On 7/12/07, Mister Hand misterhand2000@gmail.com wrote:
I have seen editors post on the talk page along the lines "I'm not a member of the WikiProject, so I'm not sure if I'm allowed to edit this article" and then they suggest an edit. And no, I don't have an example off the top of my head.
I think that's just one manifestation of the newbie error in not internalizing "Be bold" - if there wasn't a Wikiproject, they might well indeed ask the same of the regular editors.
It just seems to be that there are several projects that are more concerned with tagging every article that they [[WP:OWN]] then they are with actually editing them.
I don't disagree with this. WikiProject Chicago being one I've had encounters with, and I understand that geographic WikiProjects are especially prone to this. WP Chicago has laid claim to every player that's ever played with a Chicago sports team, every model of railroad locomotive ever operated by Metra, and many other categories of very remotely related article. (note that I'm not suggesting that WP Chicago is necessarily the worst here; simply it's one that I've run into).
However, many WikiProjects have been of great help in improving coverage for an area of content, in imposing a more uniform degree of quality, of being a way to find interested and knowledgable editors to help out, and much else.
-Matt