[Foundation-l] Friendliness (was: Missing Wikipedians: An Essay)

[teun spaans]

"You have just made your 100th edit: congratulations."
That would be good bot to run: encourage people!
Another idea: A simple message to make a compliment on people who make their
first 3 posts which are not reverted after a day. make it aimed at anonymous
contributors, and inviting them to register.

My own welcome was in the pre-bot age, so it was personal and warm. In that
tradition I have long placed a personal welcome message at newbies talk
pages, with different results. Some harrassed me with questions, some
disappeared, some stayed on and became valuable wikipedians. I strongly
believe in warmth and people orientation.

I still remember a game forum, where i was welcomed by two different people,
where everyone commented on each others posts, sometimes critical, sometimes
positive, but always with an undertone of friendliness. It was that
atmosphere which kept me going there a long time.