On 29/09/06, geni geniice@gmail.com wrote:
As soon as you add a link to an existing article you are more likely to be noticed by a wikipedian who knows the area. Ever look at how many prod, speedies and ADFs are orphans?
It'd be quite a major move to have to close off new articles to that extent just because of marketers.
Just because someone is acting in good faith it doesn't mean that they are doing something that we want them to do.
I spent 1.5 hours this afternoon talking to a journalist. About 20 mins of that was him complaining at length that the bureaucracy is too damned intimidating for newcomers as it is. (I proceeded to more or less reiterate [[:en:Wikipedia:Process is important]], which I'm sure those of you who consider me a hack'n'slash enemy of process would find most amusing.)
I'd suggest that if we want better behaviour from newbies, we need to make things suck less for the good ones (like this guy) - the crap newbies will not be stoppable by any force of clue. You watch.
And remember: most text appears to be written by newcomers and occasional editors, not the regulars. (Numbers not firm on this one per AaronSw, but I understand others are checking his work.)
There are various tricks (marketers appear to be rather found of our no comercial use lisence option on images for example) which could be used to target marketers but then it gets complex.
See, that's the sort of thing we're good at. Be open to input from all, even if a tweaked vandal-checking bot puts it in a patrolling admin's "#redirect [[round file]]" list.
- d.