Wikipedia talk:Adopt-a-user/Archive 7

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Archive 7

Indeffed adopter

Given that PlanespotterA320 (talk · contribs) has been indefinitely blocked for belligerently pushing genocide denialist talking points, and both of their adoptees have also been blocked, would it perhaps be appropriate to remove them from the list of adopters? Ruбlov (talk) 16:56, 20 February 2022 (UTC)

@Rublov: Thank you for raising this; I have deleted that entry. Nick Moyes (talk) 22:40, 20 February 2022 (UTC)

Calling all Adopters: Growth Team Features needs mentors!

Have have heard about the new Growth Team Features designed to encourage newcomer participation? It's now up and running on 25% of newly created accounts, and there is [currently https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Village_pump_(proposals)#RfC:_Growth_features_to_all_newcomers an RfC] to roll it out to 100% of new account by default. It aims to improve editor retention via a new Homepage tab. Alongside a suit of simple structured editing tasks for them to try, one of its other new features is a 'mentorship' program. Brand new users are randomly assigned to an experienced 'mentor' to whom they can ask specific questions via a Your mentor box. Currently, this feature is given to 2% of new users, but we plan on bumping this percentage up to 10% in the near future.

To lessen the load on our list of around 65 mentors, I'm reaching out here and elsewhere to see if any experienced editors who like helping others (and I know all adopters do) might also be interested in signing up as a mentor, yourself. The workload is relatively small; User:Panini! reports receiving four questions a month, on average, all of which were simple ones of the type we often see at the Teahouse and elsewhere. To view a list of every question asked of all mentors over the last 14 days, Click Here.

If becoming a mentor and helping new users on their first few days here interests you -and I hope it will - please sign up right now at Growth Team features/Mentor list.

Thank you. Nick Moyes (talk) 15:02, 21 February 2022 (UTC)

WP:Mentorship :Proposal to usurp page title and/or shortcuts

There is a discussion at the talk page of Wikipedia:Mentorship concerning the future use of that essay page and the shortcuts that lead to it (especially WP:MENTOR).

Have your say at: Wikipedia talk:Mentorship#Proposal to usurp page title and/or shortcuts.

Thank you. Nick Moyes (talk) 23:43, 22 February 2022 (UTC)

Clarifying the purpose and role of the Adoption project

March 2022 sees the rollout of Growth Team Features to every new account. With it comes volunteer 'mentors' who are automatically assigned to a proportion of all new users (soon to be 10%). This is not the death knell for AAU, but the time now seems right to rework the wording of WP:AAU to highlight who it is really targetted at and who can benefit from it the most. It is also really important not to mislead brand new users (those who have yet to make more than a tiny handful of edits) into thinking the adopt-a-user scheme is suited to them, when there are far better ways to solve their one-off editing problems.

The one-to-one mentor help for new users, along with the existing Teahouse and Help Desk should now provide near-immediate answers to all single-issue problems. In reality, full adoption requires a medium to long-term commitment from both sides. It really only suits those editors who are moderately inexperienced, and whose contributions already demonstrate a genuine commitment to sticking around and to editing Wikipedia in various areas. It is not only a complete waste of an experienced editor's time, but also quite disillusioning to help someone understand enough about Wikipedia for them to create a page for their favourite singer or TV programme, only for them to disappear forever, never to edit again.

It is the moderately new, yet committed user who will benefit most from the sustained support and guidance that adopt-a-user has to offer, as these are the individuals who genuinely want to become better editors by understanding some of the more intricate or technical aspects of our work and our policies. We really need to make that much clearer here!

To that end, I intend to make edits to the main page, along the lines outlined in discussions going back at least four of years. See here and here. I propose to removal references that suggest AAU supports completely 'new' users, whilst clarifying not only who it is best suited to, but also to highlight where new users can seek instant help with their one-off problems.

Obviously, there'd be nothing to stop any adopter taking on a brand new user if they want to, but to avoid wasting time on both sides of the process, we need to make it clear that adoption is a longer term commitment, and one generally not suited to brand new arrivals.

Please let me know if you have concerns (or indeed support) for this proposal. Nick Moyes (talk) 21:01, 10 March 2022 (UTC)