Wikipedia:Adopt-a-user

The Adopt-a-user program is designed to support relatively new, yet committed Wikipedia editors who want to gain a deeper understanding of how things work here. It brings together relatively inexperienced users and lets them pair up with more experienced Wikipedians. These editors "adopt" newer users, answering questions or guiding them along the way as they learn more about the many aspects of Wikipedia's policies, its editing and its maintenance.

If you are a completely new editor, we're sorry, but Adopt-a-user is not really best-suited to your needs. Instead, you will get speedier answers and help with specific editing problems if you ask a question at The Teahouse (which is intended to help new editors) or at the slightly more technical Help Desk. Information on creating a new article can be found here.

The Adopt-a-user project aims to support relatively inexperienced users and help them gain greater insight into the ins and outs of Wikipedia, and to help and encourage them to continue editing. Over the years, more than a thousand users have been involved in the program at one time or another.

So, if you're not very experienced, but are nevertheless committed to sticking around and learning more, and would like to ...

• ask questions about editing, contributing to Wikipedia and creating your first article;
• learn to navigate processes and policies and guidelines;
• understand how best to stop vandalism or to upload your images, or any other complicated activities on Wikipedia,

... then an adopter should be able to help you. Adoption is not a quick-fix process. It lasts as long as the adopter and adoptee want to continue, so you can stop any time if you feel you've learned enough, or you'd like to take a break.

Adoption is for any user who intends to be a long-term contributor and member of the editing community. It is not for someone who simply wants to create or edit a single article and then disappear forever. For those needing quick help with one-off problems, the Teahouse question forum, the Help desk, or a {{Help me}} request might be better ways to get quick answers.