Introduction

The Readers' FAQ and our about page contain the most commonly sought information about Wikipedia.

There is a search box in the upper-right corner of every page with the word "Search" in it. Just type what you are looking for in there and then press ↵ Enter. See Searching for more details.

There are other ways to browse and explore Wikipedia articles; many can be found at Portal:Contents. Also see our disclaimer for cautions about Wikipedia's limitations.

Contributing is easy: see how to edit a page or contributing to Wikipedia. For a quick summary on participating, see the plain and simple guide. The Cheatsheet can remind you of basic wiki markup. You can practice editing and experiment in a sandbox. Or play the Wikipedia Adventure to learn to edit in an hour.

Be bold in improving articles! When adding facts, please provide references so others may verify them. If you are affiliated with the article subject, please see our conflict of interest guideline.

If you're looking for places you can help out, the community portal is the place to go.

If there is a problem with an article about yourself, a family member, a friend or a colleague, please add a discussion to the biographies of living persons noticeboard.

If you spot a problem with an article, you can fix it directly, by clicking on the "Edit" link at the beginning of that page. See the "I want to edit Wikipedia" section of this page for more information.

If you don't feel ready to fix the article yourself, please post a message on the article's talk page. This will bring the matter to the attention of others who work on that article. There is a "Talk" link at the beginning of every article page.

Alternatively you can contact us. If it's an article about you or your organization, see Contact us - Subjects.

Check Your first article to see if your topic is appropriate, then the Article wizard will walk you through creating the article.

Once you have created an article, see Writing better articles for guidance on how to improve it and what to include (like reference citations).

For contributing images, audio or video files, see the Introduction to uploading images. Then the Upload wizard will guide you through that process.

If searching Wikipedia has not answered your question (for example, questions like "Which country has the world's largest fishing fleet?"), try the Reference Desk. Volunteers there will attempt to answer your questions on any topic, or point you towards the information you need.

For your convenience, answers have been recorded for the most frequently asked questions.

You can find also where to ask questions or make comments.

You can ask questions about using Wikipedia at the Help desk or at the Teahouse. Volunteers will respond as soon as possible.

Or Input link and a volunteer will visit you there!

You can get live help with editing in the help chatroom.

• For comprehensive help page listings, start with the Help Menu at Contents/Browse.
• For a list of key locations of interest around Wikipedia, see Quick directory
• For a descriptive listing of informative, instructional and consultation pages, see the Help Directory at Contents/Directory.
• For a list of the services and assistance that can be requested on Wikipedia, see Requests.
• If you are looking for an operational page, see Department directory.
• For help with technical issues, see Village pump (technical).