WikiProjects - Your thoughts - WikiEN-l - lists.wikimedia.org

List overview All Threads
Download

WikiProjects - Your thoughts

Re: [WikiEN-l]...

List moderation?

Giggy

12 Jul 2007 12 Jul '07

6:42 a.m.

Well, you see the occasional note about the future of WikiProjects being short because they just don't work...well, I see a fair few of these messages, as I do a good deal of project work. So what do others think of the future? Will WikiProjects still be around and kicking in...say...6 months? [[User:Giggy]]

Reply

Show replies by date

Steve Bennett

12 Jul 12 Jul

7:51 a.m.

Some have been around for years, some die within weeks of being created. What are you getting at exactly? Will all WikiProjects die in the next 6 months? No, why would they? Steve On 7/12/07, Giggy <g1ggyman(a)gmail.com> wrote:

Well, you see the occasional note about the future of WikiProjects being short because they just don't work...well, I see a fair few of these messages, as I do a good deal of project work. So what do others think of the future? Will WikiProjects still be around and kicking in...say...6 months?

Reply

C.J. Croy

8:14 a.m.

On 7/11/07, Giggy <g1ggyman(a)gmail.com> wrote:

Well, you see the occasional note about the future of WikiProjects being short because they just don't work...well, I see a fair few of these messages, as I do a good deal of project work. So what do others think of the future? Will WikiProjects still be around and kicking in...say...6 months?

Wikiprojects will continue to exist as long as Wikipedia exists, even though most of them are good for nothing but keeping articles that outsiders don't understand the importance of. Most are simply so broad they're useless(Example: Texas). A few really broad ones manage to succeed in spite of themselves(Example: Biography). The most productive and useful ones tend to be small and focused, the canonical example being [[WP:KLF]]. I wouldn't mind if most of them were deleted or put in their place; I really like being able to click on a discussion link and have it contain actual discussion. -Chris Croy

Reply

David Goodman

9:06 a.m.

A key use of these projects is in deletion sorting, in order to attract people interested in particular types of articles to AfD, This could of course be separated, but it is often organized in connection with Wikiprojects. Similarly with NewPages--there are many invaluable subject-oriented newpage feeds. ~~~~ On 7/12/07, C.J. Croy <cjcroy(a)gmail.com> wrote:

On 7/11/07, Giggy <g1ggyman(a)gmail.com> wrote:

Well, you see the occasional note about the future of WikiProjects being short because they just don't work...well, I see a fair few of these messages, as I do a good deal of project work. So what do others think of the future? Will WikiProjects still be around and kicking in...say...6 months?

Wikiprojects will continue to exist as long as Wikipedia exists, even though most of them are good for nothing but keeping articles that outsiders don't understand the importance of. Most are simply so broad they're useless(Example: Texas). A few really broad ones manage to succeed in spite of themselves(Example: Biography). The most productive and useful ones tend to be small and focused, the canonical example being [[WP:KLF]]. I wouldn't mind if most of them were deleted or put in their place; I really like being able to click on a discussion link and have it contain actual discussion. -Chris Croy _______________________________________________ WikiEN-l mailing list WikiEN-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org To unsubscribe from this mailing list, visit: http://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikien-l

-- David Goodman, Ph.D, M.L.S.

Reply

Christiano Moreschi

10:17 a.m.

From: Giggy <g1ggyman(a)gmail.com> Reply-To: English Wikipedia <wikien-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org> To: "English Wikipedia" <wikien-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org> Subject: [WikiEN-l] WikiProjects - Your thoughts Date: Thu, 12 Jul 2007 14:42:56 +1000 Well, you see the occasional note about the future of WikiProjects being short because they just don't work...well, I see a fair few of these messages, as I do a good deal of project work. So what do others think of the future? Will WikiProjects still be around and kicking in...say...6 months?

WikiProject are fantastically useful when stuffed with clueful, mature people who really understand the subject matter, and what should and should not be included. Most - nearly all - WikiProjects fall under this description. It's only when WikiProjects are stuffed with cruft-adoring fanboys that the problems start. More-schi _________________________________________________________________ The next generation of Hotmail is here! http://www.newhotmail.co.uk

Reply

Mister Hand

10:02 p.m.

If the purpose of WikiProjects is to scare off new editors by tagging the talk pages of articles, then I think they've succeeded admirably. On 7/11/07, Giggy <g1ggyman(a)gmail.com> wrote:

Well, you see the occasional note about the future of WikiProjects being short because they just don't work...well, I see a fair few of these messages, as I do a good deal of project work. So what do others think of the future? Will WikiProjects still be around and kicking in...say...6 months? [[User:Giggy]] _______________________________________________ WikiEN-l mailing list WikiEN-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org To unsubscribe from this mailing list, visit: http://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikien-l

-- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:MisterHand

Reply

K P

11:28 p.m.

On 7/12/07, Mister Hand <misterhand2000(a)gmail.com> wrote:

If the purpose of WikiProjects is to scare off new editors by tagging the talk pages of articles, then I think they've succeeded admirably. On 7/11/07, Giggy <g1ggyman(a)gmail.com> wrote:

Well, you see the occasional note about the future of WikiProjects being short because they just don't work...well, I see a fair few of these messages, as I do a good deal of project work. So what do others think of the future? Will WikiProjects still be around and kicking in...say...6 months? [[User:Giggy]] _______________________________________________ WikiEN-l mailing list WikiEN-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org To unsubscribe from this mailing list, visit: http://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikien-l

What's so scarey about talk page tags? I can't put myself in that mindset. They're annoying, and they can make finding the talk too hard, but they also are useful. THe plants tags send the articles to a list where botanical editors can clean them up--this is useful. Plants isn't stuff full of people who know their stuff, because there are simply very few botanists on Wikipedia. But the project is essential to the amount of articles and the quality of plant articles we are getting on Wikipedia. Unless you wanna edit all of plants yourself, or suggest some other way of focusing discussion on an issue when it needs more than one editor (there's no "watchlist every new plant article I might be interested in keystroke). Projects serve a purpose, whether or not you're particularly irritated at one right now, and whether all function well or not. KP

Reply

Matthew Brown

11:34 p.m.

On 7/12/07, Mister Hand <misterhand2000(a)gmail.com> wrote:

If the purpose of WikiProjects is to scare off new editors by tagging the talk pages of articles, then I think they've succeeded admirably.

Any chance that you have any evidence this actually happens? -Matt

Reply

Mister Hand

11:40 p.m.

I have seen editors post on the talk page along the lines "I'm not a member of the WikiProject, so I'm not sure if I'm allowed to edit this article" and then they suggest an edit. And no, I don't have an example off the top of my head. It just seems to be that there are several projects that are more concerned with tagging every article that they [[WP:OWN]] then they are with actually editing them. On 7/12/07, Matthew Brown <morven(a)gmail.com> wrote:

On 7/12/07, Mister Hand <misterhand2000(a)gmail.com> wrote:

If the purpose of WikiProjects is to scare off new editors by tagging

the

talk pages of articles, then I think they've succeeded admirably.

Any chance that you have any evidence this actually happens? -Matt _______________________________________________ WikiEN-l mailing list WikiEN-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org To unsubscribe from this mailing list, visit: http://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikien-l

-- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:MisterHand

Reply

Matthew Brown

11:57 p.m.

On 7/12/07, Mister Hand <misterhand2000(a)gmail.com> wrote:

I have seen editors post on the talk page along the lines "I'm not a member of the WikiProject, so I'm not sure if I'm allowed to edit this article" and then they suggest an edit. And no, I don't have an example off the top of my head.

I think that's just one manifestation of the newbie error in not internalizing "Be bold" - if there wasn't a Wikiproject, they might well indeed ask the same of the regular editors.

It just seems to be that there are several projects that are more concerned with tagging every article that they [[WP:OWN]] then they are with actually editing them.

I don't disagree with this. WikiProject Chicago being one I've had encounters with, and I understand that geographic WikiProjects are especially prone to this. WP Chicago has laid claim to every player that's ever played with a Chicago sports team, every model of railroad locomotive ever operated by Metra, and many other categories of very remotely related article. (note that I'm not suggesting that WP Chicago is necessarily the worst here; simply it's one that I've run into). However, many WikiProjects have been of great help in improving coverage for an area of content, in imposing a more uniform degree of quality, of being a way to find interested and knowledgable editors to help out, and much else. -Matt

Reply

Thomas Dalton

13 Jul 13 Jul

12:28 a.m.

I don't disagree with this. WikiProject Chicago being one I've had encounters with, and I understand that geographic WikiProjects are especially prone to this. WP Chicago has laid claim to every player that's ever played with a Chicago sports team, every model of railroad locomotive ever operated by Metra, and many other categories of very remotely related article. (note that I'm not suggesting that WP Chicago is necessarily the worst here; simply it's one that I've run into).

I remember WikiProject Texas tagging an article on a TV character who happened to be from Texas (only mentioned in a handful of episodes, never a significant storyline). I very much doubt they had any intention of editing the article.

Reply

K P

4:15 a.m.

On 7/12/07, Mister Hand <misterhand2000(a)gmail.com> wrote:

I have seen editors post on the talk page along the lines "I'm not a member of the WikiProject, so I'm not sure if I'm allowed to edit this article" and then they suggest an edit. And no, I don't have an example off the top of my head. It just seems to be that there are several projects that are more concerned with tagging every article that they [[WP:OWN]] then they are with actually editing them. On 7/12/07, Matthew Brown <morven(a)gmail.com> wrote:

On 7/12/07, Mister Hand <misterhand2000(a)gmail.com> wrote:

If the purpose of WikiProjects is to scare off new editors by tagging

the

talk pages of articles, then I think they've succeeded admirably.

Any chance that you have any evidence this actually happens? -Matt _______________________________________________ WikiEN-l mailing list WikiEN-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org To unsubscribe from this mailing list, visit: http://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikien-l

I've never seen that on a plants article. I'll have to ask the other plants folks if they've seen it. I've never even heard of it until this instance. We do get newbies who click on the link and ask questions about plants on the WP Plants talk page. We've had a couple of posters who asked questions about animals on WP Plants, because they found our banner. Plants don't take animals for granted, they can't. KP

Reply

Charlotte Webb

2:23 a.m.

On 7/12/07, Mister Hand <misterhand2000(a)gmail.com> wrote:

If the purpose of WikiProjects is to scare off new editors by tagging the talk pages of articles, then I think they've succeeded admirably.

Quite. —C.W.

Reply

6129

days inactive

6130

days old

wikien-l@lists.wikimedia.org

Manage subscription

12 comments

10 participants

tags (0)

participants (10)

C.J. Croy
Charlotte Webb
Christiano Moreschi
David Goodman
Giggy
K P
Matthew Brown
Mister Hand
Steve Bennett
Thomas Dalton