[Foundation-l] [WikiEN-l] Newbie recruitment: referencing

[Ray Saintonge]

On 11/04/11 12:44 AM, Keegan Peterzell wrote:
> On Fri, Nov 4, 2011 at 2:31 AM, Ray Saintonge<saintonge at telus.net>  wrote:
>
>> On 11/03/11 6:27 AM, Fae wrote:
>>> On 3 November 2011 12:27, David Gerard<dgerard at gmail.com>   wrote:
>>>> Backlogs as a concern translate directly to "newbies are inherently a
>>>> problem."
>>> I don't get the point being made here, I would have thought that backlogs
>>> are a good way to attract new editors into teamworking and community.<
>>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:GLAM/DER>   and<
>>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Unreferenced_BLP_Rescue>   are
>>> examples that attracted many new editors
>>>
>> Backlogs can go both ways. They can be a rich source of things to do if
>> you're looking for something to do, but today's newbies are not the
>> cause of the backlogs; they should not be be somehow held responsible
>> for templates they didn't put on articles.
>>
>>
> Naturally.
>
> Something to consider: when the English Wikipedia reached a million
> articles, inline citation was just becoming standard.  So there is inherent
> catch-up to be played with the articles already written, and the additional
> three million.  Providing a WYSIWYG reference interface with the editing
> interface really can only help as much as the gadgets do in providing new
> and updated articles with citations.  The backlog will never be conquered.
>   It's just a side effect of our holistic growth.
>
Growth that's not only holistic, but fractal too.

I don't think were at WYSIWYG yet, but a bot should be capable of 
putting a reference in the right place should be possible.

Ray