WikiPediaFaq

Questions not answered in HowDoesOneEditaPage, LinkToExternalPages, LinkToAnExistingPage.

Q. This is a wiki, anyone with a browser can edit any page. This is not true of either print or on-line encyclopediae. With a non-editable encyclopedia I can be reasonably sure who wrote what I'm reading, can check their credentials, and form an opinion regarding their reliability. I can't do any of those things with WikiPedia. Why then would I give any credence to anything I read here?

A. You should not give credence to anything you read here.

Less flippantly, you should realize that this is, quite self-consciously, an experiment in public collaboration quite unlike any print or online encyclopedia, and therefore it will be difficult to project the results, in terms of their credibility, until the project is farther along. But even then, you'll have to judge the results based on the articles themselves, rather than the credentials of their writers (which is itself often an unreliable way to determine credibility, as you know).

Q. Can you delete a page from the wiki? Especially your own?

A. Yes, in fact you can. Consideration for others demands that you exercise extreme caution in doing so, if the page in question isn't one that you started, or is one to which many others have contributed something of interest. But strictly speaking there's nothing stopping you: all you have to do is remove the text from the page. You can also click on the name of the page (at the top of the page) to see what other pages link to the deleted page, and delete links to it. Again, extreme caution is advised...

Q. If you delete all the text from a Page does it become a PaGe? again?

A. If you delete all the text on a Page, the page remains as a PaGe. It does not go back to PaGe?.

Q. Can you add Nupedia articles to Wikipedia?

A. CanWeAddNupediaArticlesToTheWiki? Sure.

Q. Can we link to Nupedia Pages that are not articles, say the Pronunciation Guides or part of the Guidelines, for example?

A. Yes, why not? You can link to anything you want. You can either type the URL in directly, or else in this format: [URL nameofpage]. This results in a link like this: Nupedia.com.