Wikipedia:FAQ/Editing
Overview FAQ -- Readers' FAQ -- Contributing FAQ -- Editing FAQ -- Administration FAQ -- Technical FAQ -- Problems FAQ -- Miscellaneous FAQ
How do I edit a page?
- It's quite simple. Simply click "Edit this page" on the bottom or the side of the page, and type away. See Wikipedia:How does one edit a page to learn about making links, using bold and italics, linking to images, and many other things
How do I delete a page?
- Consideration for others demands that you exercise extreme caution in doing so. Think about what you are trying to accomplish. Wikipedians generally discourage deleting information from the encyclopedia unless there is a good reason for it. Please review Wikipedia:Policy on permanent deletion of pages before taking action.
- It is trivial to delete the text from a page. You can click the edit link, erase all of the text, and click save. However, this is rarely helpful, as the page's history is still available, and anyone can restore the text again.
- Usually (but not always), rather than deleting a page, the page should be redirected somewhere useful. If someone writes a nice article on 'JFK' it should be moved to 'John F Kennedy' (or similar) and a redirect put in place. See Wikipedia:How does one edit a page to learn about redirects.
- To request that a page be permenantly be deleted, put the page title on Wikipedia:Votes for deletion, with the reason why you think it should be deleted. At some point an administrator will come by the page and decide to remove it for you. Unless someone else comes by and decides not to agree with you, of course.
How do I rename a page?
- Registered users can move a page; this moves the page content and edit history to a new title, and creates a redirecting page at the old title. This method is better than just copying the content by hand, as it preserves the article's history. Use the "Move this page" link. If you want to move a page, please click the "What links here" and fix the links to the page in question.
How do I edit a redirect page?
- The easiest way to edit the redirected page is to click on the link you see at the top of the page after being redirected: "redirected from ...". For example, if you try to go to the William Jefferson Clinton page, you are redirected to the Bill Clinton page. At the very top of that page, you will see a message: "(redirected from William Jefferson Clinton)", Click on the William Jefferson Clinton link, and you will edit the redirect page page.