On Sat, Aug 15, 2009 at 07:12, David Gerard dgerard@gmail.com wrote:
Imagine the Obama "Wikipedia Care" plan. Can the government successfully intervene to save Wikipedia?
...wait, are you saying that Wikipedia wants to pull the plug on Stephen Hawking?!?! Oh noes, we're all secretly on the death panel! (Certainly changes how I think about "X has just died" edits: those aren't vandalism, they're *orders*.)
The article in question has an... interesting... attribution of cause. Contrary to the author's apparent beliefs, there's no arcane collection of winks, nudges, and secret handshakes that seasoned editors use to identify themselves. Instead, established editors know how to work within the system better than new editors. It's a subtle distinction, but an important one; contribs stick around because they were done right, not because of who did them.
The new Vector skin can definitely help new editors to get a feel for the wiki software, and hopefully it will help them make higher-quality edits that are more likely to last. That said, I still think we as a community can stand to do a few things to be friendlier to n00bs: * make Help: text as simple and straightforward as possible * rearrange the sidebar to put the "Help" link in a more prominent place - perhaps right after "About Wikipedia"? * put the Tutorial link in a more prominent place - perhaps even in the sidebar * re-write some of our more common templates to explain why certain things are unacceptable, rather than just calling them "vandalism" * use fewer of our private acronyms, or at least do a better job hiding them with the pipe trick (see also [[Wikipedia:WTF? OMG! TMD TLA. ARG!]]) * Ease up on the trigger finger with some of those long-term and indefinite blocks. I get that some people are only there to cause problems, but come on.
I almost suggested we create a new title of "mentor", but I'm loath to get all processy on this. If you'd like to help new editors, then go help new editors: don't wait on a title and a badge.