Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/Newsroom/Quick Start
How to contribute to The SignpostWelcome. We are glad you have considered contributing to The Signpost! There are just a couple of things to take care of, then you can create and submit your contribution. Creating an articleeditSignpost articles are one of the following two: News or Opinion.
These buttons will create a page for you to write in. Save the name of the page. The formatting templates are complex and should be retained for publication. We suggest that if you are new to this, you simply replace the line that says "YOUR NEWS STORY OR OPINION GOES HERE" with your news story or opinion. The editorial staff will take care of markup and other formatting. Send the title of the page you created to editorial staff, or you can add it to the roster yourself here using the button of the same name. Just fill in "submission" with the name of the page that you saved. Check out the pages on formatting and on style for further information on how to write your article. More ways to contributeeditThere are, broadly speaking, three ways in which to contribute to the Signpost. As a contributing writeredit
As the second point in our statement of purpose outlines, The Signpost actively solicits and encourages the publication of works written by members of the community not regularly attached to The Signpost per se. Broadly speaking such writings fall into two categories. Opinion essays are articles which present a problem or issue or challenge before the community, and then explicitly take a viewpoint or a position on the issue and, giving reasons for the author's view, put it under discussion before the community at large. Special reports are features which, much like op-eds, attempt to outline a specific issue before the community in the expository and in-depth way that a long-form article allows, but do so in a more explicitly neutral way. Though critical commentary and criticism is allowed in special reports it is kept to a minimum, as the primary purpose of a special report is to present an issue, not to opine on it. Book reviews, and all other pieces not fitting the classifications introduced here, can also be proposed or submitted: novel ideas are always welcome. If you are interested in contributing a feature to the Signpost: select whichever category is more appropriate for the article you have in mind, and follow the instructions after clicking through to the submissions desk. As a regular writeredit
Interested in working a regular or occasional beat at one of the Signpost's regular features? This page provides an overview of the content of the various regular features under publication; once you have selected a section that you believe you are comfortable contributing to, make it known to everyone involved by introducing yourself into the regular responsibilities table at the Signpost newsroom. To ascertain responsibilities, catch up on the current status of a section, or otherwise to discuss or introduce yourself to other editors, introduce yourself on the project talk page—or, for a longer-form discussion, make use of (and direct others to) the dedicated #wikisignpost connect IRC channel. The Signpost is always in need of new writers; indeed, over the years a contributor shortage has seemingly been the one publication constant. Thank you for your interest! This responsibility entails ensuring the report in question is consistently well-written and submitted before deadline, which in turn involves selecting the stories to be covered, managing the writing of the report (often contributing most of the content themselves, or recruiting other reporters to do so), and communicating with the newsroom to keep editors informed of developments. While all articles are subject to final review by the editor-in-chief (or managing editors), the regular reporter of a feature typically determines its direction and focus. As a supporting editoreditIn addition to the core task of writing articles, the Signpost has a large number of supporting editors who help to get the monthly issue out and handle maintenance issues. This includes:
|