Hi all,
I don't think anyone is suggesting that watchlists are useful for drawing people
into events (the alternative methods you mention are much better), but rather
watchlists, histories and individual editors are excellent ways of keeping track
of how well trainees are doing both during and after events.
I can see Gordon's point about separating mediawiki editing skills from
wikipedia skills, but in practice we run one off sessions. In such circumstances
people have little interest in learning how to edit Wikimedia UK wiki.
I don't know how to run a session where you go through a whole load of exercises
(I always like to get people to drop notes on each others talk pages for
example), and then say "...and now for something completely different!" In fact
taking people through to Commons can be sufficiently complex in itself, even
though it can relatively easily be linked and made relevant to Wikipedia.
all the best
Fabian
On 13 November 2015 at 11:09 Gordon Joly
<gordon.joly(a)pobox.com> wrote:
On 12/11/15 16:23, WereSpielChequers wrote:
But when it comes to outreach events targeted at new or newish editors,
it just gets too confusing to get them off EN wikipedia. There are also
practical advantages, it gets them to confirmed status on EN wiki more
quickly, and without global watchlists multiple wikis are a complication
too far for most newbies.
I am not sure I agree that watchlists are an important mechanism for
newbies. People like me (am I a newbie?) tend to rely on email as the
primary source of information about events. Secondary sources are
websites, including wikis. Having said that, I am using Facebook in
tandem with an email for a series of event I run.
Eventbrite has some advantages. Easy to see if an event is full for
example. Eventbrite is free for free events.
As a purist, I believe that EN is for articles (and User: space).
I have also suggested in the past that the editing basic skills can be
taught on any Mediawiki installation. Learning about Wikipedia is
distinct, with all those pillars.
Gordo
P.S.
Wikipedia co-founder Larry Sanger says website has been 'taken over by
trolls' 46-year-old says he walked away from the internet phenomenon in
2001 because 'the inmates were running the asylum'
http://v.gd/Add7uQ
:-)
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