[WikiEN-l] Article Landing Pages - functional prototype to test and comment on

[Alan Liefting]

On 11/03/2012 12:16 a.m., Oliver Keyes wrote:
> Hey guys
>
> So, as you know, we have issues with how new pages are treated on
> Wikipedia. A lot of the pages created by new editors simply aren't very
> good; this is bad for the new editors, because their pages get deleted, and
> bad for the new page patrollers who then have to wade through a tide of
> junk. It’s also contributing to page patrollers being overworked.
>   Recently, Engineering has been working on two projects that we hope will
> hopefully improve the situation: Page Triage,[1] which is aimed at making
> patrolling easier, and the Landing System:[2] a better way for new editors
> to create articles. With these project we hope to both reduce the burden on
> patrollers by making it easier to patrol, and by ensuring the articles that
> are created are of higher quality.
>
> The first of the two Engineering is working on, partly because it lends
> itself to being broken out into smaller pieces of work, is the Landing
> System. Currently, when a registered newbie clicks on a redlink, they get
> automatically taken to an edit page where they can create the article, but
> without any context as to what is actually happening.  With the proposed
> system,  instead of seeing a blank edit window devoid of context, they'll
> see a new page that gives them various options.[3] They can create an
> article there, go through the article wizard, or go back to wherever they
> were before if they didn't mean to end up at that URL. If a new editor
> tries to create the article, they'll be informed that they need a
> familiarity with policy, an absence of a COI and several references
> (amongst other things) before the tool recommends they create it.[4] If
> they don't have those things, they'll be directed to the Article Creation
> Wizard.
>
> This is an experiment. Our hypothesis is that this could help increase the
> quality of new articles and reduce patrollers’ workload, while making the
> process more welcoming at the same time.
>
> What our devs would really love is if people could provide feedback on what
> they've put together so far. There is an early prototype at
> http://ee-prototype.wmflabs.org/<http://ee-prototype.wmflabs.org/;>  , and
> I’d encourage everyone to test it out. The tool is currently targeted at
> logged in users since an account is required for creating a pge, so you
> have to be logged in to see it.  I’ve created a test account (username
> “editor”, password “mailing list”) for people to work with. Then just go to
> something like
> http://ee-prototype.wmflabs.org/wiki/Special:ArticleCreationLanding/test,
> and take a look at what you’re presented with.
>
> We know that the prototype server is fairly slow (sorry about that!) and
> the prototype could be a bit buggy, but if you have suggestions as to how
> we should improve the tool itself, you can send them to me at
> okeyes at wikimedia.org, or to
> http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Talk:Article_Creation_Workflow/Landing_System,
> where the devs are watching closely :).
>
> Thanks!
>


-- 
*Alan Liefting*
107 Warrington St
Mairehau
Christchurch

(03)385-3830 (027)646-1425

Environmental consultant
*Envision New Zealand* <http://www.envision-nz.com>