On 3/24/06, Guettarda <guettarda(a)gmail.com> wrote:
Is there such a thing as editors' guides to
specific areas?
For example, the Trinidad and Tobago article attracts people all the
time
who add "new" information which is
already contained in some subarticle.
They don't expect the level of depth of Trinidad and Tobago articles
that
exist, so they just add something that's
"missing", probably unaware of
what
exists.
It would be nice if there was some way to add an "editors guide" -
something
like "Interested in editing articles related
to Trinidad and
Tobago? Browse
our articles on the topic". Yeah, I realise
that the "obvious" answer
is
"that's what categories are for",
but there're two problems with
categories
- one is that they are too opaque (there are too
many sub-sub-sub
categories) and another is that the category link at the bottom of the
page
is too obscure - it's too far down the page
and not eye-catching
enough. I
am thinking of something that could go in a box
like the Sister Links
box
(or in that box). Something friendly and
eyecatching, something aimed
at
capturing new editors and pointing them to the
type of page they might
have
something to add to - or if nothing else,
preventing them (maybe) from
adding trivia when we already have a whole article.
Is there anything like this? Do other people see it as something
potentially useful?
Ian
Isn't this what Portals are for? I mean they have to-dos, links to
relevant topics and wikiprojects and requested articles and all of
that stuff. We don't have a [[Portal:Trinidad and Tobago]], but we do
have, say [[Portal:Netherlands]] and [[Portal:Iran]].
--Oskar
I haven't seen a portal that really achieves what I am talking about - they
are good entrees to the subject, but they are really information guides.
One of the best WikiProjects I know is the Cricket WikiProject (which
actually has a pretty good Editors Guide, though not exactly along the lines
of what I am thinking of, at
. The
Cricket Portal is really impressive, and it points to the WikiProject, but
only secondarily. In addition, creating a Portal simply for the purpose of
pointing readers towards an "editors' guide" dilutes the Portal idea. Even
starting a WikiProject just to create an editors' guide seems to be a bit
cart-before-horse.
Ian