View source for The Godfather Wiki:Welcome, newcomers

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[[The Godfather Wiki:About|The Godfather Wiki]] is a ''[[The Godfather (franchise)|The Godfather]]'' encyclopedia written collaboratively by its readers. The site is a [[Wikipedia:Wiki|Wiki]], meaning that anyone, including ''you'', can edit almost any article right now by clicking on the '''[[#Editing|Edit]]''' link that appears at the top of the page.

Much of The Godfather Wiki follows a similar setup to its parent wiki, [[Wikipedia:Wikipedia|Wikipedia]].

==Browsing The Godfather Wiki==
The Godfather Wiki contains a lot of information on all sorts of subjects within the official Godfather canon, ranging from [[:Category:Individuals|characters]], [[:Category:Locations|locations]] and [[:Category:Organizations|organizations]] to everything and anything in between. It also includes [[:Category:Real world articles|real-world]] articles on the creators who help build the series.

You can also search for text in articles. Just go to the "search" field to the left, enter your search term and click "search". Note that the built-in search function may be disabled in times of server overload; in these cases you will be redirected to a [[Wikipedia:Google|Google]]-based search of the The Godfather Wiki database.

If you read something that you really like, then why not drop a note on the article's ''talk page''? First select the '''discussion''' link (look for it in the tabs above the page), to get to the talk page. Then select '''Edit''' on the talk page, or click the '''+''' to the right of '''Edit''' to simply add a new comment. We always love to get a little positive feedback.

==Editing==
Everyone can edit pages in The Godfather Wiki &mdash; even this page! Just click the '''Edit''' link at the top of any page if you think it needs any improvement or new information. You don't need anything special; you don't even need to be [[Help:Create an account|logged in]]. If you want to experiment first, without risk of "messing up" a real article, head over to [[The Godfather Wiki:Sandbox|the sandbox]], where you can practice editing to your heart's content. To practice editing an existing page like this one, just copy and paste it from the article's edit page into the sandbox.

If you want to learn more, check out the [[Help:Contents|help page index]] to learn the basic info you should know as a member of our project.

==Policies and guidelines==
The Godfather Wiki has a few [[:Category:Policy|policies and guidelines]] that you should look at. The three most essential principles are NPOV, GFDL, and civility. What does this mean?

*NPOV, or [[Wikipedia:Wikipedia:Neutral point of view|neutral point of view]] means that articles should not be biased, and should represent differing views on a subject fairly.

*All contributions to The Godfather Wiki are released under the GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL). This specifically ensures that The Godfather Wiki will remain freely distributable in perpetuity. Please do not submit any content that is copyrighted without permission of the copyright holder. (See [[Wikipedia:Wikipedia:Copyrights|Copyrights]] for more information).

*Civility. The Godfather Wiki works by cooperation, and therefore mutual respect. Please [[Project:Assume good faith|assume good faith]] when you disagree with someone and talk things over civilly. It is good practice to provide an edit summary explaining your changes so as to assist others with noticing and accepting your changes. If you find that your edits get removed or modified, wait a moment before reinstating them. First check the page history, your talk page, or the article's talk page to discuss.

==Want to join?==
Anyone can edit, but there are [[Help:Create an account|advantages]] to creating an account if you want to contribute regularly. To join, [[Special:Userlogin|'''create an account''']] and then introduce yourself to the community.

==Don't be discouraged==
If you run into conflicts in your first forays into editing, then don't let it get you down. In any collaborative project there are clashes. Have a look at the [[Wikipedia:Etiquette|etiquette]] page as well as the other articles in the tutorial wing below. Use them to help you resolve the problems and learn how to become an active and productive contributor.

And if there's anything you don't understand &mdash; be it technical or social &mdash; and you're not sure where to look, just post a question to an [[Special:Listusers/sysop|administrator]]'s talk page and someone will be happy to help you.

Have fun!

[[Category:The Godfather Wiki]]