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One Methods:Boosting Examples

New Article Boost (NAB) is a tool that experienced editors on wikiHow can use to give new articles an extra dose of attention that they normally wouldn't get through RC patrol. The goal with NAB is to significantly improve pages that are not meeting standards outlined in the Writer's Guide, and to offer new authors tips and friendly encouragement they need to become good wikiHow authors. Once new articles go through the new article boost process, they are considered approved by our community and available to a wider audience if they meet our standards.

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EditSteps

  1. Use the wikiHow New Article Boost App Step 1.jpg
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    Apply to become a Booster. If you meet the minimum requirements, you'll qualify for a test that will be sent back and forth. As a New Article Booster, it's important that you're familiar with many of wikiHow's policies, and that you know how to give an article that extra "boost" it needs, when it needs it.
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  2. Use the wikiHow New Article Boost App Step 2.jpg
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    Open New Article Boost. You'll see a list of articles that haven't been boosted yet (note that only contributors who've passed the NAB test are able to see it). The most recently written titles are at the top. The "ST" column shows you which articles are "Suggested Topics" which means we offered that title as a suggestion to the author (and as such, we want to take special care to avoid discouraging the contributor for writing something that we suggested they write!).
  3. Selectarticlebytitle.jpg
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    Select an article by clicking on the title. At the very top of the NAB page is the title, the author, a note about whether the page is a suggested topic, and links to various sections of NAB.
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    Look over the potential duplicates. Boosters are expected to have a firm grasp of what is a duplicate and what isn't. This NAB window will generate a list of potential duplicates, but it's up to you to judge whether any of them really are.
    • Since this is a computer-generated list, it's not perfect. If you think we probably do have an article on that topic already, open a new tab or window and search wikiHow yourself.

    • If the article you're boosting is a duplicate, compare the two articles. Is there any information that can be transferred to the existing page? If so, scroll back up and click "Merge" (which will check the "Merge" box in the "Action" section). If not, click on "Duplicate" (which will nominate the page for deletion).
    • If the article isn't a duplicate, you can click on "Related" next to any of the "potential duplicates". This will add that title to the Related wikiHows of the article you're patrolling, and it will add a related link to the "Related wikiHows" section of each related article. If the article is not a good fit for those related articles, add related wikiHows manually when editing the article.
      Possible duplicates or related articles.
      • Note: the "Related" link takes up to a few seconds to work; it'll be replaced by the word "Done!" when it's done!
      • Look in the Related wikiHows section (if there are any related wikiHows) and see if the related article you're intending to add already appears in that section. If so, there's no need to add that link, because there will be a duplicate link.
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    Look for potential copyright violations (do this by clicking on "Check" under "Copyright check). This window will do an Internet search for two phrases from the article's text to see if it was copied from somewhere else. Sometimes, though, the phrases picked out aren't very revealing (words like "and" and "the"), so you might want to click the "Check" button a few times to see what turns up.
    • If a website comes up, click on the linked title to open the potentially copied page in a new window and investigate. If it is a copy, click the "Copyvio" link in NAB. Doing so will mark the page as a copyvio.

    Nabcopyrightcheck.jpg
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    Look over the article and improve it if needed. You can edit it by clicking the "Edit" button at the end. Avoid adding templates; as a booster, it's your job to go the extra mile and do whatever a template would call for. If the article needs formatting, for example, a patroller might tag it for formatting, but a booster would actually format the page. Here are articles that provide more detail as to what you're expected to do when you're editing in NAB:

    Nabeditingscreen.jpg
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    Remove links that violate our policy. If it seems as though the author is the owner of the content and is sharing their content with us (if the name of the website is the same as the username, for instance), then assume good faith. Move the link to the "Sources and Citations" in this format:
    • http://www.website.com - Original source, shared with permission.
    Then write a note for the author, like:

    "I'm assuming the link you put in the article is to your website? If you're sharing content that's on your website, don't forget to write "Original source, shared with permission" right after the link. This tells our editors that it's you're deliberately sharing the content on wikiHow. Otherwise, they might think it was copied without permission, or that it's a spam link (both of which could get the page deleted). Now, if you're not sharing any content from your site, or if that link isn't from your site, you might want to glance over our external links policy to see how we handle external links."
    • If the link is obvious spam, you can click on the link. A dialog will pop up which will allow you to add that link to our spam blacklist, so that the URL cannot be posted anywhere on wikiHow again.
  8. Nabtalkmessagebox.jpg
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    Leave a friendly, personalized and encouraging note for the author. Do this even if the author is anonymous. It's especially important to be gentle if a yellow box shows up reminding you that this person is new, and made less than 50 edits on the site so far. For more details, see How to Resist Criticizing New Contributors on wikiHow.

    • Here are some examples of notes you can leave:

      • Hey there! Welcome to wikiHow :) I just came across Maintain Scuba Gear and thought it was great! I did a little bit of editing, can you take a look here and let me know what you think?
      • Hi John! I really enjoyed your articles! I did edit them a bit, though, to fit in with our wiki guidelines. For example, I removed your picture from the introduction, and removed personal stories/experiences. The reason we do this is because, since this is a wiki, people are asked to work together on building a great page on any topic. Whenever one person uses personal references, though, others are less inclined to contribute, because it feels like that article "belongs" to that person. I hope you understand!

        Also, I'm assuming the link you put in the article is to your website. If that's the case, don't forget to write "Original source, shared with permission" right after the link. This tells our editors that you're deliberately sharing the content on wikiHow. Otherwise, they might think it was copied without permission, or that it's a spam link (both of which could get the page deleted). Now, if that link isn't from your site, you might want to glance over our external links policy to see how we handle external links.

        How are you liking contributing to wikiHow so far? Is there anything I can help you with?
      • (Left for an anonymous author) Hey there! Nice job on Canning Green Beans! Is there any chance you could document how you do it with photos, and then put the photos in the article? Or maybe find a good video on YouTube and embed it in the article using these steps? That would be great!

        Are you planning on writing more pages here? If you are, I hope you'll consider registering for an account here, so you can be recognized for your efforts. It also makes communicating easier, and all you need is a username and password (no email, no other info at all). If you choose not to, that's fine too! Either way, I hope you keep writing. I think you're good at it!
  9. Nabactionsection.jpg
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    Check off any appropriate boxes in the "Action" section.
    • Rising Star - Check this box to recognize that the author did a good job writing a new article on wikiHow. Generally, if the author made a good faith effort to write a helpful and informative page, it certainly doesn't hurt to give them a nice pat on the back with a Rising Star. Be sure to check out How to Visually Recognize a Rising Star Article on wikiHow, and see if the article meets any of these criteria before marking it as a Rising Star.
    • Duplicate - If you clicked on the "Duplicate" link in the Potential Duplicates list at the top, this box will already be checked and a title filled in. If you found a duplicate that wasn't on the list, and decided it should be deleted rather than merged, check this box and fill the title in (leave out the "how to").
    • NFD - If you think the article should be deleted for any other reason, check this box and select a reason from the dropdown menu. This should be used as a last resort, though; in NAB, a booster is expected to do everything they can to save the article for deletion.
    • Stub - Check this box to apply the {{stub}} tag. Do so when the article provides a decent outline, but not with enough detail for the person reading it to be able to accomplish the task without looking elsewhere. As with NFDs, though, you as a booster should try and avoid the need for this tag. Many times, a stub can be expanded by using research sources, adding pictures, a video, and expanding the steps. A little extra information can make a big difference!
    • Merge - This works in pretty much the same way as the Duplicate checkbox. Remember, though, that a merge tag is always preferred when the article has any unique or useful content that can be added to the existing page.
    • Copyvio - Check this box when the article is potentially copied from another website. Remember to specify the name of the website that the article is copied from under the "URL:" field.
    • Speedy Delete - This will circumvent the nomination for deletion process and should only be checked for articles that consist of only of patent nonsense, personal attacks, profanity and are totally "unsavable".
    • Move - If the article needs a new title, check this box and enter the new title. Be sure to follow the guidelines in the title policy.
    • Delete (admins only) - Use this if the article qualifies for speedy deletion. Check this box sparingly, though.
  10. Markaspatrolledbutton.jpg
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    Click on "Mark as Patrolled" and you'll be taken to the next article in need of boosting. Marking the article as patrolled removes the article from the Boost list.
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    Repeat the process in this article with your next boosts.
    • Click on Skip/Cancel if you would like to leave the article in NAB for another booster. Note: Actions you have checked will not be implemented.

EditBoosting Examples


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EditTips

  • Articles are listed in NAB one hour after they are submitted to prevent an edit war.
  • You can also access a Discussion page without leaving NAB. Do this by clicking on "Discussion page" at the top of the NAB page.
  • If you find an article that is written in another language, categorize it: [[Category:Not in English]], and add the {{notinenglish}} template to the article. You should also notify the author about this, so they know that they should ask Chris Hadley to move the page over to the wikiHow in that language.
  • Articles that have an {{inuse}} will not show up in NAB regardless of the amount of time they spend on the site, until a few minutes after the template has been removed.

EditRelated wikiHows

How to
Award Rising Stars for Previously Patrolled in NAB Articles on wikiHow

How to
Use the NFD Guardian App on wikiHow

How to
Visually Recognize a Rising Star Article on wikiHow

How to
Patrol New Articles on wikiHow

How to
Assume Good Faith While Patrolling wikiHow

How to
Show Your NAB Count on Your wikiHow User Page

How to
Boost a Lot of Articles in New Article Boost

How to
Not Process a wikiHow Article in New Article Boost

How to
Select a Rising Star Article on wikiHow

How to
Become a New Article Booster on wikiHow

Article Info

Categories: New Article Boost

In other languages:

Italiano: Come Utilizzare l'Applicazione New Article Boost (NAB) di wikiHow

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