--- Denni <dwindrim(a)shaw.ca> wrote:
I do not want anyone to be denied the opportunity to
participate in
Wikipedia to its fullest extent, except for three groups of people:
the
presently banned, anons, and newbies (he said, seeing keyboards
around
the planet ignite spontaneously).
Anon, in general, do not bother me. I am an anon at times. It helps
me gauge the response of active sysops.
Newbies do not bother me either. They are like teens trying to figure
sex out.
I have no great sympathy for most of those banned;
while mistakes
happen, MNH and friends are "away" for good reason. However, anons
and
newbies have, as a group, no less ability to create havoc.
People are banned for various reasons. Just because a user is banned
does not mean they are worthless. They may have heated up too much in
the wrong situation.
I come at this as remembering my own first days here -
trying to
find my
way around, trying to navigate what appeared to be darkness,
editing a
bit here and a bit there until I had the nerve to do my own
userpage or
submit a small article (can't remember which came first). Yes, I
screwed
up, not through bad intent, but through ignorance, and posted a
couple
of articles that got me leapt upon by irate sysops.
That fumbling around in the dark is hopefully now better addressed.
Perhaps there should be a sysop "Guided tour" feature.
There are also
those
"anons" who are only anonymous to us. They know who they're dealing
with, and sock puppetry is the least of their bad manners
sometimes.
I put forward as a suggestion that newbie and anon
postings be
screened...
And who monitors the screeners? And define newbie. And define anon.
Someone who comes for ten minutes per month will be a newbie for a
very long time. Jimbo may be a anon.
While this does not negate Wikipedia's promise of
being
able
to "edit this page right now", it does add the caveat that the edit
may
not be immediately visible.
That would not be good. The very idea of transparency and immediacy
is highly critical to the W's success.
VfD has a big group of vigilant eyes, myself among
them. But if I
could
be of help in screening anon vandals, and helping newbies find the
right
way, I'd sure rather spend my time on such a page. I propose this
to the
powers that be for consideration.
I propose the opposite: that the powers that be not spend any time on
this. Rather, newbies need better help.
Heck, publiching a hardcopy Wikipedia Guide would go far to alleviate
newbieism.
=====
Chris Mahan
818.943.1850 cell
chris_mahan(a)yahoo.com
chris.mahan(a)gmail.com
http://www.christophermahan.com/
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