Wikipedia Tips

Why Did My Wikipedia Edit Get Removed?

Making edits to a Wikipedia page can be time-consuming. It is really frustrating when you have gone through the effort only to find that an edit you have made has been removed, and you don’t even know why. Especially as a beginner, the Wikipedia editing process can be confusing and complicated. Read on to find out some of the reasons your content on a Wikipedia page could be getting removed.

Who Updates Wikipedia?

Content on Wikipedia is constantly being updated by users from all over the world, though there is a relatively small number of registered users who regularly update the site.

Steven Pruit has made over five million edits to the English language version of Wikipedia, more than anyone else has ever made. This means that he has made content updates to one-third of all Wikipedia articles, as well as created over 30,000 Wikipedia articles himself.

With so many dedicated users, the information on the site is continuously monitored and updated, or removed. If you make any changes to an article, someone is likely to see it soon. Even unregistered users who come across the page may decide to make edits if they have knowledge about the subject.

Can Wikipedia Ban You From Editing?

If the Wikipedia community, which consists of other editors and administrators, deems your edits to be disruptive, they can decide to restrict your account. There are several different types of bans that could be placed on your account, including a specific article ban or even a full site ban.

This is why it is important to be mindful about making edits when contributing to Wikipedia pages.

Reasons Your Wikipedia Edits Could Be Getting Removed

You need to create an account. Anyone can edit articles without an account, however, other editors prefer to interact with registered Wikipedia users. It’s a good idea to create an account and Wikipedia username to which your content can be attributed.
Improper citations. Citing reliable sources is a key aspect of Wikipedia editing because that is how the site establishes credibility. Citations must be from published sources and not original research.
Biased perspective. You must write articles from a neutral perspective. If your content sounds too promotional or includes extreme views, someone else will remove it.
Conflict of interest. If you are deemed to be too close to the subject, other editors can remove your edits because you are more likely to be biased.
Not meeting notability requirements. If there aren’t enough published sources on the topic, your subject may not be notable enough to have a Wikipedia article at all. In this case, the entire page might get deleted.
Wikipedia vandalism. If you change any content in a malicious manner, other editors will remove it.
You did not provide an edit summary. This is a brief explanation of any changes you made to the content of an article so that other editors can read it. If you don’t provide one, your content is more likely to be removed.

How Can I Restore A Wikipedia Edit?

No, you should not try to restore Wikipedia edits that were removed or reverted back. Of course, this answer is probably not what you want to hear. If you try to restore edits you have previously made, Wikipedia will see this as a content war and could potentially ban your account. In this case, you should use the talk page to discuss the content with other editors, and why your addition was removed.

Closing:

Creating and editing Wikipedia pages is a process that can be frustrating at times. If you have questions about Wikipedia, browse through our other articles to get answers.

Do Wikipedia Editors Get Paid?

Wikipedia Editing, Wikipedia Tips

Having a Wikipedia page can be a beneficial part of your online marketing plan. As one of the most used sites on the internet, it often comes up at the top of search engine results. A Wikipedia article for you or your business can bring you online recognition and drive traffic to other sites.

WikipediaFAQ do wikipedia editors get paid

With that all being said, what are the costs associated with Wikipedia articles? If you want a Wikipedia article, do you have to pay money for an editor? Read on as we take a deep dive into how Wikipedia editors are paid.

Does Wikipedia Pay Editors?

As such a large and popular organization, you would think that Wikipedia would hire paid editors to keep up to date with all of its articles and pages. However, this is not the case due to the structure of the website.

Wikipedia Business Model

Wikipedia is a nonprofit organization under the Wikimedia Foundation that runs on donations and a large team of volunteer editors. People who edit Wikipedia on this volunteer basis do not receive compensation from Wikipedia.

The point of Wikipedia is to be an open-access and open-source encyclopedia that anyone in the world can edit. Every single one of us, including you, reading this, has the ability to contribute to Wikipedia. They don’t hire their own editors because it is supposed to be open to everyone to edit.

Paid Wikipedia Editors

Even though Wikipedia does not pay its editors, individuals and businesses still do hire paid editors. Wikipedia itself does not hire editors, but outside organizations may choose to do so if they want the benefits of having a Wikipedia page.

There are some extra rules that paid editors must follow

They should disclose that they are being paid, as it is a conflict of interest issue.
As with all Wikipedia articles, they must take extra care that their writing style is not promotional of their client in any way.
They may need to use the talk page to make edits to an article for a client to avoid conflict-of-interest issues.

Frequent Questions About Editing On Wikipedia

Does It Cost Money To Edit On Wikipedia?

No, it will never cost you money if you want to make edits yourself to any Wiki pages. Wikipedia is open-source, and the goal is to get people from all over the world to contribute their knowledge to the platform. Wikipedia will never charge you in order to make edits.

You may sometimes see a donation request at the top of a Wikipedia page. The organization runs on donations as a nonprofit, but this is optional, and you do not need to donate in order to make edits.

How Much Does It Cost To Get A Wikipedia Page?

If you want to create a Wikipedia page today on your own, it is absolutely free.

Individuals and businesses may choose to use paid editing services to create and manage their Wikipedia articles. The cost to create a Wikipedia page through a paid writer varies considerably – anywhere from a hundred dollars to a few thousand. Depending on the circumstances, hiring an expert editor can be useful for a number of reasons, including:

A specialized editor will know about all of the intricacies of Wikitext so that you don’t have to learn it.
They will know what mistakes to avoid when it comes to making edits on Wikipedia to ensure an article gets published.
They will be able to tell you if your subject fulfills notability requirements so that you don’t waste time writing your article just to have it rejected.
Editors are familiar with the style in which Wikipedia articles need to be written in.
If needed, they can manage your article over time by making sure no vandalism occurs and updating information as needed.

How Does Wikipedia Get Edited So Fast?

It would be easy to think that Wikipedia editors get paid since Wikipedia is edited so quickly and frequently. The reason for this is the sheer number of volunteers who dedicate their time to fact-checking the website. Anyone can do this, but a little more than 100,000 editors do so regularly.

Since there are so many editors on the site from all around the world, tons of people are constantly making edits to the website and creating new articles. All of these people care about Wikipedia’s goal of collecting the sum of all human knowledge. Most people are making edits because they have a passion for information, not because they are being paid.

Is It True That Anyone Can Edit Wikipedia?

Yes, anyone can edit Wikipedia pages. However, not all articles can be edited. Administrators on Wikipedia are able to restrict the editing of certain articles that they deem to need protection. There are many different levels of protection that a Wikipedia article could potentially have, from basic edit protection to full protection.

Articles may be put in a protected status if they are at a higher risk for vandalism or to avoid an editing war. Many articles are only protected temporarily. If you want to edit a protected article, you can still request edits through the talk page. Administrators will then review the request and either accept the edit or reject it.

When this happens, you will see a lock symbol in the top-left corner of the article.

How Do I Become A Wikipedia Editor?

If you want to start editing on Wikipedia, it is best to set up an account with them. This will give you access to several different benefits and will hide your IP address in favor of a chosen username. Wikipedia also has a lot of resources for you to learn how to edit pages if you are new to it.

Closing

Paid editing on Wikipedia is a huge topic, which can be controversial at times. If you are looking to hire someone to write and maintain your Wikipedia article, make sure you find someone who does so in an ethical manner and knows all of Wikipedia’s policies. Browse through our other articles to find answers to all of your Wikipedia questions.

Is Wikipedia A Reliable Source For Academic Research?

Wikipedia Research, Wikipedia Tips

Wikipedia is one of the most popular and visited sites on the internet. At 18 billion page views each month, Wikipedia is the largest open-source encyclopedia of information that we have. People can find information about all kinds of topics, but is it a reliable source to use for academic research?

WikipediaFAQ how to use wikipedia for academic research

Is Wikipedia Considered Reliable?

The answer to this question is complicated, and it depends on the circumstances. How reliable do you need Wikipedia to be? As an open-source project, Wikipedia makes information much more accessible than ever before, but it may not be suitable for every purpose.

Let’s break down the ways that Wikipedia is and is not reliable.

How Wikipedia Is Reliable

Wikipedia has content guidelines that editors should follow when creating Wikipedia entries and Wikipedia articles that help build Wikipedia’s credibility. These include:

Editors should regularly be fact-checking articles.
Articles must be written from a neutral standpoint, free from bias or conflict of interest.
All information claimed in a Wikipedia article must be verifiable with proper citations.
Editors and article writers should not cite other Wikipedia pages in their articles. All references must come from outside sources.
Wikipedia articles should not be original research. Rather, the writer should cite previously published research.

How Wikipedia Is Not Reliable

However, Wikipedia can also be unreliable for a number of reasons:

As an open source encyclopedia, anyone is able to make edits to Wikipedia pages.
Because anyone can make edits, articles may be subject to certain human biases.
Some articles may be lacking in citations, especially more obscure articles.
Wikipedia can often be subject to vandalism.
Citations on Wikipedia may not reach a standard needed for academic research. In fact, Wikipedia itself says that it is not a reliable source of academic research.

As an academic researcher, the question is not whether Wikipedia is reliable or unreliable in general. Are you looking for an overview of Irish history? Or are you writing a dissertation on the cultural implications of the potato famine?

The real question is: is it reliable enough to support my research and reference in my paper? The answer to that question is a resounding no. However, that doesn’t mean Wikipedia is useless to you.

How to Use Wikipedia for Academic Research

Even though you should avoid citing Wikipedia directly in your academic paper, it still makes a great starting point for research. Wikipedia is fantastic for giving you an overview of a particular topic, as well as leads to begin your research.

Here is a step-by-step guide for using Wikipedia in an academic way:

If you are completely unfamiliar with a topic, enter your search term into Google. Click on the Wikipedia article if there is one.
Read through the article to get familiarized with your topic of choice. Bookmark the Wikipedia page so you can come back to it later if you need to.
If there is a piece of information that you want to know more about, click on the corresponding citation. Not all citations will lead to websites. If the citation leads to a book, for example, you’ll have to purchase or borrow the book.
Evaluate the references based on your college or university guidelines. Good sources include peer-reviewed research papers, journal articles, news reports, primary and secondary sources, scientific articles, etc.
Keep a running list of these references in a document so that you can either cite them in your paper or add them to your bibliography.
Instead of citing Wikipedia, you can simply cite the references that you got from Wikipedia, knowing that you went through and fact-checked all the sources. Do this alongside other research methods.

In Closing:

Wikipedia is a wonderful resource that makes so much information accessible to people all over the world. In general, it is reliable, however, it won’t go as in-depth into topics as you will need to go for academic writing. However, it makes a great starting point. Take a look at our other articles for all of your Wikipedia-based questions.

What To Know About MLA Wikipedia Citations

Wikipedia Citations, Wikipedia Tips

If you have ever written or edited a Wikipedia article, you will know that properly citing all of your sources is essential. As an open-source encyclopedia of information, Wikipedia relies on citations to build credibility. One of the methods of citation you can use in your article is known as MLA style citations. This article will go over how and when to use them.

What are MLA Style Citations?

MLA stands for the Modern Language Association. They are a large scholarly body that aims to promote the study and teaching of language and literature. They created the MLA Style citation method in the 1950s in order to help writers demonstrate credibility in their work, as well as to help readers trust the source of information. MLA is one of many different types of citation that you can use in your research.

What Kind Of Citation To Use On Wikipedia

Wikipedia uses five different kinds of citations in its articles:

Full Citations are the most commonly used method of citing information in a Wikipedia article. It will show up in the article as a footnote, with full details of the source in the citations section.
General References are sources that are not directly referenced in the article, but support the information in general. Some articles have their own ‘General References’ section that is separate from other citations.
In-text attributions are used within sentences, especially to reference quotes, paraphrases, or statements of biased opinion.
Inline Citations include any citation that is added at the end of sentences or paragraphs, close to the information it supports. These can be done as footnotes or parenthetical citations. These should always be used after in-text attributions.
Short Citation is a type of inline citation that does not give the entire details of the source.

MLA citations are one of the types of short citations, along with APA Style, Harvard Style, and Chicago Style. You’ll be familiar with these if you have ever had to write an academic paper!

When To Use MLA Citation On Wikipedia

Even though full citations with footnotes are the most common type of citation seen on Wikipedia articles, there are still times that you should use short citations. Which style of short citation you use will depend on the subject matter of your article:

APA Style comes from the American Psychological Association and is used for topics related to education and social sciences.
Chicago Style, from the University of Chicago, is used for history, fine art, and business topics.
Harvard Style is generally used for scientific articles.
MLA style is used for the arts and humanities.

There are many other methods of referencing, but MLA and APA styles are the most popular styles. So, if you are writing an article about anything in the arts, humanities, and literature, use MLA style.

In a Wikipedia article, you should use MLA citations whenever you want to reference the specific pages of a source. You can use the MLA style to cite journal articles, books, and even web pages.

How To Do In Text Citations For MLA

MLA is a simple style where you include the author (by last name only) and page numbers inside a parenthesis. However, this can vary slightly depending on the way you structure the sentence and what kind of source you are referencing.

In general, when you use the MLA style, you will state a fact from a source, and follow it with the author’s last name and the page number. Ex. The sky is blue (Smith, 18).
If you use the author’s name in the sentence, only list the page number. Ex. Smith states that the sky is blue (18).
If there are multiple authors of a source, list all of the authors. Ex. The sun provides the earth with heat (Smith, Doe, and Johnson, 20).
When there is no author, you can use the article title or a shortened title if the title is too long. Ex. There are millions of stars in the Milky Way Galaxy (Space, 27).
When citing a web page with no page numbers, simply use the author’s name. Ex. There are eight planets in the solar system (Williams).

Always place the punctuation after the citation, as noted above. MLA citations should go at the end of sentences or paragraphs. when using them in a Wikipedia article, they should link to the full citation at the bottom of the article.

Full MLA citations can be formatted in a few different ways, depending on the source. If you can’t find a certain piece of information, you can leave it out. Take a look at these examples:

Books:

Author’s Last Name, First Name. Title of the Book. Edition, Publisher, Year of Publication.

Journal Articles:

Author’s Last Name, First Name. Title of the Article. Title of the Journal, vol. Volume, no. Issue, Month Year of Publication, pp. Pages, Link.

Webpages:

Author’s Last name, First name. “Title of Work.” Website, Day Month Year of Publication, URL.

What Is A Works Cited Page?

A ‘Works Cited’ page is a list of references to sources that you used directly in your research paper or Wikipedia article. In a long research paper, the list of citations can be several pages long. On a Wikipedia article, this will appear at the bottom of the page and can include hundreds of sources.

When you are writing a research article or paper, you will also need to include a bibliography. Bibliographies and works cited pages differ slightly. While works cited pages include sources that you directly referenced, a bibliography also includes sources you did not directly use. In a bibliography, you have to list all of the sources that you read in order to build your foundational understanding of the subject matter. This is why it is so vital to keep track of your research as you go.

In both works cited pages and bibliographies, references should always be arranged in alphabetical order based on the author’s last name.

Why Do I Need A Works Cited Page On

Wikipedia?

Doing all of this work may seem complicated, but citing your work is vital to writing Wikipedia articles. Writers and editors need to properly cite sources in order to back up information and avoid spreading misinformation to the public. Citations are also vital for readers so that they can trust the information they are being given as well as find resources for further information.

Citations build Wikipedia’s credibility, as well as make sure writers and editors are not plagiarising other people’s work. In fact, if you try to write an article or make edits without proper sources, they will get rejected.

Here are some tips for citing your Wikipedia article:

Be mindful to avoid citation overkill. Instead, only use the necessary amount of sources you need to cite the information.
Be consistent with the citation method that you use in the article to avoid clutter. If editing an existing article, maintain the same citation method that is already being used.
You do not need to cite something that is common knowledge. E.g. ‘Abraham Lincoln was the 16th president of the United States of America’.
Make sure that the sources you do use are credible.
Do not directly use Wikipedia as a source in your article, as this goes against Wikipedia’s policies.

How To Cite Wikipedia

If you are a student writing a research paper, Wikipedia articles will usually appear at the top of Google search results for your search term. This makes Wiki articles convenient sources of information. However, teachers and professors usually advise staying away from Wikipedia when doing research. You actually can, however, use Wikipedia as a port of call when doing research. Here is how to use Wikipedia in research papers:

Enter your search term on Google.
Click on the Wikipedia page and read over the information.
If you see any information you want to use in your research, click on the citation at the end of the sentence or paragraph. Clicking on this will take you to the works cited page at the bottom of the article.
If you want to browse through the citations, scroll down to the bottom of the page to the ‘References section. With larger articles, this section will be subdivided into ‘Citations’, ‘General References’, and sometimes a ‘Further Reading’ section.
Click directly on the links to the sources provided on the works cited page. If there is no link, that means the reference can not be found online, and you can try searching for it at your library.
Evaluate the reference based on your college, university, or research body’s guidelines.
Reference that source directly in your research paper instead of referencing Wikipedia.

In Closing

Knowing how and when to use citations on Wikipedia can seem complicated, but it is essential for writing Wikipedia articles. Follow these steps and tips for using MLA citations in your Wikipedia article, and get your article published! Browse our other articles if you need more information about creating Wikipedia articles.

How To Become A Wikipedia Administrator

Wikipedia Editing, Wikipedia Tips

With over 50 million articles and 370 million readers, Wikipedia is the fifth largest website in the world. It is also one of the most trusted resources for information. But behind every article and user account, there is an administrator who helps keep everything running smoothly.

These administrators are responsible for keeping vandalism to a minimum, monitoring activity on individual pages, and maintaining neutral guidelines by adding or removing content as necessary.

What is a Wikipedia Admin?

They are also known as sysops or admins in Wikipedia. These are editors granted the technical rights and permission to carry out particular actions on the Wikipedia page.

Some notable activities include blocking and unblocking IP addresses and user accounts. Wikipedia administrators are volunteers and must undergo a community review process before being granted the ability to perform their duties.

How to Become a Wikipedia Admin?

As for the English Wikipedia, there is no official requirement. However, before requesting a nomination, you should be an active and long-term Wikipedia editor. You should also understand the practices and procedures of Wikipedia while respecting the policies in place. Editors will also ask whether you have ever edited Wikipedia for remuneration. A discussion will happen for about seven days to determine whether you are suitable to become an admin.

Be An Editor First

As seen in the process of becoming an administrator, you must be an editor for Wikipedia first. From being an editor, you will easily learn the practices and procedures of Wikipedia. You will understand and appreciate its policies. The community will also trust you, which is a massive advantage of being an administrator.

Role of the Wikipedia Admin

Ultimately, an administrator on Wikipedia’s role is to uphold the platform’s guidelines. These responsibilities include:

Conduct

Administrators are expected to lead by example and behave respectfully. They should follow all the Wikipedia policies while performing their duties diligently. Even though mistakes are acceptable since no one is perfect, consistently poor judgment or lousy faith editing is not acceptable.

Accountability

Admins should be accountable for every action they take involving administrator tools. They should promptly respond to editors’ questions about their administrative activities. Administrators that act contrary to community and Wikipedia guidelines will have their administrator rights revoked.

Security

According to Wikipedia policies, Wikipedia administrators must have strong passwords. They must also adhere to appropriate personal security practices. That is because a single erroneous edit could cause massive damage to the site. All compromised admin accounts are blocked, and the admin rights are taken away due to site security.

In Closing: Becoming a Wikipedia Admin

Are you interested in becoming an administrator on Wikipedia? We hope this article helps you reach that goal. Browse the Wikipedia FAQ site for more tips on Wikipedia.

How to Contribute to Wikipedia

Wikipedia Tips

Do you want to create a Wikipedia page, but don’t know where to start? Having a Wikipedia page is a great way to increase your online presence and manage your online reputation for yourself or your business. It also helps add to the encyclopedia of free knowledge that the site is known for. If you have never edited or created a Wikipedia page before, it is pretty easy to get started.

How to become a Wikipedia contributor

Becoming a Wikipedia contributor is designed to be simple for people with knowledge about a particular subject to add to it. Wikipedia is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation Inc, a non profit organization that believes in accessible knowledge for everyone. The website is designed in such a way that people from all over the world can contribute their knowledge to the website.

Can anyone edit Wikipedia?

Anyone in the world is allowed to edit pretty much any Wikipedia article. Even if you don’t have an account, Wikipedia will list your IP address if you make edits to an existing article. You will however need an account in order to create new pages and have edits credited to your username.

There are over 34 million people who are registered with Wikipedia, and about 100,000 of those make regular contributions to articles. You can be one of those people too!

How often does Wikipedia get updated?

Updates to information on Wikipedia are frequent. According to Wikipedia, there are over 6 million articles on the site, and information is edited by someone every two seconds. Information is constantly being added to the site, but some of that includes Wikipedia Vandalism, which you should be wary of.

How to get a Wikipedia Page

If you want to create a Wikipedia page about a certain topic that hasn’t already been written about, you just need to sign up and add your article. However, it is not advised to create a Wikipedia page for yourself, as this goes against Wikipedia’s conflict of interest guidelines. Read this article to learn about how to get your Wikipedia article approved.

Contributing to Wikipedia – A Step-By-Step Process

Create an account with Wikipedia.
Understand Wikipedia’s Five Pillars. This includes some guidelines to help you write your article and make edits. These are policies and not hard rules, but you must agree to the terms of Wikipedia.
If you are completely new to editing, try the Wikipedia Adventure. This is an interactive game that teaches you all of the editing basics. There is also a cheat sheet to help you learn wiki text.
In order to unlock all of the features of your account, you will need to have your account open for 4 days and make 10 edits to existing articles.
There are two ways to make edits to Wikipedia pages. You can use the classic editor, which uses wiki markup, also known as wiki text. You can also use VisualEditor for a more beginner-friendly option.
Since anyone is allowed to edit on Wikipedia, editors may at times disagree about updates to articles. If you want to discuss something with another editor, you can use the talk page.
One of the most important things when it comes to writing Wikipedia articles is citing your sources. Everything that you claim in your article has to be backed up by an outside, reliable source.

How to cite a Wikipedia Page

When you write a Wikipedia article, it is important to properly cite every piece of information you put into it. Without proper citations, your article may not get approved. Follow these citation tips when writing your article:

Articles have no credibility without the proper citation of outside sources. Everything you write in the article must be neutral and factual. Without sources, the information could be taken down by another editor.
Do not cite other Wikipedia articles as sources in your article. Wikipedia gains credibility from outside sources.
Do not cite self-published work. This is especially important when creating a Wikipedia article for yourself or your business.
Wikipedia articles should not be original research. The information needs to be sourced from previously published work.
Good examples of sources include books, articles, news stories, blog posts, textbooks, and documentaries.

How to cite Wikipedia In Text

Sometimes you find really good information on Wikipedia that you would like to use for your article or other research paper. Here are some tips for how to cite Wikipedia in text:

Colleges and universities do not recommend that their students directly cite a Wikipedia page. You also can not cite another Wikipedia page in your Wikipedia article.
Click on the footnote for the piece of information that you want to use. The page will scroll down to the source link.
Click on the link and read through the source to decide if you can use it.
Use that source directly for your in-text citation.

In Closing:

Wikipedia makes it really simple for people from all over the world to contribute to their free source of knowledge. By following these steps, you can get starting contributing to Wikipedia today. If you need help creating an article, a Wikipedia specialist could be a good investment for you or your business.