Wikipedia:WikiProject Women in Red/Essays/Assisting new editors

Assisting New Editors

This is a draft version which is not yet ready for distribution.

Introduction

Most new contributors interested in writing about women experience a series of difficulties when they first start editing on Wikipedia. Many soon run into difficulties as they are not aware of the basic requirements. The suggestions below are directed at more experienced participants who may be prepared to provide advice and assistance to those who face problems when they create articles in mainspace or when they submit drafts for review under WikiProject Articles for creation.

In the early days of Wikipedia, contributors edited almost exclusively on stand alone computers or laptops, making use of what we now refer to as the source editor. Today the majority of new users, especially younger people, join from their smartphones or tablets. They therefore are usually encouraged to opt for the visual editor. While it continues to improve, new users frequently encounter problems with sourcing, bare URLs and have difficulty in understanding the advice they receive from reviewers who are usually more familiar with source editing. Much of the support on Wikipedia editing is designed for display on screens of at least laptop size. It is not surprising that new contributors experience difficulty in reading and following documentation on minute smartphone screens.

Most new contributors begin editing when they see on the Main Page, "Welcome to Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit". When they click on "anyone can edit" they find a page which encourages them to edit and experiment with new creations in their sandboxes. It's therefore not surprising that many new users experience problems.

By taking account of the suggestions below, more experienced contributors may be able to provide the kind of assistance which will encourage new users to become more familiar with basic requirements while helping them to create articles about women which are suitable for the encyclopaedia.

Where to find articles from new contributors

There are basically two lists which present articles which have been prepared by new or inexperienced editors interested in writing about women.

The first is a subset of mainspace articles designed to help new page patrollers process articles about women. Even if you are not an official new page patroller, you can look through these articles, particularly those by inexperienced users (on the basis of number of edits) and try to help them along.

The second is the list of pending women articles from WikiProject Articles for Creation. These are articles which have been submitted by editors who are unable to publish articles directly or choose to have their articles reviewed before publication. The list summarises the "history" of articles submitted for review. Rejection messages and comments from reviewers appear at the top of each draft page. The AfC reviewers provide editors with links to background articles on the problems they identify but seldom undertake any further improvements or contacts with the creators. It may nevertheless be relatively easy for experienced contributors to edit the drafts and bring them up to an acceptable standard. In this connection, contacts with the creators on their talk page can encourage them to make further progress.

Pertinent Women in Red essays

Two of our essays may be particularly useful in pinpointing problems in connection with articles about women. The first is our Primer which sets out and explains the basic criteria in some detail. The second is our more succinct Ten Simple Rules which in some cases could be presented to new contributors for guidance.