View source for WMAwiki:Introduction

==What is WMAWiki?==

WMAWiki.org is an online resource that is collaboratively created and edited by many of its users.  It is a special type of website called a [[Wikipedia:wiki|wiki]] that makes collaboration easy.  A very popular ''wiki'' on the internet is [http://www.wikipedia.org Wikipedia].

WMAWiki is a work in progress by nature, meaning '''we need your help''' to make this the best resource available to Western Martial Artists.  To become a part of the editing community and improve our existing articles or add new ones, simply create an account by clicking the Create Account link in the upper right hand corner of this page, and start editing!

'''Don't be afraid to edit'''.  Add an article, improve some grammar, or add some facts. Be '''bold!'''  You can't break WMAWiki.  There is nothing that you do that can't be changed or improved later.  Many of our original articles included gaping holes, we were fully aware of, or our own conjecture or interpretation -- we put it out there so others could see it and make it better.  So get out there and start making your mark on WMAWiki!

==Ways you Can Help==
There are many ways you can help, but here are a few suggestions:
# Find a missing article and add it.  Missing articles show up as <font color=red>red</font> links throughout the site.
# Find a stub (a short article) and expand it.
# Join a [[Portal:Masters and Manuscripts#Study Projects|Study Project]] and become part of creating an online translation or interpretation of an historical [[Portal:Masters and Manuscripts|manuscript]].
# Correct the facts, grammar, or formatting of an existing article.
# Add useful resources to a portal such as [[Portal:Instruction|Instruction]] or [[Portal:Learning|Learning]].
# Add your school or study group to our [[:Category:WMA Schools and Study Groups|Schools and Study Groups]] page.

''If you are interested in becoming involved with the overall direction of WMAWiki, join the [[Project:WMAWiki|WMAWiki Project]] or check out it's [[WMAwiki talk:WMAWiki|discussion page]].''

==How to Edit==
We could write our own tutorial here, but ''Wikipedia'' has already gone to great lengths to put together a comprehensive one of their own, and considering they're using the same engine as we, we recommend you [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Introduction_2 check it out] to get a good tour of the editing features available to you.

However, we have added some useful functionality of our own to address the unique focus of the WMA wiki.  Check out [[Help:Editing WMAwiki]] for more information.

==Policies and Guidelines==
At this time we have not created any formal policies or guidelines (join the [[Project:WMAWiki|WMAWiki Project]] if you would like to be involved in creating them, however we would prefer that new authors and editors use the existing content as a guide for their own new creations and improvements.  If you have any questions regarding policies or guidelines or would like to discuss your ideas on direction, please post them on the [[WMAwiki talk:WMAWiki|WMAWiki Project Discussion page]].

Some general policies we have at this time:
* Articles are written in [[Wikipedia:American English|American English]] (even though one of the founders is Canadian).
* Please cite references to any facts, quotes, or excerpts in your articles.  This is done by including your citation immediately following the text inside of ref tags.  Example: <nowiki><ref>Capo Ferro's Gran Simulacro</ref></nowiki>. ''For more on citation, see the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citing_sources wikipedia guidelines]''.