Hoi, It has been said that there was some notice on the /topic. That is great.. realistically who reads it? You mention that there were complaints about this channel .. well, there are always people that complain but how relevant is that.
There are even people that complain that the Foundation is a mess. There too, you have to consider what the board is trying to do, that it does not have the means to implement what it aims to do, that the size of the projects are growing rapidly and that some rabidly are opposed to anything because it does not coincide with their own typically not well articulated view of how "things should be or else".
Now, let me be clear, our culture allows you to be bold. Even when half cocked. You have been bold and things have improved from what you proposed. It is however not clear that you have the people frequent #wikipedia agree with your premises. There is room for either more back pedalling or for more changes to what you proposed and implemented but was not seen and considered by most.
Thanks, Gerard
On 6/20/07, Dmcdevit dmcdevit@cox.net wrote:
Dejan Čabrilo wrote:
The most problematic rule is the ban of off-topic talk in the channel.
Off-topic chat is not *banned,* but it is being coaxed into other channels where it is more appropriate. Consider visiting #wikipedia-social. This doesn't mean that tangents and banter are disallowed, but that completely off-topic discussion should be avoided to begin with.
We think of off topic conversation as a good thing. There is nothing worse than getting into a
silent channel, asking a question, and getting the answer half an hour later, when you lost all the interest
Yes, getting no answer while US politics or furry fandom drown out the question is worse than that. I think your concern is exaggerated. Most channels do not have 250 regular users, and they do fine. I think #wiktionary is a good example of a channel that consistently has less than 30 occupants, and is always more active than #wikipedia-en with many more on-topic conversations, and tangents as well.
- Were there any complaints that #wikipedia wasn't helpful to people
with questions?
Yes, very much so.
Dominic
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