About:Getting started

Introduction

We have relinquished control of the Travellerspoint Destination Guide and signed it over to you, our beloved members. Here's what you can do:

• Write new articles.
• Edit existing ones - by adding photos, more information, or changing what's there.

How? Without boring you with all the techno mumbo jumbo, let's just say this is a wiki, like Wikipedia. If you've never written anything for Wikipedia or any other wiki, this page will introduce you to the basic things you need to know.

If you already a know a thing or two about writing for wikis, you can start by contributing to one of our current projects:

Just want to browse? Why don't you head over to the Guide's front page and start from there.

Know your Wiki page

At the bottom of every Wiki page, you'll find a toolbar like the one displayed above. Here's what the buttons will do:

• Edit: This will allow you to edit the entire article at once. If you only want to edit a specific section, you can do so by clicking the "edit" link at the top right of that section.
• Add to Watchlist: If you want to keep track of an article, add it to your Watchlist. This allows you to easily monitor any changes occuring on an article you have written, contributed to, or just want to keep an eye on.
• Print: This will take you to a printer-friendly version of the article.
• History: Clicking this will give you an overview of all past versions of the article you are reading. This is especially handy when someone has edited something you wrote and you'd like to know what they changed.
• Discuss: Sometimes, people working on the same article might have a disagreement about what should and shouldn't be included. Instead of mindlessly editing over each other's work and starting an edit war, try starting a discussion about it. Allow both parties to present their opinion and then have a vote. If it's still undecided, wait for an administrator to come along and make the final decision.

What should I write about?

Write what you know. No one knows everything, but most people know something. So if you know about some great sights in Sao Paulo, write about that.

You may, however, find that the article you want to write has already been written. You're still free to edit it if you think things can be added or some things can be changed - that's the fluid nature of the wiki. But if you want to write something new, head over to our list of requested articles. Alternatively, you're bound to stumble across links in the Wiki that are shown in grey, which indicates that they don't lead to an article. Feel free to get the ball rolling!

How do I start a new article?

Let's pretend you're trying to create an article about Havana, the capital of Cuba. There are three ways to create this article.

Method #1: The "Create a new article" button

• On the right hand side of the browser window, there is a link to allow you to create a new article.
• Once there, you type in the article's title (Havana)
• Type the name of its "Parent Article" (Cuba)
• Select a template (City)
• Hit Create.

Method #2: Type in the URL

• Type in the URL (web address) as follows: http://www.travellerspoint.com/guide/Havana/. This will take you to the page called "Havana". If that page hasn't been created yet, you will be automatically put on the editing page - so you can just start typing.

Method #3: Link from an existing article

• When writing the article about Cuba, you're bound to mention Havana. When you do, turn it into a link, like this: [[Havana]].
• If the article exists, it will show up as a normal link (in orange). If it doesn't, it will be shown in grey. Clicking on the link will take you to the Havana editing page, so you can start creating the new page.

More Help articles

From code to copyright, there's enough things in this whole wiki writing business to keep you on your toes. Luckily, we've written a bunch of helpful guides to answer all your questions about how to write and edit this travel guide:

• All help articles - Check out this index page for a complete list of all our help articles.
• Projects - A great way to get started is to collaborate with other users on a project.
• AAAAh! Code for dummies - If you're baffled by all this "code" business.
• Copyright rules - It's just something you have to know.
• Naming articles - This shouldn't be too difficult, but there are a few rules to remember when you give titles to your articles, such as what to do with ambiguous titles.
• What you can edit - While there's plenty of things anyone can edit, there are some articles that can only be edited by certain users.
• Featuring articles - What does it take to get an article featured?
• Wiki tutorial:How to make simple edits - A very straightforward introduction to making simple edits.
• Ad Revenue Sharing - Want to get paid for your contributions?