[WikiEN-l] Developer/Wiki relationship (was: Deployments today)

[WereSpielChequers]

This reminds me somewhat of the Vector rollout, I've just today come
across another example of why we need to upgrade newbies to Monobook
once they start editing. Monobook has a rather useful "Email this
user" option in the sidebar. I suspect Vector has something hidden
away in a dropdown menu, but if so I couldn't immediately find it and
I was expecting it to be there. If one on one advice is indeed the
best way for some newbies to learn, them Email is probably one of the
better ways for newbies to get feedback.

Another reason why we should at least test making Monobook the default
for newby editors - no objections to it being the default for readers
if they were the people it was designed for.

WereSpielChequers



On 3 July 2011 18:24, MuZemike <muzemike at gmail.com> wrote:
> On 7/1/2011 2:32 PM, Thomas Morton wrote:
>
>>
>> Very little discussion ocurrred r.e. rolling this out. For example no trial
>> was offered, no "Request for Comment" was taken to guage community opinion.
>> I know these are our processes and a significant part of the blame lies with
>> the editors - but even so announcement of the feature suddenly seemed to
>> "appear"on-wiki the day before :) (that may not be an accurate picture - but
>> for most that is how it appeared).
>>
>> It was only *after* deployment that is was explained that the extension is
>> amazing customisable on-wiki (a really thoughtful idea. You guys need to
>> write more extensions like this, awesome stuff). So, more miscommunication.
>>
>> I've seen this happen before numerous times - Wiki does something. Or a dev
>> does something. There is miscommunication and people who would probably see
>> eye-to-eye are growling at each other across tables. The established Wiki
>> editors feel put out and the developers feel under-appreciated (did I
>> mention: WikiLove guys!). [Ironically *the same problem* is a big part of
>> the editor retention issue on-wiki]
>>
>
> Personally, I don't see why "community discussion" and "consensus" is
> required for each and every change or addition to the software.
> Sometimes, bold action is truly the only way to move the encyclopedia
> forward, especially in the face of those who generally don't like
> change. Many times, the community in general does hold back many
> additional innovations the developers may come up with solely for the
> sake of "process". This article parallels such conflict between
> "process" and "development":
>
> http://radar.oreilly.com/2011/05/process-kills-developer-passion.html
>
> -MuZemike
>
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