CZ:Be Bold

Be bold!

One of the first things you must realize is that you've got to be bold if this project is going to work. It is natural to be cautious about editing stuff that other people have written. The fact that there are many highly educated types here makes some people afraid to touch the wiki, period. But this is a huge mistake. We want and need the participation of a wide array of people. This isn't an experts-only project in the least; most of our registered contributors are, in fact, authors, not (expert) editors. Also, keep in mind that most people here are quite friendly. So far, anyway, we've had very little unpleasantness here.

So, please, be bold about contributing. Want to start a new article on a subject? Please do! You don't need to ask anyone's permission. Want to fix someone's spelling or grammar? Dive in, this is a collaboration. Want to add a new section, or revamp a bibliography? Add, revamp, and edit away!

But before you edit an article that seems pretty far along, have a look at the article's "talk" page (click the "discussion" tab at the top of the screen) and check for comments that people might have made.

There's a place to list your Bold Moves, when you feel the community should have a look at your work!

Being Bold, and being Overly Bold, a couple of examples:

It is difficult to precisely define what Being Bold is and isn't, so let's simply look at a couple of examples.

Being Bold can be:

• Starting a brand new article about, say, Barbra Streisand, Caraway seeds, the Atlas Mountains, John Dickson Carr, or any one of millions of other topics in which you are both interested and, presumably, knowledgeable to a certain degree. All we ask is that you write at least 50 words about the topic, just to get it started, and that you respect our guidelines about CZ:Family-Friendly Policy.

• Going to an existing article, such as Michael Gilbert or Central Intelligence Agency, and making editorial changes to it such as:

• Correcting spelling, typos, and grammar.

• Rewriting anything that seems awkward or ill-phrased—in other words, improving its writing, tone, and style.

• Correcting any factual errors you find.

• Adding any sources or references that you feel really ought to be cited.

• Adding to the subpages of articles, e.g. to their bibliography, related articles, external links or gallery pages.

• Adding new material to the article, in the form of a few words here and there, a couple of new sentences here and there, an illustration or even entirely new paragraphs and/or new sections with a large amount of new material.

• All of the above is both permitted and actively encouraged.