When I first became active with my username at DailyKos, I was overwhelmed by the amount of information that was at my fingertips. Dozens of front page stories, diaries hitting the recent and rec lists faster than I could click and read them, thousands and thousands of comments every day. Somehow, in the middle of the fray, I found a wondrous invention: dKosopedia. It's Wikipedia, Kossified. Hop over the fold with me for a little bit more (and a plea)!
The very first thing I did on there was to go to the 2008 President Election page. I'm a geek, so I love all the numbers and the electoral maps and stuff like that. What was I greeted to? To my surprise, a deserted wasteland that hadn't been updated since October of 2008. I looked at the page in November of 2009. A year after the election and 13 months after the last update. Holy crap.
So, I did what any other good little geek would do, and I started to edit the page. I made it look halfway decent, then I forgot all about it until today. This afternoon I decided to go back in there and really attempt to spruce things up. I added an electoral map (hooray for MS Paint), and once I was done with 2008, I decided to tackle other recent elections. In about 3 hours, I managed to compile information and an electoral map for the 2008, 2004, 1996 and 1992 Presidential Elections (I am not touching 2000 with a 39.5 foot pole, no way no how). By the way, you can click the years to go to my beautiful pages :P.
Now, here is my plea to you. I need help! I think anybody who goes over there to edit needs help. If you have a basic knowledge of how to edit a Wiki, please please please do some research and hop over there and help out. It's a great resource and I think it could really take off (more than it has) if we can get a bunch of people over there to make the place as good, if not better, than Wikipedia itself.
Click this link to go to dKosopedia
Or...you can get to it by clicking the link that comes up on every page you visit here on DailyKos:
Okay, did you click it yet? No? Well, go click it. Yes, now, don't give me any lip.
You clicked it? Great! Now, let's go over some basics.
First off, you have to register. Click the Log In/Create Account link as seen in the screenshot below.
Now, click the blue link and register for an account like you would on any other website.
Once you get your registration all squared away, you're in! Congrats!
Now, you can click any of the links on the front page to look around. Or, if you feel adventurous, you can click the "Random Page" button on the left hand side and the Great Orange Randomizer will take you to any of the 14,000+ articles currently on dKosopedia. If you're feeling a bit specific, you can search for something directly using the search box on the left.
Here's some helpful information to get you started. All of these are from the Help section at Wikipedia, but since dKosopedia is a Wiki, the instructions are pretty much the same.
*Start here to learn the basics about editing Wiki articles
*Hereis some information on creating links and references.
*Instructions on embedding images and media in an article are always helpful
*Here is the link to the main help section over at Wikipedia if you have any questions that can't be answered with the provided links.
If you have any questions, post them in the comments and I'll be glad to attempt to answer them (or, if someone lurking about is more knowledgeable with dKosopedia/Wikipedia, they can help).