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When it comes to writing articles, everyone makes mistakes in the spellings of their words. But when the wikiHow Spell Checker triggers the word as being wrong, the user must tell the Spell Checker app that the word is spelled correctly. But to ensure the words are properly spelled, it is up to the trained user to know what's right and what's wrong. This article can lead you on your way into the correct addition of words, as they are requested.

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This article has been marked as historical.


The topic of this article is no longer active, no longer ongoing, or does not exist. (Posted 2014-06-11).


EditSteps

  1. 1
    Become a New Article Booster on wikiHow or Become a wikiHow Admin. Helping clear out a list of great words, takes skilled people who know and understand what can and cannot be added to the ever-growing Spell Checker Whitelist.
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  2. 2
    Open the Proposed Whitelist page. You'll see 50 words you can work on. You'll also see 4 columns.
  3. 3
    Research the word they are asking you to decipher, unless you know that it can't bluntly be a word. Some are easy in that respect.
    • Watch for key signs of capitalization in your research.
  4. 4
    Click the question mark to the right of the word to research this word on Google.
  5. 5
    Look for a resultant key phrase at the very top of the Google search page to find "Are you looking for (x)" (where x is a better-spelled phrase, that may or may not be the word you may be looking for). This is sometimes a better indication that the word is incorrectly spelled.
  6. 6
    Understand the meaning of each column.
    • Click the bubble underneath the line labeled (at the top) "Correctly spelled, always require that the first letter be capitalized" when the first letter should always be capitalized. Look for proper nouns that may not have been capitalized when they were added, as well as words that have and may just need that extra push to push them the right direction.
    • Click the bubble underneath "Correctly spelled, do not require first letter to be capitalized" when the word is correctly spelled, but the first letter of the word must be lower-case. Be careful for common spellings of "IPhone", which (when the whitelist adjusts this will become iPhone (just make sure the second letter is capitalized for these common spelling words)).
      • Look for words that don't need any capitalization and are correct as is, click the bubble underneath the "Correctly spelled, do not require first letter to be capitalized" to say that this word is correct.
    • Click the bubble underneath "Reject - not a word" when the word is blatantly spelled wrong. A term like "wordies" (Spell Checkers, please don't correct, as this is something people should look out for) is not a word, so there is no need to deal with it's capitalization any further.
    • Let the bubble underneath "I'm not sure" go, if you want or need to skip the word for any reason.
  7. 7
    Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click the "Submit" button when you are sure you've got these words correct.
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EditTips

  • Words that are in ALL CAPS or words that should have the second letter capitalized or words that should have all letters be capitalized (like VGA) should be rejected on the spot. (This doesn't include potential acronyms!)
    • If you are sure the all-capped word is an acronym, first check the Google search, then check AcronymFinder to make sure an acronym exists for this term.
  • There is a bar of numerical choices on the screen that can help give you more choices of words you can look over. Click the numbered choice for the number of words you'd like to display in the never-ending quest to manage this spellchecker whitelist.
  • Look for words in the list which have two words. The two words are spelled exactly alike, but have different forms of capitalization. Some may be proper nouns while the second may be an incorrectly capitalized second form. Click the "needs capitalization" choice, and reject the uncapitalized version.
  • If at any time, you've seen all the words, you may need to move to another page of words. Click the "(next 50)" or "(previous 50)" buttons to move between the pages of words (unless you've followed an above tip of changing amount of displayed words in which case, this number may differ.
  • Sometimes, if you have lots of choices (above 50 choices marked down in the columns besides the "I'm not sure" column, you may get a wikiGnome message "wikiHow temporary offline" page. Don't worry. Your work should have been successfully saved just seconds before. The page has some issues in this respect.
  • If you ever want to see what other words are being added by others to the full whitelist, the log of all edits made using this app will appear here. Only use this when you are unsure if (a) the word has already been added or (b) to ensure the word's former capitalization has been adjusted. This page can be a lifesaver.
  • Try out the Special:Spellchecker to see where these words are being chosen from. You'll see a link at the top of the page where you can choose the words that can be added to the list.
  • Sometimes, both offline and online dictionaries are a life-saver. Use them wisely. Merriam-Webster has full dictionaries that you may use, along with Dictionary.com and TheFreeDictionary. So, you have a lot of choices to use to look up words.
  • Bing, although not eligible to be able to be searched correctly from inside the page/app can be used, as Bing can be a source of good information. Type "define" and the word with the correct capitalization as chosen to ensure the word really is what it shows there.

EditWarnings

  • All people make mistakes. It's evident that no-one is ever perfect 100% of the time. Contact Krystle, if you ever have a word added that should have been rejected for blatant spelling issues.
  • Be careful with words that contain prefixes and suffixes. They might be easy to understand and give the word different meaning to relate to tense and what not, but sometimes a better word can suit the item just as well.

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EditSources and Citations

Article Info

Categories: Historical Articles | New Article Boost | What You Can Do to Help

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