The second part covers aspects of collaborating with other Wikipedia editors. This is essential, since anyone can edit a page, you will find that most articles on Wikipedia are the result work by several different contributors. Most contributors never meet face-to-face, so online etiquette is essential, not to mention following the site rules so that you do not inadvertently come across as a troll or spammer.

The third part discusses the process for formatting and illustrating articles. If you have used Wikipedia for very long, you will recognize that there is a stylistic design to the layout of content on the pages, and it can be jarring when you stumble upon a page that does not follow that design or has so little content than it cannot conform. If you want Wikipedia readers to take your writing seriously, you must follow the formatting conventions of the site. In addition, content like tables and images will enhance the reader's understanding of the article content, so using those things appropriately is important.

Part four focuses on enhancing the encyclopedic quality of Wikipedia through tools such as accurate navigation connections, article categorization, and basic copy editing. Appropriate page naming is one of the first steps in making sure that readers can find the information they seek, so occasionally you will find it necessary to move content to a more accurately named page or to redirect readers to that page. In addition, when words or names have multiple meanings or contexts, disambiguation pages are created to allow the user to locate the information they seek. Broughton uses this section to explain the value of these tools, as well as the technical process for using them.

The author concludes the main content of the book with a section on customizing your experience with Wikipedia through existing user preferences and the addition of editor-created JavaScript code that modify the behavior of Wikipedia pages when you are editing them. This is the main section I know I will be referring back to over the next few weeks and months as I tweak my Wikipedia account with the information gleaned from this book.

If you have no interest in becoming a Wikipedia editor, you may find "Appendix B: Reader's Guide to Wikipedia" to be of interest. At around twenty pages in length, it is a comprehensible explanation of the purpose of Wikipedia, why you would want to use it, and a few key aspects that you will want to pay attention to.

Unless the site makes some radical changes, Wikipedia – the Missing Manual is not likely to be one of those tomes that addresses content on the web and becomes irrelevant even before it is published. This book would be appropriate for both personal and shared libraries, and should be on your bookshelf if you do or ever plan to contribute to the Wikipedia project.