The developers of MediaWiki have put together a few avenues for users to find help and support on a variety of different issues. Many people may opt for these as a first choice as all fixes are approved by MediaWiki developers. However, even MediaWiki suggests looking to other forums for help as well.
The Support desk special page was built for users to post questions regarding MediaWiki. There is a warning here that questions may take several days to be answered, and there is a chance they will not be answered at all.
Made up of volunteers, this is the real-time support channel for MediaWIki. If you are in need of immediate support, this is the best place as you can chat with someone regarding your problem. It is important to note some specific rules regarding the IRC channel:
Check the FAQ page and the Manual before asking your question.
Post your question and wait for a response. Don't ask, "Is anyone there?" If you are not receiving a response it may because:
There are no volunteers on at that time. Come back later and try again
No one has an answer to your problem
The question you are asking can be found in the Manual or on the FAQ page
Expect to wait before getting an initial response. You may need to provide more information, so have this ready as well.
You can use the #mediawiki IRC channel.
This is the User help page that covers topics from editing a page to how to block a range of IP addresses. In addition to the page that was created for each topic, you can find a great deal of information in the discussion page as well. All of these pages are considered to be in the public domain so do not post anything that you may wish to keep a copyright on.
Just as the title suggests, this is the frequently asked questions (FAQ) page for MediaWiki. While a great deal of questions are answered here, you can also look to the old Meta wiki FAQ page found at: http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/MediaWiki_FAQ.
This is the official technical manual for MediaWiki. The manual is broken into three sections, one for users, another for system administrators, and a third for developers. Like other pages, the discussion tab holds as much important information as the article itself.
If you feel you are ready to help out with the MediaWiki project, you may be able to contribute to the manual by checking out the to do list.
Using your newsreader, you can subscribe to the mediawiki-l mailing list and request support here as well. You can also view mailing list archives by typing http://dir.gmane.org/gmane.org.wikimedia.mediawiki in your browser's address bar to visit the Gmane directory dedicated to MediaWiki.