On 1/25/07, David Gerard dgerard@gmail.com wrote:
Susan is a 40-year-old stay-at-home mother. She majored in English many years ago, and still has a fondness for Jane Austen. She is idly browsing the Internet, and happens by Pride and Prejudice. In five minutes, her son gets off the school bus. She finds an error on the page.
Step one: Click 'edit' Step two: Type text Step three: Click 'save'
I think your example is lacking. You're describing a simple wikignome type task and not a creation or significant rework of an article.
Most of the policies are "obvious" and are there for reference for when people stomp all over an article or a user and pretend like it's alright.
Some of the policies have some subtleties, but everyday editors won't need to worry about them.
The example being used seems to call for a cleaner interface, in-line help - maybe also in-line help with tips and policies.
I mean.. if this person edits a page.. people aren't going to go "oh my god, she fixed my grammar, revert revert!!"
I must conclude this comment with "Is there a real problem which needs to be solved?" This thread sounds like great fodder to tie up a committe and keep people employed for a long time. It does not sound useful enough to boil down into a set of concise bug reports or feature requests.
So the problem needs to be clarified..
Can we find some of these hypothetical editors, and give them a simple questionnaire maybe?