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{| class="messagebox standard-talk"
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|align="center" width="100%"|'''&rArr; &rArr; So long, and thanks for all the fish… &lArr; &lArr;'''<br><br>I have retired from editing Wikipedia. I may drop in once in awhile, but I am no longer editing or checking this page regularly.
|}
 
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===Coöperate, don't compete===
Please keep in mind that '''Wikipedia is a coöperative venture, not a competitive one'''. It is not a forum for credentials-wielding statesmanship, nor is it appropriate to beat editors over the head with the rules. The [[WP:V|verifiability]] and [[WP:RS|reliability]] criteria for information sources and all the other protocols and regulations exist to facilitate the improvement of the project, not to foment the aggrandizement of one editor over another.
 
===Please register...please?===
There is no ''intentional'' bias or vendetta against unregistered (IP-only) editors. Unfortunately, a large amount of the spam, vandalism, and other disruptive behavior on Wikipedia is done by IP-only editors, so whether intentionally or not, others will regard you as more of an integral part of the Wikipedia community, genuinely interested in contributing and coöperating, if you register and do your editing under a user name. If you're ever involved in a dispute, others will more readily tend to [[WP:AGF|assume you're acting in good faith]] if you're registered, and if you want to weigh in on a question being discussed, your opinion will tend to get more listeners and be given more weight if you're registered. Registration is free, you get to pick your own user name, and it hides the IP from which you make your edits.
 
There ''is'' a standing — and entirely reasonable — expectation that everyone will strive to coöperate with one another, registered and unregistered alike.
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===Article ownership===
When you've spent a great deal of time and effort improving an article, it's only natural to feel hurt, insulted, or indignant when your text is later changed or partly removed. Remember, on Wikipedia, [[WP:OWN|there is no ''my article'' or ''your article'' ]] — this is a community-based coöperative project. Once you make a contribution, it no longer belongs to you; it becomes a part of the encyclopædia, subject to improvement and alteration by any other contributor. By the same token, you can object to alterations made to article elements contributed by anyone, including you. But be careful not to dismiss others' alterations just [[WP:UGH|because you don't like them]], and resist the temptation to get into an [[WP:EW|edit war]]; remember, without sticking to Wikipedia's standards, any effort put into an article is wasted right from the start, which is a shame.
 
====Templates & tags====
Sometimes, you'll find an article you're interested in will have had a ''template'' applied. Here are some examples of templates:
 
{{Cleanup|date=November 2010}}
{{Unreferenced|date=November 2010}}
{{Noreferences}}
{{Original research|date=November 2010}}
{{clarify|date=November 2010}}
 
Or, you may find some of your text has been ''tagged'' with markers indicating a need for improvement. Statements that haven't been [[WP:V|verified]] by means of support with [[WP:CITE|appropriate citations]] of [[WP:RS|reliable sources]] may be tagged like this{{factCitation needed|date=November 2010}}, or like this{{verify credibility|date=November 2010}}, or in the case of a dubious source, perhaps like this{{verify source|date=November 2010}}. Text along the lines of "It has been said" or "Some say" or "Many believe" will often be tagged like this{{Who?|date=November 2010}}. Text that's not clear might be tagged like this{{vague|date=November 2010}}. Although you may feel these templates and tags are an ugly, negative judgment of the quality of your text, that's not so. In fact, they're a tool that will accelerate the improvement of the article. They call attention to the parts of an article most in need of development and improvement, so it's likely to happen sooner. '''Please don't remove templates or tags without ''fixing'' the problem they indicate'''.
 
==How to edit with panache==
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Wikipedia's standard for information included in articles is [[WP:V|not truth, but verifiability]]. Remember, '''it's not what you know — or think you know — it's what you can ''prove.''''' These principles can be difficult to accept, particularly when one is passionate and knowledgeable about the subject of the article being edited. Fortunately, where there is knowledge, there is usually support for that knowledge, so most assertions of personal knowledge can be backed up with reliable, verifiable sources. It's more work than just doing an info-dump from one's own personal knowledge, but it's what's required for the improvement of Wikipedia articles. Obviously, it's best to have both truth ''and'' verifiability in the assertions we add to Wikipedia articles.
 
The phrases '''It is worth noting that...''', or '''Something worth noting...''', or '''It should be noted...''' almost always precede unsupportable POV personal essay. When you see such phrases, carefully scrutinize the text that follows them, and rewrite or remove it as appropriate to comply with such [[WP:NPOV|Neutral Point of View]], [[WP:V|Verifiability]], [[WP:RS|Reliable Sources]], and [[WP:NOT|What Wikipedia Is Not]].
 
==Interacting with other Wikipedians==
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Please don't intersperse comments amongst existing text on a talk page. Put all of your comments in ''one'' block of text, at the end of the existing text. Otherwise you disrupt others' ability to keep track of who said what, and in what order. An easy key to making your comment easily discernible from those around it — thus making your opinion heard — is to '''indent your comments properly''' relative to the text above your comment. This works by looking at how many colons are before the first character in each paragraph of the text above yours, then using one more colon than that. If there are no colons before the first characters of the paragraphs you're responding to, you use one. If one, you use two. If two, you use three. If three, you use four. If four, you use none. When you edit the page, '''put together your text like this-'''
<code>Comment text from an editor
 
:Comment text from a second editor
 
::Comment text from a third editor
 
:::Comment text from a fourth editor
 
::::Comment text from a fifth editor
 
Comment text from a sixth editor
 
:Comment text from a seventh editor
 
::And so on
 
:::And so forth
 
::::et cetera
 
Lather, rinse, repeat
</code>