Wikipedia - what is it for and how does it work? Many of us use this resource to obtain various information, but few know how to write a Wikipedia article about a person. And if you are puzzled by the question: what is Wikipedia dot org, how does it work and how can a person or company get into it? - then, in reality, everything here is very complicated: the rules are very strict and overly difficult for simple understanding.
In this article we will give a brief definition of what Wikipedia is, how the word itself is translated and what it really is, we will try to figure out how to use it and what to do to add yourself to Wikipedia.
MediaWiki
MediaWiki is one of the most popular wiki platforms on the web. It is completely open and allows you to create a free knowledge base.
Originally used by Wikipedia, the site now offers backends for many other common wiki sites, including Wiktionary, Wikimedia Commons, and Wikidata.
The biggest advantage of the platform is its impressive customization options. There are more than 1900 extensions, 900 configuration settings and support for 300 languages.
To use MediaWiki, you need a server running PHP and a compatible SQL database.
Slim Wiki
Many people don't have the time or technical knowledge to use a complex wiki platform like MediaWiki. If you want an easier way to create a wiki, check out SlimWiki. It is free for a maximum of three users, and each additional user must pay $5 per month.
Outline the content
Forget about how you usually sketch. The content of your Wikipedia page should focus on what your sources have information about. This means don’t add anything that you can’t back up with links later.
Remember that content based on three solid sources is usually better than content based on twenty less reliable ones. When there are many sources, editors may not be able to discern the best ones from the crowd.
I would also suggest using the structure of pages about other companies in your industry as a reference.
Wikidot
If you want to create your own wiki but don't know HTML, PHP, JavaScript, etc., then Wikidot is another site worth checking out. Since its launch in 2006, it has become one of the largest wiki sites in the world.
The free version supports five users. Each user receives 300 MB of disk space. For $49.90 per month, the data storage limit increases to 30 GB and the number of users to 10.
The most expensive plan costs $239.90 per month. It offers unlimited users and 200GB of storage.
Add formatting, links and categories
If you've completed the accompanying reputation building task, you should already be fairly familiar with how to work with the Wikipedia CMS. I'll just touch on a couple of points.
First, a template for a company information block:
To add it, click Insert -> Template -> Company:
Secondly, links to sources, the addition of which does not cause any difficulties. Wikipedia generates links based on the URL or ISBN number of a book.
Link details in Wikipedia.
However, the system does not always work perfectly. I have encountered some inaccuracies in the reference information. Be sure to double-check the data generated by Wikipedia and, if necessary, correct it.
Finally, it's a good idea to add categories to further tie your page into the rest of Wikipedia.
You can do this during the drafting stage, but category links must be disabled until the page is approved. It's easier to add categories after approval.
First you need to activate the option Settings -> Gadgets -> Editing -> HotCat:
Then simply add a category template to the end of your article by selecting this option:
Again, use categories from articles about other companies in your industry as a guide. Here's what I got:
Translation:
Categories: SEO Companies | Search robots | Search Engine Optimization | Web analytics | Singapore companies
Fandom
Fandom (known as Wikia until early 2021) is another easy-to-use wiki for those who want to create a free knowledge base.
Wiki projects are based on the MediaWiki internal interface. This allows users to take advantage of many of the benefits of the platform without having to worry about hosting and other technical issues.
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Creating a wiki project
When creating your own wiki project, it is important to understand what the main purpose of its creation is, how it will further develop and what principles will form its basis. At the moment, there are a large number of wiki projects that were created and then abandoned or gradually lost any activity - this was due to the fact that the creators of such projects themselves often did not know why they were creating it and what they planned to achieve - and only created in order to have a project completely under control, which did not lead to anything good. The success of the created wiki project depends mainly on the following components:
Hosting
Here the project creator has a choice - either use wiki hosting, which provides the client with an already installed and configured engine with some extensions, or install the site on his own server.
You can use free wiki hosting in cases where the site author does not have sufficient knowledge in server management and engine configuration. On the other hand, such hosting has a number of disadvantages - usually only a third-level domain, lack of direct access to the database and server configuration, lack of some important extensions and untimely updating of the wiki software. Also, such wikis are often vulnerable to attacks designed to disrupt normal activities in the project. The most famous wiki hosting site is Wikia.
If you are planning a large project, or you need rare and non-standard extensions or configuration of rights, it is better to use your own server. In this case, it is worth taking into account that as the project grows, it will require more and more server resources, and, accordingly, there will be more financial costs, and it will be necessary to monitor the state of the server, timely correct all errors that arise (if the project is often unavailable , this will greatly reduce its popularity).
Subjects
When choosing a project topic, you must first look to see if there are already projects on a similar or similar topic. You can start a project only if you have sufficient resources to compete with existing projects - you need a larger number of people willing to spend time on the project, as well as original ideas - if the site simply copies what already exists in a previously created wiki project, it will most likely They'll just consider it a clone. Original proposals will attract new participants to the project, including those who might not like existing sites on this topic.
Content
It is also important that the wiki project has a sufficient number of normal-sized articles as soon as possible - you should not immediately announce its creation everywhere immediately after installing the engine, since there is a high probability that an empty project will simply be of no interest to anyone.
The right step would be to work closed for some time, and make the project available to everyone only after the project has been filled with a certain number of pages, the technical part has been established, and platforms for discussions have been created. Throughout the life of the project, it is important to maintain activity at the proper level, attract new participants to the project and write new articles so that readers do not lose interest. It is important not to try to immediately create (using automatic programs) a lot of half-empty articles (“shortcomings”), but to write articles of normal quality - a large number of insignificant articles only leads to littering the wiki project and reducing its quality.
Authors
The wiki project is valuable for its team of authors, which allows the wiki project to develop itself with minimal intervention from the founders.
In order to recruit and replenish the team of authors for a wiki project, a separate already promoted forum, website or organization of like-minded people is useful. People interested in the topic of the project can group around this external resource. On an auxiliary external resource, it is necessary to periodically encourage people to supplement articles and advertise project materials. At the same time, the wiki project and the external resource will feed each other in both directions over time. The obvious advantage of having such a resource is that you can assign already known and trusted users as administrators or give them other additional rights, which will ensure its better protection and maintenance.
Control
A wiki project needs a well-organized management system.
It is important both not to set overly strict rules, and not to allow the project to slide into anarchy. It is advisable to use the powers of the founders only in extreme cases, since a wiki project with a sufficient number of participants is a self-regulating community. It is important to show that the founders also contribute to the common cause, regularly monitor the project and make regular edits to articles. As the project grows, the role of its founders gradually changes, since, first of all, they are the official representatives of the project and in order to promote the project they need to visit other sites, edit them, and answer questions that arise from participants. For this, it will be useful to have a project blog where you can ask your question to the site administration.
All of the above applies primarily to projects in which wide participation is planned - another solution would be to create a mono-project, in which, however, the presence of exclusively original materials and research is especially important.
The post was written by me in collaboration with John_Locke, who does not yet have enough karma to publish topics.
Respect for the post! Thanks for the work!
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Check your details
Even if your page is approved, that's not all. Some pages are more vulnerable than others to vandalism and inappropriate edits. This is the price that all open collaboration projects have to pay.
Be sure to keep an eye on your business information page to be notified when someone makes changes to it. Just check the required box when submitting an article or making changes to it:
Just keep in mind that you should only undo or edit those edits that cannot be supported by references. If someone adds negative information about your company that is supported by reliable sources, leave them alone. The content of the pages must remain neutral and objective.
I wish you luck with your editors.
