[Foundation-l] breaking English Wikipedia apart

Tue Mar 15 10:03:54 UTC 2011

I revisited Wikipedia as a newcomer to test the idea and newcomer
experiences a year ago and didn't really see that.  What I *did* experience
was that it was complicated and *that* was discouraging. Part of the issue
is that standards are stricter and quality expectations are such that
newcomers are less likely to edit appropriately first time round, and
therefore some kind of support or inculturation is needed that wasn't in
2004 - 05. Some knowledge is needed before (or as) you "edit this page"
whereas before intuition was enough. Our approach to new joiners has not
updated to reflect the fact that "just get on with it and find your own way"
is no longer appropriate.

Specifically, we aim to encourage groups who are not net geeks, and
therefore need a different kind of support and induction, and at the same
time the project has got more quality conscious and there are more policies
affecting what may and may not be done than there were in 2004 - 05.

Both of these argue that our means of inducting joiners is hopelessly out of
date, and it is this which causes newcomers to leave or be discouraged;
what is perceived and sometimes described as a hostile environment is mostly
a reflection of the divergence it involves.

FT2

On Tue, Mar 15, 2011 at 5:39 AM, Fred Bauder <fredbaud at fairpoint.net> wrote:

> It doesn't work. Even now, if you show up on some projects, create a new
> category, write a few new articles, you have to claw your way through
> nominations for deletion and a blizzard of nonsense from regulars, based
> on being "new". Not that I can't do it, but it is just wasted energy.
>
> Fred
>
>
>
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