I think that new editors (apart from vandals) sometimes come with
unrealistic expectations, based on "This is the encyclopedia that anyone can
edit". Anything we can do to focus their expectations towards the reality
should be welcomed. A welcome template is all very well, but cannot hope to
explain all the subtleties of the policies, guidelines, consensi (?) and
ArbCom rulings that will affect the validity or persistence of their edits.
Unless existing editors take great care not to alienate new editors by being
jargon-meisters or making assumptions, we may well continue to lose
well-intentioned new editors.
And, of course, we'e already lost, or are losing, a whole host of
well-intentioned experienced editors, whose experience cannot be replaced
overnight; and that is tragic. Without entrenched editors willing to pass on
their experience, WP will inevitably struggle to develop, and continue to be
forever condemned to a Sisyphean task of correction rather than education.
Meh!
Carcharoth wrote:
Expanding existing articles has its pitfalls as well.
Having a lot of
work summarily reverted is possible there as well, though less likely.
Possibly worse is developing your own writing style and technique in
isolation and having no-one there to point out your mistakes results
in either painfully unlearning and relearning the correct way to do
things, or running into even more trouble further down the road. The
cardinal rules I would give would be something like (in no particular
order):
1) Take things slowly and stop and discuss if needed
2) Read and watch, and ask and learn, and show and help
3) Be helpful not confrontational, and be patient
4) Treat others as you would like to be treated
Along with that, always remember how big and chaotic Wikipedia is and
can be. Don't avoid other areas, but find areas you like and enjoy and
ensure you always have those areas to return to if things get
stressful elsewhere.
Carcharoth
On Wed, Oct 12, 2011 at 11:55 PM, MuZemike <muzemike(a)gmail.com> wrote:
I don't think that is entirely reasonable
thing to say or do, but, on
the other hand, I wished that newcomers would be aware that creating
new articles from scratch is not the only way to help contribute to
the encyclopedia. Assuming that Wikipedia is still nowhere close to
being complete, there are always going to be opportunities to expand
existing articles - many of them that are still stubs. I don't know
of any good way in which to guide newcomers towards that direction,
though, especially in a "come-and-go"-type environment such as this.
-MuZemike
On 10/10/2011 7:08 PM, Tony Sidaway wrote:
The only important rule here is to be bold. We
really ought to take
more steps to disenfranchise those who repeatedly stamp on attempts
to create new content. They know who they are, and I mean it. We
should stop them hard.
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