I agree with Craig
The Thank function is not only good to give to new editors but also as a measurement to what action is appreciated by new beginners
I frequently get thanks from new one after I have complemented, wikiadjusted their articles (HELP is appreciated)
I never get a Thanks for putting up templates, neither on articles or an editors discussions page
To my surprise, I do getTthanks though, when I am tougher and removes an article and put the text on a subpage to the editor, followed by a message often almost harsh ("fluffy text", "unecyclopedic", "no sources", "unclear what is meant" etc) (Any type of personal feedback relevant to the person action IS appreciated)
My three key actions to new editors are HELP, fix their articles directly, wikify, put on categories, infoboxes find sources and images and do this within an hour of its creation and without putting on templates SHOW APPRECIATION when a number of good action is seen, put on a personal message of appreciation on the editors talkpage praising his/her knowledge and competence INVOLVE after a time a month or two of repeated good actions, get the person involved by asking issues in his/her expert ares, invite to a IRL meting with other experts in his/her area of interest
So absolutely "The editor retention problem will not be solved with technological gizmos and doodads, nor with top-down solutions imposed from above. " it is with personal messages and contacts and appriecation of competence
Anders
Craig Franklin skrev 2014-08-26 12:18:
I agree with this wholeheartedly. When I think back to when I was new on Wikipedia, pretty early on I got an honest-to-god personal message from someone to thank me for correcting a typo ( https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk:Lankiveil&diff=5647... ). It made me feel like this was a community of nice people that I wanted to collaborate on things with, and was probably instrumental in me sticking around.
The editor retention problem will not be solved with technological gizmos and doodads, nor with top-down solutions imposed from above. It will be solved with positive human contact and creating a collaborative community that people actually want to be a part of, rather than one that they put up with. Template welcomes and messages that have all the warmth of a form letter enclosed in a utility bill won't make a lasting improvement in the long run. The intention behind things like the "thank" button are great, but they should be seen as at most an enabler, rather than as the actual solution to our problems.
Cheers, Craig
On 26 August 2014 10:09, David Goodman dggenwp@gmail.com wrote:
Perhaps the best way of doing this is the admittedly laborious method of personally communicating with new editors who seem promising and encouraging them and offering to help them continue. The key word in this is "personally". It cannot be effectively done with wikilove messages , and certainly not with anything that looks like a template. Template welcomes are essentially in the same class as mail or web "personalized"advertisements. What works is to show that you actually read and appreciated what they are doing, to the extent you wanted to write something specific.
On Mon, Aug 25, 2014 at 2:19 PM, Ilario Valdelli valdelli@gmail.com wrote:
Wikimedia ch is doing a big investment in supporting communities.
There are three community liaisons (a third hired recently) to support
the
three national languages which are also within the biggest linguistic communities.
Anyway there is not a unique solution to be adapted easily in user retention and recruiting because the world is varioius as it is the life.
Regards Il 24/ago/2014 03:56 "James Salsman" jsalsman@gmail.com ha scritto:
Is there a list somewhere of all currently active Foundation initiatives for attracting and retaining active editors? I am only aware of the one project, "Task Recommendations," to try to encourage editors who have made a few edits to make more, described starting at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JbZ1uWoKEg&t=60m20s
I am not worried about pageviews at all, given that the trend is as constant as it has ever been when mobile users are added in to the total. Sadly, the greater number of mobile users appears to be harming active editor numbers beyond their already dismal trend, so it would be nice to have an idea of exactly how much effort the Foundation is applying to its only strategic goal which it is not achieved, and has not ever achieved. I am amazed that so much more effort continues to be applied to the other goals, all of which have always been met through to the present. What does this state of affairs say about the Foundation leadership's ability to prioritize?
Is there any evidence at all that anyone in the Foundation is interested in any kind of change which would make non-editors more inclined to edit, or empower editors with social factors which might provide more time, economic power, or other means to enable them to edit more?
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