CZ:Getting Started
Welcome to the Citizendium pilot project!
This is a general orientation for new contributors. It's a little long, but that's because it's comprehensive. Especially if you're not
We're glad to have you here and hope you'll join our friendly little (but growing!) community as an active contributor. What makes us different? Well, for one thing, we're all contributing under our own real names. We take responsibility for our own work, and we like to think we're a bit more civil than your average Internet community. For another thing, there are editors working right alongside authors. Editors can make decisions about articles in their areas of expertise, but for the most part, we collaborate just as folks do on Wikipedia--only with more collegiality. Editors also have a special task that doesn't exist on Wikipedia: they can approve articles.
One of the first things you must realize is that you've got to be bold if this project is going to work. It is natural to be cautious about editing stuff that other people have written. The fact that there are many highly-educated types here makes some people afraid to touch the wiki, period. But this is a huge mistake. We want and need the participation of a wide array of people. This isn't an experts-only project in the least; most of our registered contributors are, in fact, authors, not (expert) editors. Also, keep in mind that most people here are quite friendly. So far, anyway, we've had very little unpleasantness here.
So, please, be bold about contributing. Want to start a new article on a subject? Please do! You don't need to ask anyone's permission.
Note to persons editing this page: when finished, if you have created any links to any new/planned project page, make a link to that planned page from CZ:Project home. If the link goes under the "Policy" section, then add it also to CZ:Policy Outline. --Larry Sanger 16:39, 21 January 2007 (CST)