User talk:Nicole Willson

Welcome!

Welcome to the Citizendium! We hope you will contribute boldly and well. Here are pointers for a quick start. You'll probably want to know how to get started as an author. Just look at CZ:Getting Started for other helpful "startup" links, and CZ:Home for the top menu of community pages. Be sure to stay abreast of events via the Citizendium-L (broadcast) mailing list (do join!) and the blog. Please also join the workgroup mailing list(s) that concern your particular interests. You can test out editing in the sandbox if you'd like. If you need help to get going, the forums is one option. That's also where we discuss policy and proposals. You can ask any constable for help, too. Me, for instance! Just put a note on their "talk" page. Again, welcome and have fun! Chris Key 23:56, 12 August 2010 (UTC)

Welcome, Nicole

Hi, Nicole:

While you are reviewing our Citizendium policies, you might want to look as Help:Index/Map to see the various Help pages that are available.

Also, if you so desire, I would be happy to provide you with a personal "sandbox" where:

• You can practice writing articles in the Wiki markup language.
• If you already know the Wiki markup language, you can draft any articles you want to write and keep changing them until you are completely satisfied with them ... and then you can create a new article by cutting and pasting the sandbox article into the new one.
• You can invite other Citizens to visit your sandbox, review a prospective article that you wrote in sandbox, and ask for their comments/critique before you proceed to cut and paste it into a new article.

Just let me know at User talk:Milton Beychok and I will create your sandbox. Enjoy yourself here at Citizendium,. Milton Beychok 03:59, 13 August 2010 (UTC)

Welcome! Nicole. Citizendium is truly fortunate to have you here as you offer many skills that will help Citizendium grow. You are one of the best admins (aka constables here) that I've had the pleasure of collaborating with at wikiHow. You have a good understanding the wiki environment as you have professional experience in that too. You also have a Masters degree in library science. Your academic credentials far outshine my humble B.A. Here's the information on how to make your own sandbox [[User:Mary Ash/My sandbox|'''My sandbox''']] and a link to a very handy reference tool maker shared by Matt: [1] You will find the reference tool maker very handy. I'm sorry I took so long to respond as I was running errands most of yesterday. Give me a holler if you need help. There is a steep learning curve here as Citizendium has some very strict rules about editing pages, etc. I'm so glad you are here!Mary Ash 14:54, 13 August 2010 (UTC)

I forgot to add use the : to indent the talk page and be sure to use the Sandbox to write your articles online. I guess the articles in the Sandbox are not supposed to be edited by other contributors as long as your article is in the Sandbox. I now do all my writing offline using a word processor and then I upload the file. Be aware that editors can make any and all edits here as they are considered experts. You will probably become an expert, as you have a Masters degree, whereas I will remain a humble contributor. :-) Mary Ash 15:19, 13 August 2010 (UTC)

Hello, Nicole. To avoid misunderstandings: All Citizens (or authors) can edit all pages, not only editors. The difference to editors (or Editors, to emphasize this) only is that editors are considered experts in some field(s) where they may make content decisions and evaluate articles. Most edits they do are simple edits as authors.

Sometimes, as Mary has experienced, authors may crowd on one article but more often collaboration is less intense. Large parts of collaboration happens on the talk pages. --Peter Schmitt 18:15, 13 August 2010 (UTC)

Thanks Peter. You communicated better than I did. I was trying to make sure she fully understood what could happen here. Nicole and I go way back as we contributed plenty of wiki articles at wikiHow and a few at Recipe Wikia. Mary Ash 20:26, 13 August 2010 (UTC)