User blog:Vertigoconquers/Protip: How to Make a Better Article

So today I made my first edits here. The things I fixed were... silly. The article for The Godzilla Comic was written as if a 15-story anthology with even more artists was just one small lark of a story written in jest by Hurricane Ryu. The Godzilla Comic Raids Again's article had both the wrong title and the wrong release date. I can not, for the life of me, figure out how either of these things is possible.

So I want to give folks a little tip for editing articles: check what Wikipedia says first. Yes, I know this wiki is it's own thing, but there are a number of places where Wikipedia has beaten this place to the punch and done its own research. Oftentimes the English Wikipedia makes a lots of mistakes too since it uses extremely unreliable English sources, so just to be safe check the Japanese Wikipedia article as well. You can find it easily by going to the existing Wikipedia article in English that you're editing for this wiki, and clicking the link on the left side that says "日本語," this is the kanji for "Japanese language."

If you don't speak Japanese, don't worry about it, just copypaste the url into skynet's online translating service and click the link it shows you in the translation box. Now, it should be noted that the auto-translation is not perfect, and in many cases will seem strange and nonsensical. That's okay too, if you can't understand it or the translation, don't worry about it and move on. It isn't important that you know everything, it's important that you don't make simple, stupid mistakes that can be easily avoided just by checking what other Wiki articles have to say on the subject.

Remember: Before you check other sources, check if Wikipedia already has them listed and/or the information incorporated into the article. You don't want this specialist wiki to have less reliable information on the generic one, that's completely ridiculous, Wikizilla needs to be better than that. After we have at least as much as Wikipedia does, then start adding the extra information that this wiki provides.

Here's another thing, it's the source of the problems in the TGC article: read your sources. The Amazon page for the book correctly displayed the title, release date, and contents. I saw someone had listed Amazon as a source for TGC, yet the article itself was completely oblivious to anything outside of Monster Warrior Godzilla - not even a single mention of Warning from G! Outrageous! - so please take a look at the sources you, and others list. A similar tactic would have worked to find the name and release date of TGCRA, but here there's no evidence such a thing was even attempted.

All in all, the best way to improve this wiki is going to be to pay more attention to what's already been written. The internet is a big place, but with the right tools it isn't difficult to find what you're looking for. There are already many instances of this wiki outperforming the general Wikipedia, so let's avoid these simple mistakes from now on.

P.S. I hope this isn't privileged information or anything, but understanding Japanese is actually kind of a big deal, especially if you're going to be writing about a mythological figure who was born in, and is still primarily written about in Japan. Everyone here seriously editing this wiki should at least consider learning katakana, hiragana, and a few kanji, and maybe a little Japanese grammar. One of the greatest authors on the subject, August Ragone, is well versed in it, and the easier it is for you to understand with or without the aid of something like skynet's translator the better your contributions will be. Almost all of the rumors and meta-myths regarding Godzilla have arose from the language barrier and telephone games, so the better you understand primary or secondary sources the better your articles will be.