I am trying to learn how to use the www.wikipedia.com website. Can
someone please give me step-by-step instructions on how to use this
website. Can the person also tell me how to retieve my messages and
know that someone responsed to my question and has given me an answer.
I want to use this system but I am very confused on how it works.

Thank you
stephen-ga

Have you tried their comprehensive help system yet?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Help

Yes, I have and I just can not figure it out.  All it seems to do is
take me from one link to the next.

Here you go:

(1) Enter "www.wikipedia.org" (without the quotes) into your browser's
location box and hit enter. This takes you to the Wikipedia main page.
Some browsers require the string "http://" in front of this and
possibly a "/" at the end.

(2) In the upper right of the Wikipedia main page, you will see a text
box with two buttons beside it, one labeled "Go" and the other labeled
"Search". Enter your search terms here and hit the "Enter" key or
left-click on the box labeled "Go". This will take you to Wikipedia's
entry for the search term you requested.

For example, to go to Wikipedia's page on the rock group Van Halen,
enter "Van Halen" (without the quotes) in the text box and left-click
"Go".

(3) Throughout the Wikipedia entry you will find links to other
Wikipedia entries, usually displayed by your browser in a different
colour of text and underlined. Left-click on these links to follow
them to other parts of Wikipedia.

(4) If Wikipedia does not come up with an entry for your search, or if
full-text searching is turned off, as it is presently, it will offer
to let you search the Internet using Google or Yahoo. You can do this
directly from the Wikipedia main page by left-clicking on "Search"
instead of "Go".

For example, entering "van halen jump" (without the quotes) into the
search box on the Wikipedia main page comes up with no entries. Look
down the page and left-click the buttons labeled "Google Search" or
"Yahoo! Search" to perform the same search on the Internet.

You may be having problems because full-text searching is turned off
at Wikipedia right now because of high usage. If you are misspelling
your search terms, or if they do not exist in the Wikipedia, you will
just get links (to Google and Yahoo! searches) and no Wikipedia
entries. Try making your search terms more general, and check that
spelling.

For example, searching Wikipedia for "astroseismology" returns no
results at the moment. Searching for "asteroseismology", however,
returns the correct page. This can certainly be frustrating for those
of us outside the field of asteroseismology who think it should be
spelled like "astronaut".

By the way, if you are using a Macintosh, substitute "click" for
"left-click" above. In most browsers, hitting "Enter" after entering
text in a single text box works too.

P.S.

If you left-click on the "Help" link in the upper right hand corner of
every Wikipedia page, then scroll down to "How to search for an
article" and left-click on that link, then scroll down that page to
where it says, "Google search of Wikipedia" there is a very helpful
link that allows you to use Google to search the Wikipedia site.

Here is the link: ://www.google.com/custom?sa=Google+Search&domains=wikipedia.org&sitesearch=wikipedia.org

Since Google is a more flexible search engine that the internal
Wikipedia search system, you will get an "or" search and suggestions
for correct spelling.

For example, entering "van halen jump" (without the quotes) now
returns plenty of Wikipedia articles on both Van Halen and their song
"Jump".

Also, if you type the incorrect spelling "astroseismology", Google
suggests the correct spelling of "astroseismology" and lets you search
Wikipedia again with that spelling.

You can also use the Google "Advanced Search" link to go directly to
this way of searching, by typing "wikipedia.org" in the text box next
to "Domain" on the advanced search page. Unfortunately, in order to do
this, you have to know that the actual domain for Wikipedia is a
".org" rather than a ".com". The ".com" for Wikipedia just redirects
you to the ".org" domain. Hence, it may be easier to follow the links
at Wikipedia as described above.

Alan Kali

I am a Wikipedia contributer.  Wikipedia is nor Google Answers.  It is
an encyclopedia.  You do not ask questions and expect answers.  You
look up existing articles.

Ok, thanks for the information. But I still need help.  Can you please
walk me through it.

I will give you an example.  Let's say I wanted to know more
information about the Vienna Cabooses that is in historic Vienna,
Virginia. I know that you told me that I go to the top right box to
see if an article was ever written about it, but isn't there somewhere
on the site that I can leave a message and maybe someone would an
answer to it. Perhaps maybe someone would provide a link to where I
could find out more information about this cabooses. In otherwise
someone else would do the work for me. Is this correct.

Thank you-

OK, if you want to find information about Vienna Cabooses (I don't
know what they are, but I have visited Vienna, Virginia many times. I
love Wolf Trap and trips over to the park at Great Falls. This is the
best time of year to visit. The blossoms should be coming out very
soon. I miss it.) then you are best to start by typing "Vienna" into
the Wikipedia search box. It will take you to the page for Vienna,
Austria (more famous, but not necessarily nicer than Vienna,
Virginia).

The link is here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vienna

At the top of that page you will see some linked text saying,
"Alternate meanings: See places and things called after Vienna".
Left-clicking here will take you to a special page called a
"disambiguation page", This page is intended not to give information
about anything, but to point the user in the right direction when
multiple entries exist for things with the same or similar sounding
names.

Look down the list for the entry that says, "Vienna, Virginia - in the
United States". Follow that link to the Wikipedia page for the other
Vienna.

The Vienna, Virginia page is at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vienna%2C_Virginia

It is a nice little page, although it really doesn't begin to capture
the magic of Vienna, especially in the spring. It is dry and boring
and filled with numbers. For Vienna fans like me who are far away, it
would be nice to have some more information, and about different
things.

Luckily, Wikipedia allows anyone to edit the page. Those who have
firsthand knowledge about Vienna can click on the link at the bottom
left of the page that says, "Edit this page", then add information.

There is also a facility for posting comments and questions, accessed
through the link that says, "Discuss this page" next to the edit link.
Here is where someone could post a message to others saying something
like, "Hey, this page doesn't mention Wolf Trap, or the spring
blossoms, or any of the great things about Vienna. Could someone who
lives there update the page?"

If you are new to Wikipedia, you should try this out first at the
sandbox. This is a place where you can learn to post and contribute
without messing up the real Wikipedia.

The link to the sandbox is here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Sandbox

The most important thing about Wikipedia is that people should use it
to contribute and share their knowledge, rather than to have others do
their work for them. If you live in Vienna, and want to know more
about the Cabooses, it is important that you do the research yourself
by some means other than Wikipedia, then maybe contribute it that so
others, who may be far away and unable to find out about things in
Vienna, can share your experience.

If you are far away and have no other means of finding out about
Vienna Cabooses, it may be fair for you to ask for someone who knows
about them add the information to the Wikipedia page, assuming they
are important enough to be included.

Alan Kali