User blog:Mira Laime/Where to start as a Newbie

So you've found your way onto FANDOM - congrats! You're in for fun discoveries, achievements you'll be proud of, and perhaps even new friends.

But where to start? What do you do first to make sure you get the most out of your time here? We've put together some basic tips.

Sign up for a FANDOM account
Most wikis allow you to edit articles and post comments without logging in, but having a FANDOM account brings you a number of benefits. As a logged-in user, you can receive notifications about article changes, messages and replies to your posts that you'd otherwise miss. You have your own user page and profile that you can customize. All your edits and posts will be associated with your name, so you can find them again later and build a reputation with all your great work. What's more, only logged-in users can upload images, move pages, participate in Discussions or create their own wiki. Plus: You'll see fewer ads!

Signing up for a FANDOM account is quick and easy, and you only need to do it once - it will work for all wikis in our network.

Find a community to join
What topic(s) are you passionate about? Perhaps you already found a wiki because you did a web search for your topic and that's how you ended up on FANDOM in the first place? In that case, you can skip this step! If you don't know where to go yet, browse existing wikis for one where you want to add your ideas and expertise. To search for a community on a specific topic, go to fandom.com and enter the topic in the search box at the top. The results page will show you FANDOM editorial content on the left, and wiki search results on the right. Click "View More Wiki Communities" to see which communities there are.

If you know you want to help a community grow, but you're not sure which topic might be fun, there's FANDOM's Explore page to give you inspiration.

Make your first contribution
You've found your community - now what? Don't hesitate to just start editing. Everything you do can be reversed, should it go wrong, so you won't break anything. Perhaps you spotted a typo you can fix? You've got an image to add to a page? Or you've found a stub where you can add some more information? Go right ahead by clicking the "Edit" button at the top, making your changes, and then hitting "Publish". Our help page on editing can teach you what else you can do from there.

If you're not ready to make your mark on an article yet, why not make your first contribution a post in Discussions? Getting to know other fans on the wiki and exchanging thoughts and ideas can be a great way to start out on a community, too.

Give your profile a personal touch
The other users will want to know who you are and why you're here. You can upload a profile picture and customize your profile page. Your avatar and username will appear next to every comment or Discussions post you publish, and your name will link to your profile from any contributions you make. It's up to you how little or how much you want to tell others about yourself - just make sure not to publish any sensitive personal information online!

Your first step into a larger world
FANDOM is one huge network of individual wikis on thousands of diverse topics, so there's a place on FANDOM for everyone.

With one FANDOM account you can join any or all of these communities - no invitation, special rights or technical skills are required to join. Look around, contribute where you feel like it, get to know other fans, and most importantly, have fun!

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