How To Start A Page

On kayakwiki, anyone can add a new page! No need to register or log in. New pages are made available immediately. You are encouraged to contribute your kayaking knowledge, for example maybe you know about some good local kayaking places. Add them to the Places section. You can also edit existing pages (see Help:Editing)

There are two basic ways to start a new kayakwiki page:

Updating an existing article

As you're reading through already-existing KayakWiki articles, you'll see red text that are clickable links. You can click on a red-text link that appears after an article title, and you'll arrive at a page that says "Editing". Add the text of your article. When you're finished, click the Save page button at the bottom of the page. (Use the Show Preview button if you want to see what the page will look like first.) -- Modifying arbitrary pages by adding/wikifying a new term and then adding a well-written entry linked from that page are a great way to continually add new topics to KayakWiki.

Adding a new article

If you want to create a brand-new topic, probably the first thing to do is to use the "search" form (to the left of this page, for example) and see whether someone has not already created some very similar page. Since you might have a similar page name, check the list of all pages for a simliar page. If you find an appropriate topic, edit that page.

If you can't find such a page, find an appropriate place to put a reference to you page. For example, if you have a topic related to kayak building, add a reference in one of the building pages (in an appropriate place), using the title of the article you want to create between double brackets, [[Like this]]. When you're naming pages, follow the guidelines in Naming Conventions. Then press the "Save page" button at the bottom of the edit page. On the page you just edited, you should see clickable red text with the article name; click on that and go to work on your new page! -- Creating brand-new topics is a great way to help KayakWiki increase its breadth (and depth).

Formating an article

Read Help:Editing, for details about the simple wiki text editing system.

Some template files have been created that may provide a good starting point for certain types of pages. They are brand new and still being discussed and debated - see About Templates.

Go to the Rolling Pool to practice if you are worried about messing up someone else's work. There is also a Rolling pool template

The To do list has some suggestions for areas where kayakwiki requires new articles.

More wiki information can be found on Help:Contents

Note

Bear in mind that KayakWiki is an open content resource. You are contributing to a free, publicly-usable database of information. This information is governed by the terms of a Creative Commons Share ALike copyright. You should not have copied your article from any proprietary source, and of course if you want your own work to remain your own exclusive "intellectual property", then you should not contribute it to KayakWiki.

Some thoughts:

• If you like, you can enter just a line or two of text for an entry. It's a start. Full-blown articles are not required. Adding any (accurate, helpful) information to KayakWiki is welcome! Of course, if you can write more, that's all the better; some people do, as a matter of habit, usually write more than just a few lines when they start a new article.
• Pages that need contributions usually have a stub template included. If you go to that template and click on What links here (in the toolbox, lower left of page), you will see what pages are stubs.
• We strongly encourage you to add and adapt work you have created elsewhere, for other purposes, to KayakWiki. We also encourage that you add information found in public domain resources and other open content projects. But--again--we cannot allow using exclusively copyrighted material!
• How you word your articles will determine, to some extent, how likely it is other people will work on it. Examples:
  • An article that leaves many intriguing-sounding links or leaves ellipses (...), etc., might invite other know-it-alls to fill in the blanks. If you do this, include the stub template so others can find it easily.
  • Straightforward requests for information in an article can lead to good articles. For example, one might supply a rough description of a thing or place and then ask about its history; some people who know the answer will find it difficult to pass up the opportunity to teach.
  • A strongly-worded initial version of a page will, probably, cause more revisions and reaction, and perhaps the end result will be well written. This might not be such a good idea, though. An article on relativity that starts by proclaiming the existence of the ether will probably be revised and quite likely end up better than an article that states it is "some kinda theory Einstein made." But as a habit, this is probably a bad idea, because we would like our articles to be written from a neutral point of view.