Wikipedia:Online Ambassadors/Apply/Yunshui

The following discussion is preserved as an archive of a successful Online Ambassador application.

Welcome to the team, Yunshui. The Interior (Talk) 05:06, 23 November 2012 (UTC)

Yunshui

Yunshui (talk · contribs)

1. Why do you want to be a Wikipedia Ambassador?

   I spend a large amount of my wikitime assisting new users, which has on numerous occasions brought me into contact with projects the Education program has been running. Usually, this has taken the form of me having to raise some sort of issue with the course co-ordinator - more online ambassadors would hopefully make such issues rarer, since it would provide more assistance to students. I'd prefer to help student users in the same way as I would any other new user, but I'm wary of treading on their actual ambassador's toes; as a fairly competent user I feel I'd be more use if I was able to offer them assistance in an "official" ambassadorial capacity.

2. In three sentences or less, summarize your involvement with Wikimedia projects.

   I'm an editor and admin at en-wiki; that's where I concentrate my efforts. I spend most of my time dealing with admin backlogs (particularly CSD) and helping new users at the Teahouse and the Helpdesk; I'm also an active adopter with the Adopt-a-user program.

3. Please indicate a few articles to which you have made significant content contributions. (e.g. DYK, GA, FA, major revisions/expansions/copyedits).

   There's a list on my userpage of the articles I'm most proud of; I'd particularly emphasise Chikaraishi, which I took from page creation to GA pretty much single-handed. I've created around 70 articles in total.

4. How have you been involved with welcoming and helping new users on Wikipedia?

   Per Q.2, I see helping new users as one of the most important tasks I perform on Wikipedia, and am involved in most of the major processes for assisting them.

5. What do you see as the most important ways we could welcome newcomers or help new users become active contributors?

   The main issue faced by students is primarily a failure to understand Wikipedia's notability and sourcing requirements. In the Education program, these are aspects that need to be addressed by the lecturers before their students ever set their fingers to a keyboard. I've also found that copyright can be a source of misunderstanding - basically, I would recommend at least one compulsory lecture on WP:N, WP:RS and WP:CV for every student involved in the program. For new users generally, the Teahouse (although I was sceptical of it at its inception) has proved to be a very effective tool for improving editor retention, it seems to attract editors who are genuinely interested in improving the encyclopedia without drawing (as the helpdesk does) those who are merely here to spam.

6. Have you had major conflicts with other editors? Blocks or bans? Involvement in arbitration? Feel free to offer context, if necessary.

   I've a clean block log and no Arb history. The most serious disputes in which I've been involved are linked to in the answer to question 3 at my RFA.

7. How often do you edit Wikipedia and check in on ongoing discussions? Will you be available regularly for at least two hours per week, in your role as a mentor?

   I'm usually available online during weekdays from 7.30 - 15.00 GMT, and crop up occasionally at evenings and weekends.

8. How would you make sure your students were not violating copyright laws?

   Over time I've come to be fairly good at spotting when a piece of writing has been copied from elsewhere - certain aspects of tone and content will always make me suspicious. My usual approach is to Google a few random text strings from the article, then check any pages that come up as possible sources.

9. If one of your students had an issue with copyright violation how would resolve it?

   Remove copied text, warn student, notify course tutor. Copyright violations (as I have explained oh, so many times) need deleting on sight, and the students involved need to be made immediately aware. That said, good preparation by the course creators should (hopefully) discourage all but the most lazy/inept from committing such violations. Whilst copyright seems like an insanely complicated minefield, it really isn't (at least not on Wikipedia), and any student in higher education should be able to get their head around it.

10. In your _own_ words describe what copyright violation is.

    A copyright violation is the reproduction, without permission, of text, imagery or other media that is not available under a free, share-alike licence allowing for modification. I take it from all these questions about copyright that I'm not the only one who's spotted issues with students copy-pasting...

11. What else should we know about you that is relevant to being a Wikipedia Ambassador?

    I dislike Wikidrama - I prefer to resolve conflicts rather than escalate them. Whilst I have little tolerance for vandals and spammers, I am quite adept now at distinguishing them from good-faith editors who are merely clueless. I'm also considered to be relatively good at communicating information, both on wiki and in real life.

Endorsements

(Two endorsements are needed for online ambassador approval.)

• Support Yunshui has good experience with new users through the T-house, and writes quality articles. His talk page interactions show patience and detail when explaining things. The Interior (Talk) 04:29, 31 October 2012 (UTC)
• Support. Very clearly qualified in terms of experience, and seems very friendly and well-suited to the role.--Sage Ross (WMF) (talk) 18:54, 31 October 2012 (UTC)