, if there was a trainer in the anime known as "Derik", and people called him "Diddy" and you searched "Diddy" and found that the page didn't exist, you could create the page and make it redirect to "Derik" by putting this in "#redirect [[Derik]]" and saving. Then, if someone searched "Diddy" it would automatically go to "Derik".

Preview Button

• Use the "show preview" button to revise your edit.

User Contributions

• At the top of the screen there is an option called "contributions". This is to check what kind of edits you have made recently. I highly suggest using that to see if you are making too many edits to the userspace. If a majority of your edits has "user" at the beginning, I suggest taking a break from editing the userspace and save it for the next day or save it for when you have made many productive edits to the mainspace.

Userspace

• Use your userspace to try codes out. If you want to make something fancy for the mainspace, first try messing with the coding on your userspace. To make a page within your userspace name it like so:

User:YourUsernameHere/YourPageNameHere

• Most people name this kind of page like this: User:YouUsernameHere/Sandbox.
  • If you are making a fun page on your userspace (let's say a page on possible future evolutions of Pokémon), then it would be ok to give it your own name. Remember, games and friend lists are not allowed!!

Ask an Admin[1]...

• When in doubt . . . ask an Admin.
  • This is always one of the best things you can do when in a pickle. Look for an admin and get help! They will always be open to help you. Just be sure the admin isn't busy.
• If an article is protected and you have something useful you want to add, make an edit request on the respective talk page, or ask an Admin.

DON'T SOCKPUPPET!!!

• NEVER MAKE A SOCKPUPPET ACCOUNT!! If you REALLY feel like you need to, ask an Admin.

New Pages

• When you want to make a page for the mainspace, I suggest putting it in your userspace first and then an admin will add it if it meets Bulbapedia's standard and isn't downright awful!!
  • To do this name the article like this:

User:YourUsernameHere/YourArticleNameHere

Firefox

• Try to view Bulbapedia on Firefox. Bulbapedia is meant to be viewed by this and it is much better. Honestly, once you've seen the true Bulbapedia, Internet Explorer makes it look awful!

Welcoming New Users

• If you are new to Bulbapedia, you probably have recieved a welcome message on your talk page! If you truthfully have nothing you can do to help Bulbapedia, you can always welcome other fellow new users! Here is how to welcome other new users! If you go here-->[2] you can see all of the newest users! If you find one that doesn't have a talk page, go to it and type this in--> "{{subst:welcome}}" Then click save! As easy as 1.. 2.. 3... *POOF* You welcomed a new user!

I will add more to this list if I find some more thing's that are useful.