User:Vlad John GCi2013

Learning the basics of the tech
In the past years, I had used Wikipedia as often as I used Facebook. I used it for homeworks or simply for finding something new. When I was first introduced to the Internet world, I always asked myself how can someone make a site with so many people browsing it? This year, I found the answer at the Google Code-In contest. As I was browsing for a task that suited me, I found a company called Wikimedia. At first, I didn't know what to think: What was a Wiki company doing in this project? After browsing the titles for quite some time, I found something that cought my eye. It was a task about editing the wiki ( see https://www.google-melange.com/gci/task/view/google/gci2013/5814952061304832). I was so happy that I had finally found a task that suited my tastes that I clicked "Claim Task" before reading what I had to do. As expected, I go the task. But when I read more about what I had to do...well, it is enough to say that I had no ideea how to start. So I clicked the link to the Wiki page I was supposed to edit. As I started working, I ecountered several problems that I will describe in a moment. But thanks to a very good mentor, Quim Gil, I succeded in completing it.

I always wanted to edit a Wiki page, but, at first I was afraid. What if I did something wrong? However, after posting some .txt file, I received a comment that told me that in the end I had to edit the page itself, so why not start it then? After reading it, I dovr in the unknown teritory of editing. I started by looking in the history of the page to find the things I had to add. That took a while, but in a shorter time that I first thought was necessary, I learned how to find information in earlyer edits, how to edit the source code of the page and how to do minor edits on the headings and structure. But this was the easy part. I just had to copy some names and place them where their place was. However, when it came to reporting bugs, I was indeed lost. I knew from the task I had to use Bugzilla to report bugs and add comments, but I had not the foggiest how to do it. That is when I started doing what I had to do in the first place: ask questions. I realized that the whole point of this was to teach students how to do different things, and the most important thing when learning is to ask questions everywhere: on forums, consult the https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:FAQ (FAQ...I still have no idea how to edit Hyperlinks :)) ) or the manual:https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:Contents, or simply search more for the answer. Once I asked the right questions, I got the answers I needed. From there, it was not too hard to start adding and commenting bugs on Bugzilla. Next problem appeared when I had to add the bug reports on the wiki page...I thought I was done the moment I added the bugs on Bugzilla, but again my lack of attetion and knowledge got the best of me. So I told myself: If asking the right question gets me information that I need, why not ask again? After all I am here to learn. So I went back to the task page and put another 2 paragraphs of questions. Indeed, I received the answers that helped me learn something about editing the source of the page. So I dove in once again in the unknown and started the work. After a hard time finding the bug reports again, I was finally done and I completed the task.

So, to summ up, if you ever want to learn something about Wikimedia and not only, the best way is to ask other people, be he or she a mentor like Quim Gil was for me, be it a complete stranger on the forum. Because with questions come informations and with informations comes knowledge.