Wikimedia Community Malta

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I create a new Wikimedia account?

This can be done simply by entering your particulars at https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:CreateAccount

Your username can be your real name or a pseudonym, it’s up to you, but make a note of it and enter your email address when creating your account to enable automatic password retrieval. Having a Wikimedia account and logging in to it will ensure that all your edits are attributed to you through your username.

Where can I find Wikipedia’s “Notability” guidlelines?

Notability is one of the main criteria that determine whether a subject should be included as an encyclopedic article in Wikipedia. These guidelines vary by language and the ones for the English language Wikipedia can be found here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Notability
Guidelines specific to certain types of frequently tackled subjects can be found in this short list from the English Wikipedia:

Are there any other important guidelines that I should be aware of when editing Wikipedia?

Wikipedia’s key principles are known as The 5 Pillars. These are common on any language Wikipedia, including the Maltese Wikipedija.
Some other guidelines that are also worthy of note for new contributors are the following:

What do you mean by verifiable sources?

Verifiability is an essential element of Wikipedia’s reliability. All articles need to contain appropriate citations for reliable sources from where the information has been derived. Not all sources are equally reliable, and this is where reliable sources come into consideration.  These are normally not source directly associated with the subject of the encyclopedia article, and if they are, they’re ideally validated by a reliable third-party source to ensure some level of objectivity, within the basic principle of neutral point of view.

I’ve registered a Wikimedia account. Now what?

You can consider doing one of these things:

How do I upload images to Wikipedia and/or Wikidata?

Images that appear on Wikipedia and Wikidata normally come from Wikimedia Commons. You can use you Wikimedia account to login to Wikimedia Commons and upload any images you own or ones that are clearly availabile under an open license or in the public domain. Wikimedia Community Malta organises regular workshops on the use of images on Wikipedia, Wikidata and other open knowledge projects through the annual Wikimedia photo contests.

Is Wikipedia a “free for all” environment where “anything goes”?

The answer to this question is either no or not quite. Firstly, Wikipedia editors assume good faith by default. Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, there are several principles of etiquette, known as Wikiquette, that apply across the board. Ultimately, we would direct you the five pillars to really understand how Wikipedia functions. These principles have stood the test of time and have been embraced by Wikimedians around the world for over two decades.

Where can I find more help on contributing to Wikipedia?

  • Wikipedia Training Modules from Wiki Education are a solid way to revise or learn editing basics at your own pace.
  • The TeaHouse is an excellent place for newbies to ask questions and get relatively quick answers on the English Wikipedia.
  • Wikipedia has an extensive Help section, and most other language Wikipedias have their own version of this.
  • Talk pages are a perfect place to ask questions about a specific topic.
  • The ultimate FAQ source on the English Wikipedia.