Assuming good faith, all these Dartmouth students will want to write a _useful_ article for their course credit. So, let's help them do so.
Would it be worth putting together a quick welcoming page, targeted at these students (and anyone else coming along later on the same sort of project, since there will be more), which points out resources like [[Wikipedia:Requested articles]], [[Wikipedia:Requested article translations]] (hey, *I'd* offer bonus credit for a translation), [[Wikipedia:Most wanted articles]] &c, with some notes on the kind of thing we'd really like and the kind of thing we'd discourage?
This'd also serve as an opportunity to make links like the Help Desk clear, mention the talk pages of some users willing to assist, &c &c... thoughts?
--
- Andrew Gray andrew.gray@dunelm.org.uk
I think that is a most bodaciously doubleplusgood idea.
Particularly the idea of being positive and suggesting things we WANT.
As this is the last day of my vacation I will have less time to work on Wikipedia so maybe you could... take the initiative on this? I'd be glad to help out, and by all means put me on the list of users willing to assist (my Wikipedia username is, you'll never guess this, dpbsmith).
-- Daniel P. B. Smith, dpbsmith@verizon.net "Elinor Goulding Smith's Great Big Messy Book" is now back in print! Sample chapter at http://world.std.com/~dpbsmith/messy.html Buy it at http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1403314063/
On 15/08/05, Daniel P. B. Smith dpbsmith@verizon.net wrote:
This'd also serve as an opportunity to make links like the Help Desk clear, mention the talk pages of some users willing to assist, &c &c... thoughts?
I think that is a most bodaciously doubleplusgood idea.
Particularly the idea of being positive and suggesting things we WANT.
As this is the last day of my vacation I will have less time to work on Wikipedia so maybe you could... take the initiative on this? I'd be glad to help out, and by all means put me on the list of users willing to assist (my Wikipedia username is, you'll never guess this, dpbsmith).
I have a draft up at [[Wikipedia:School and university projects - instructions for students]]. Alterations appreciated, and anyone else willing to help please stick your name down...
It currently only really deals with creating new articles, but as that's the topic currently being discussed... :-)
I have a draft up at [[Wikipedia:School and university projects - instructions for students]]. Alterations appreciated, and anyone else willing to help please stick your name down...
I think the idea is good, it's just that... Well. The tasks proposed are a bit dreary. Personally I have literally never created an article because it was requested. I prefer to write about things I know about, or at least know the context for, and the requested articles never seem to be in my field of knowledge. My guess is that I'm not unique in this respect. (I have, though, participated in the Missing Articles project, writing on Scandinavian topics.)
The standard welcoming messages with the open tasks also seem rather unattractive to me. Very few people join Wikipedia because they want to fix syntax or clean up bad prose on subjects they don't care about. This comes later when people mature as Wikipedians.
Regards, Haukur
I did!
On 8/15/05, Haukur Þorgeirsson haukurth@hi.is wrote:
I have a draft up at [[Wikipedia:School and university projects - instructions for students]]. Alterations appreciated, and anyone else willing to help please stick your name down...
I think the idea is good, it's just that... Well. The tasks proposed are a bit dreary. Personally I have literally never created an article because it was requested. I prefer to write about things I know about, or at least know the context for, and the requested articles never seem to be in my field of knowledge. My guess is that I'm not unique in this respect. (I have, though, participated in the Missing Articles project, writing on Scandinavian topics.)
The standard welcoming messages with the open tasks also seem rather unattractive to me. Very few people join Wikipedia because they want to fix syntax or clean up bad prose on subjects they don't care about. This comes later when people mature as Wikipedians.
Regards, Haukur
WikiEN-l mailing list WikiEN-l@Wikipedia.org http://mail.wikipedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikien-l
I joined to correct the overwhelming POV I discovered on the [[anal sex]] page, but thats just me...
Jack (Sam Spade)
On 8/16/05, Phroziac phroziac@gmail.com wrote:
I did!
I think the idea is good, it's just that... Well. The tasks proposed are a bit dreary. Personally I have literally never created an article because it was requested. I prefer to write about things I know about, or at least know the context for, and the requested articles never seem to be in my field of knowledge. My guess is that I'm not unique in this respect. (I have, though, participated in the Missing Articles project, writing on Scandinavian topics.)
The standard welcoming messages with the open tasks also seem rather unattractive to me. Very few people join Wikipedia because they want to fix syntax or clean up bad prose on subjects they don't care about. This comes later when people mature as Wikipedians.
Regards, Haukur
WikiEN-l mailing list WikiEN-l@Wikipedia.org http://mail.wikipedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikien-l
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