Help:Articles/start

Introduction
Several thousand pages of this wiki have been (and more will be) created in various ways. There is at least one way to automate the process a little using a GEDCOM.

Pages that need manual creation will include:
 * "place" pages (for which the Genealogy:Place Template page should help),
 * "surname" pages (which can follow Genealogy:Surname category template), and
 * "people" pages - mostly single pages carrying the name of a single individual but with links to as many of that person's relatives (and important dates and places) as are practicable.

Check whether person or place article is already here
'If you want to start a page for an individual or a place, please save yourself and other researchers time by ensuring that there is not already a page with that name. Type the name in the "Find"/"Search" box and see what hits you get. Check out any that may be your person or place.

Use existing page if there is one
'If you find a page that has the right name and you don't know if the dates are right but they could be, we suggest that you use that page as if it were the right one. Much easier to copy your additions to another page later, if a difference is found, than to merge two pages about the same individual.'

Create the page from a link
''If your person turns up in the text of a relative's page, that's the place to start. If it is not in the form of a link, make it one (by putting double square brackets around the name and the dates, and editing the text if necessary, so that it is in this form: Firstname Middlenameifany Lastname (year-year) - with "?" for unknown year; then saving the page). Click on that link and start writing in the edit box of the page the link takes you to.''

Start a really "new" person page
''If you want to start a page for an individual whose name does not appear as the page name of, or anywhere else on, an existing page, you may create a link to the individual's name and dates on another page (for example, your User page or this page), then preview or save it, then click on the link you have created. A blank "edit" box will open ready for text to be added. You will probably save time in adding detail by starting with one of the existing pre-styled page forms; see below or the People Template.''

(Note that a new feature of Mediawiki, in version 1.5, allows the simpler "inputbox" process)

Start a really "new" place page
If you want to start a page for a place and that place does not exist either through an existing page or a link on an existing page, then follow the instructions above for a person, but use the Place Template.

Create links here if desired
If you need a place to start, a good place is your User page (because it is so easy to reach from anywhere on the site) or a subpage of it (eg Name/New pages), where you just add a link. Or you can use this page - in the space below. Wherever you choose, just type the name of your article, surround it with double square brackets, and preview or save. When the revised page appears, you should see a link with the title you just inserted. If the link is in blue, then the article already exists; you can go to the article and add any information you feel it needs. If the link is in red, the article doesn't exist yet; click the link and you will end up on a blank page, where you can insert whatever you want according to whatever format you want.


 * Peter John Skirrow (1947-?)
 * Joseph Francis Rock (1884-1962)
 * George Washington (1732-1799)
 * Percy Stanley Marks (1911-1988)
 * Enos Curtis (1783-1856)
 * Tamma Durfee (1813-1885)
 * Ruth Franklin (1790-1848)
 * John Manning (1720-?)
 * Allama Muhammad Iqbal (1877-1938)
 * John Renner (c1803-1858)
 * Christopher McIntosh (1961-?)
 * Zebudah Hayden Potter (1734-1767)
 * Savages New England Register
 * Charles Boyton (1861-1925)
 * Captain William Henry Dobbs (1716-1781)
 * Cristobal Falcon (1750-1834)

Select a Template
The most common article on this site is one describing the family history of a given person.