Introduction

What's a wiki

The word wiki is Hawaiian, and means fast. More than fast, it's a unique way for people to participate in the editing of the information found in wiki Web pages. This is a fairly new idea and not without its detractors. A good example of a popular wiki, is Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Using a wiki

Read pages in a Wiki as you would any Web site. If you find a page where you believe you have something to add, perhaps a correction, or new information, you can click the Edit tab found at the top of the page. On many pages you will see a small Edit link above each section. While clicking the Edit tab at the top of the page allows you to edit the entire page at once, clicking the Edit links in each section allow you to edit only that section. When you are finished editing you can click the Preview button at the bottom of the page to see what your edits will look like. When you are satisfied you can click the Save button and you will be returned to the Web page with your edits included. You must add an Author name to save your changes. WikiHistory requests that you use your real name when possible but this is not an absolute requirement.

You can save your changes and continue editing by clicking the Save and edit button.

For information about how to format your text you will find instructions at the bottom of each edit page by scrolling down below the buttons. For complete editing information you can click one of the documentation links found below the buttons.

Adding Information to WikiHistory

The information in WikiHistory is not editorial, therefore we ask that you provide references for your additions. Simply provide a link or a text reference in the Sources section of each page. If you need additional help you can view the contents of other pages. Just do your best. An editor will review each entry that's made and if it needs a little fixing up it's not a problem.

The content that gets added to WikiHistory can be longer than you might expect to find in an encyclopedia, as this is a history book, and not an encyclopedia. The layout is chronological, year by year. The goal is to provide more than simple historical facts. The goal is to weave culture, religion, politics, weather, astronomical occurrences, geological occurrences, wars and anything else that has gone on into fabric that helps people understand what life was truly like in the past, whether it was yesterday or 10,000 years ago. Too often history books are lists of battles and rulers. While this is what is often recorded by historians, old and new, we know many other things about the past, such as climate change, when comets flew by, when there were solar eclipses. Some of these things had great religious significance.

WikiHistory will strive to see the World as a whole and not dwell on European history, or American History. At the moment WikiHistory is in English only. We hope taht will change in the near future as we launch new features in the Wiki and as more people volunteer to translate the pages.