I too have seen some good results with the "thank" feature ( There are even
better results when I write something specific.) I agree with Anders that
the thank message is especially useful when sent to me, indicating that
something I did was understood--in my case, usually that if I accepted or
rescued an article the person is still around. Ideally I should follow it
up with a real message. I But if it's in response to something like
deletion, I am always unsure if it's genuine thanks, or meant in the
opposite sense. One of the advantage in using real language is greater
clarity.
I still remember exactly some encouraging things said to me by experienced
users in my first few months when I first came here 8 years ago; mot were
not separate messages, but in the course of discussion. When difficulties
arise, I recall them to encourage myself. I even read over my RfA from time
to time.
I completely agree with Liam that the way forward in many areas is with
the Wikiprojects. They need further development, but I'm not sure how much
of this requires additional software, rather than additional active
participation. We should learn from the most successful, such as military
history. (or chemistry or medicine) They're a self-organizing feature, with
the advantage of not requiring funding or help from the foundation. Some
have however on enWP become somewhat of a closed circle, immune to
community views to the point of trying to maintain guidelines the community
does not support .he remedy for this as for essentially everything else is
increased participation.
On Tue, Aug 26, 2014 at 7:58 AM, Ilario Valdelli <valdelli(a)gmail.com> wrote:
The question here is about "editor
retention".
Honestly we can say "thank you" or we can use a lot of emoticons but the
problem is always the same.
At the first error the "thank you" and the pink sweet world disappears.
There is always someone in the other side who is so gentle like the
elephants in the a store of crystal things.
The biggest problem in my opinion is to continue selecting administrators
considering only their technical point of view and never their community
management capacities.
Every time I meet someone who left the Wikimedia projects the problem is
the same: a conflict and frequently some block which seems to be "unclear"
and "incorrect".
Please introduce something that is able to associate the beautiful words to
the beautiful actions.
HELP
APPRECIATE
INVOLVE
Are really good points and applied not only to the new editors but to all
editors.
On Tue, Aug 26, 2014 at 12:58 PM, Anders Wennersten <
mail(a)anderswennersten.se> wrote:
I agree with Craig
The Thank function is not only good to give to new editors but also as a
measurement to what action is appreciated by new beginners
I frequently get thanks from new one after I have complemented,
wikiadjusted their articles (HELP is appreciated)
I never get a Thanks for putting up templates, neither on articles or an
editors discussions page
To my surprise, I do getTthanks though, when I am tougher and removes an
article and put the text on a subpage to the editor, followed by a
message
often almost harsh ("fluffy text",
"unecyclopedic", "no sources",
"unclear
what is meant" etc) (Any type of personal
feedback relevant to the person
action IS appreciated)
My three key actions to new editors are
HELP, fix their articles directly, wikify, put on categories, infoboxes
find sources and images and do this within an hour of its creation and
without putting on templates
SHOW APPRECIATION when a number of good action is seen, put on a personal
message of appreciation on the editors talkpage praising his/her
knowledge
and competence
INVOLVE after a time a month or two of repeated good actions, get the
person involved by asking issues in his/her expert ares, invite to a IRL
meting with other experts in his/her area of interest
So absolutely "The editor retention problem will not be solved with
technological gizmos and doodads, nor with top-down solutions imposed
from
above. " it is with personal messages and
contacts and appriecation of
competence
Anders
Craig Franklin skrev 2014-08-26 12:18:
I agree with this wholeheartedly. When I think back to when I was new
on
> Wikipedia, pretty early on I got an
honest-to-god personal message from
> someone to thank me for correcting a typo (
>
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk:
> Lankiveil&diff=5647166&oldid=5629943
> ).
> It made me feel like this was a community of nice people that I wanted
> to
> collaborate on things with, and was probably instrumental in me sticking
> around.
>
> The editor retention problem will not be solved with technological
gizmos
> and doodads, nor with top-down solutions
imposed from above. It will be
> solved with positive human contact and creating a collaborative
community
> that people actually want to be a part of,
rather than one that they put
> up
> with. Template welcomes and messages that have all the warmth of a form
> letter enclosed in a utility bill won't make a lasting improvement in
the
> long run. The intention behind things like
the "thank" button are
great,
> but they should be seen as at most an
enabler, rather than as the actual
> solution to our problems.
>
> Cheers,
> Craig
>
>
>
>
>
> On 26 August 2014 10:09, David Goodman <dggenwp(a)gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Perhaps the best way of doing this is the admittedly laborious method
of
>> personally communicating with new editors
who seem promising and
>> encouraging them and offering to help them continue. The key word in
this
>> is "personally". It cannot be
effectively done with wikilove messages
,
>> and certainly not with anything that
looks like a template. Template
>> welcomes are essentially in the same class as mail or web
>> "personalized"advertisements. What works is to show that you actually
>> read
>> and appreciated what they are doing, to the extent you wanted to write
>> something specific.
>>
>>
>> On Mon, Aug 25, 2014 at 2:19 PM, Ilario Valdelli <valdelli(a)gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>> Wikimedia ch is doing a big investment in supporting communities.
>>>
>>> There are three community liaisons (a third hired recently) to support
>>>
>> the
>>
>>> three national languages which are also within the biggest linguistic
>>> communities.
>>>
>>> Anyway there is not a unique solution to be adapted easily in user
>>> retention and recruiting because the world is varioius as it is the
>>> life.
>>>
>>> Regards
>>> Il 24/ago/2014 03:56 "James Salsman" <jsalsman(a)gmail.com> ha
scritto:
>>>
>>> Is there a list somewhere of all currently active Foundation
>>>> initiatives for attracting and retaining active editors? I am only
>>>> aware of the one project, "Task Recommendations," to try to
encourage
>>>> editors who have made a few edits to make more, described starting at
>>>>
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JbZ1uWoKEg&t=60m20s
>>>>
>>>> I am not worried about pageviews at all, given that the trend is as
>>>> constant as it has ever been when mobile users are added in to the
>>>> total. Sadly, the greater number of mobile users appears to be
harming
>>>> active editor numbers beyond
their already dismal trend, so it would
>>>> be nice to have an idea of exactly how much effort the Foundation is
>>>> applying to its only strategic goal which it is not achieved, and has
>>>> not ever achieved. I am amazed that so much more effort continues to
>>>> be applied to the other goals, all of which have always been met
>>>> through to the present. What does this state of affairs say about the
>>>> Foundation leadership's ability to prioritize?
>>>>
>>>> Is there any evidence at all that anyone in the Foundation is
>>>> interested in any kind of change which would make non-editors more
>>>> inclined to edit, or empower editors with social factors which might
>>>> provide more time, economic power, or other means to enable them to
>>>> edit more?
>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:DGG
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