--- "Poor, Edmund W" Edmund.W.Poor@abc.com wrote:
Wouldn't it be better to plant seeds? And water them? And give them sunlight and fresh air? (That is, guidance and praise and encouragement?)
yes, of course.
My response to the Six Month Experiment of having committees is that it takes a lot of the work load off of Jimbo's shoulders and that it performs a necessary task rather well. But it is not sufficient, in and of itself, to provide the nurturing and nourishment needed for Wikipedia to grow to full flower.
Agreed.
We need something more, like a Mentoring System.
Also agreed, but it needs to be informal. People don't need to be admins to be mentors. Also, it needs to be completely voluntary. Offer help on talk pages, offer help on personal pages, etc.
I wonder to what extent it sould be possible to allow for system messages, to be seen by the person the next time they refresh... This would be more like a slow im, with no history being kept, but rather an informal communication. This way, next to the anon's IP, there could be a "send text message" which would appear the next time the user requested a W page.
Just kicking up dirt as usual.
You know, the occasional "nice work" and "wow, thanks for fixing my typo" go a long way to encourage people.
===== Chris Mahan 818.943.1850 cell chris_mahan@yahoo.com chris.mahan@gmail.com http://www.christophermahan.com/
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