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How do I volunteer on your projects?

First, we want to thank you for your interest in joining our mission! Wikipedia and its sister sites rely on volunteers who generate and maintain all content as well as creating almost all of the policies and guidelines that govern the sites. They are collaborative projects, with people from all over the world bringing their skills and interests to join in the compilation and dissemination of knowledge to everyone, everywhere, free of charge.

There are a number of ways you can join in.

  • Do you like to research or write? Did you know that you can contribute content to Wikipedia and its sister sites directly? Each language project has information about contributing in the links on the side, sometimes under a pull-down title like "Interactions". Many of them have advanced tutorials. The English Wikipedia's tutorial is en:Wikipedia:Tutorial, for instance.
  • Are you fluent in more than one language and willing to translate? See our page on translation for more specific information.
  • Do you like to take photographs? Draw pictures? Design charts, maps or put together audio files? There is a place for you, too! Media files that you have created which have encyclopedic value and which you're willing to donate can be uploaded to Wikimedia Commons, where they can be used on Wikipedia and other Wikimedia Foundation projects, as well as elsewhere! See Commons:Project scope/Summary for some more information on the kinds of media files that we are looking for and Upload Wizard to begin.
  • Are you a programmer or web developer or interested in becoming one? Did you know that even the software Wikipedia uses is largely developed by volunteers? If you're interested in pitching in there, please see How to become a MediaWiki hacker.

As mentioned above, most of our projects' policies and practices are created by volunteers, who can best help if you have questions about the volunteering experience. If you would like more information, you may want to visit the "help" forums linked on the left hand side of each page on our websites to learn where questions can be addressed to the community of that particular project. If you cannot find the information you seek or have other questions for or about the projects, you might want to write to the volunteer email response team at info@wikimedia.org. Volunteers are available to offer guidance in many different languages.

We hope you will decide to join us!




Disclaimer: Emails to info@wikimedia.org are reviewed and responded to by volunteers from our user community. Please understand that the Wikimedia Foundation cannot guarantee confidential treatment of any sensitive information you include in your message.