Apparently the message I sent in reply to this didn't get through; strange. Anyway, a mainpage link might be a bad idea - with the number of readers we've got, the channels may get overwhelmed. Perhaps the village pump or somewhere prominent in the "help" pages? Somewhere internal but widely read.
On Sun, Feb 13, 2011 at 4:49 PM, Miguelinito miguelinito@gmail.com wrote:
I mean something like a link in the left column of the main page, or even a link in the thread boxes (Liquid Threats) themselves. How many people are usually connected to the IRC channel and how many are usually reading Wikipedia? I don't know the ratio, but it must be overwhelming.I am editing Wikipedia since years ago, and I connected to the IRC channel maybe three, four times in all that time, not more. I imagine that newbies do it even less than me. And it would be great for a first contact with Wikipedia editors, much better than a cold template.
Miguel Ángel
We have many accessible IRC channels, including those dedicated to helping newbies. I don't know if media-wiki has an inbuilt ability to access IRC through it (or one welded onto the side) but that might be something to consider if not.
On Sun, Feb 13, 2011 at 4:04 PM, Miguelinito miguelinito@gmail.com wrote: One of the most recurrent warnings in Wikipedia is "this is not a forum". Wouldn't it be good to have a forum in the village pump? Or even an own irc channel easily accesible?
In Spain we have a refrain: "Hablando se entiende la gente" (talking is the way to work things out). In the village pump, we can interchange information, but not emotion at all. We can't freely express ourselves and we all feel as if we were in a school exam instead of feeling comfortable as with a group of friends. We have to weigh words carefully and we are punished if we don't. That may be good for people who are used to it, but not for everybody, certainly.
Sometimes we know somebody professionally (in this case, as a Wikipedia editor) but we know nothing about that someone personally, and, when we really know that person, we notice that we can start talking with no prejudices, and that we even need less words to express ourselves. I think that's one of the reasons why women like social networks so much. They can *feel* people, not just reading their arguments. Of course, I don't mean to give personal data, like real name, profession, etc., but just to talk in another level, more personal. Ask any professional and they'll tell you that emotions are a very important part of communication at a personal level. It would be an effective way to improve self-esteem in people with a high ego, it would reduce prejudice among users, and it's one of the things that women demand from TV.
Maybe that could be a good idea.
Miguel Ángel
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-- Saludos, Miguelinito mailto:miguelinito@gmail.com
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