User:Ocaasi/Teahousehighlights

Random Quotes

 * Thanks a lot Yunshui 雲‍水, that was a fast answer! I'm glad to read words from real people, I always thought Wiki was about writing and reading alone. --User:BeatrizBibi


 * Hi, I just wanna thank you personally for awarding me The Great Question Badge for my Question in the Teahouse!!! That was my 1st badge, not that I wanna collect loads of them, but the 1st means a lot... I was mistaken about senior editors, U guys are actually the nicest guys to deal with... I also wanted to know if you do take up User Adoption... Cause I was searching for one... Anyways, Thanks a lot, U made my Wikipedia experience a lot more meaningful!!!! --User:Ajayupai95

Soni

 * 1) I came here just strolling while I looked for places I had not seen on the Wiki. And when I saw the Teahouse, I instantly liked it. There was something different in here, right from the page layout and how it was organised, to how simplistic it was and how it made sure not to confuse the newer users. I immediately knew that this place was something good and well designed.
 * 2) Without a doubt, the friendliness. I have seen the same question getting answered multiple times here within a span of just a week. And yet, everybody here condemns pointing the user to the appropriate link, as would have been the case in every other place. Everyone here is very patient and friendly.
 * 3) I as an editor have been very much enthusiastic about promoting new users and helping them learn about the Wiki. In this regard, the Teahouse has struck gold, and has allowed me the chance to witness two great guests maturing into constructive, helpful editors - Anne Delong and Jhubal27. It was really nice to know that editors can actually grow here, and not face the harsh world of templates and warnings outside.
 * 4) The Teahouse is a wonderful place to be pointing everyone to go when they have doubts. I might not be able to answer all questions satisfactorily, but if I point them to the Teahouse, that ensures that the "newbies" know where to go to ask their questions. Moreover, I have seen the Teahouse function also as a discussion forum, which allows the new editors first hand interaction with the older editors, and they quickly learn and recognize who we are and what we do. Ultimately, this interaction is fundamental in the growth of these editors.
 * 5) The Teahouse, until now has been absolutely wonderful and delighting as a place to be. What stuck me the most about here was that while most Projects and groups had only one or two dedicated editors working endlessly to make things work, the Teahouse always had a steady stream of a bunch of cool and helpful editors who keep lurking around. Even when one of these editors is not here, there is always someone else to fill in.
 * As a project, it has managed to be a great collaborative endeavor, and has been delightfully functional in dealing with every kind of situation. For the future, I would like to see some sort of further order in how we take on the Questions. While the current "single-forum" structure is great for interaction purposes, it causes technical glitches of its own, which need to be sorted out.
 * Other than that, I would also like to see the Teahouse opening up its wings, and expanding its scope to reach out to more people around. Using tie ups with projects like Snuggle and TAFI, and to be linked to places like the Help Portals and the Main Page (possibly?) are great; and so is direct interaction with the users with the Welcome templates. I would like to see more people coming on into the Teahouse and more and more places on the Wiki where this great place is mentioned.
 * The other way the Teahouse could wing out will be on how we approach things. Right now, we are strictly on a Question-Answer basis, with little scope for anything else. We could have some useful and up-to-date resources (A few things to know about Wikipedia, a few places to be around Wikipedia, a few tools to use in Wikipedia etc..) that our Guests could browse through. A FAQ is one thing that we direly need at the current moment, considering the similar questions we currently face here.
 * Overall, this project is a wonderful and self-sufficient project which seems to have every ingredient required for success on Wiki. I only hope that our stream of guests and hosts never trickles down; and keeps growing all the time.

Cheers, TheOriginalSoni (talk) 21:26, 22 February 2013 (UTC) TheOriginalSoni (talk) 21:26, 22 February 2013 (UTC)

DocTree's reflections

 * No Q'n'A when simple prose suffices. I stumbled in and was immediately hooked, then flabbergasted when my story was featured in the pilot report.  Writing about my first impressions again would be redundant.


 * JHU bal 27, I think the Teahouse is a bit of a girlie place. One of its goals is to help in fixing Wikipedia's gender gap.  In spite of flaws and stereotyping, I learned from life experience and books like Gray's.  I'll brag a bit; just celebrated our 40th wedding anniversary a few days ago.  No complaints about WP:OR but one way that the Teahouse helps is understanding gender differences.  Guys (male hosts), new female editors do NOT want you to fix their edits or articles for them.  If you go in and undo a mistake or fix a formatting problem when they ask a question, it implies that they're not capable, not competent, not worthwhile, not intelligent enough to learn to do it, not...  Talk with them about it and give them alternatives; add links to pages with helpful details.  Let them do the fix in their own way.  Don't be too quick to jump in and rescue a damsel in distress by adding a missing curly for her.  Ladies, if I'm off base, tell me (us).  The Teahouse works because it uses plain English and avoids RTFM and "don't worry, I'll fix it for you".


 * The Teahouse teaches by example. It teaches in a friendly way.  It's collaboration at its best.  Six experienced editors helped me become a bit less clueless when I complained about an editor creating lots of stubs that I judged unworthy of Wikipedia.  That editor created a thousand stubs;  I created three articles.  We're both right, each doing things (cue Frank Sinatra) our way.  Both contributed to Wikipedia, to accomplishing its goals.   Go  Phightins  wrote above, "I love it when a couple of hosts team up to answer a tough question and the proverbial light bulb goes off in the inquirer's head."  Yep, that happened to me.  Thanks to Teahouse hosts, I began to really understand Wikipedia.  Want to gauge the impact of the Teahouse?  Check page views.  Subtract the number of folks who asked or answered questions.  Hundreds of folks who never ask or answer read and learn.  Some will eventually ask or answer a question.  Everyone gains knowledge.  I'm among them.


 * The Teahouse is a model of civility and collaboration, an example of how Wikipedia should function. Keep up the good work.  Adopt the motto of Cub Scout leaders:  Keep it simple.  Make it fun.  Wishing all a great Teahouse birthday.  May there be many more.  DocTree (ʞlɐʇ·cont) Join WER 02:10, 24 February 2013 (UTC)

Anne
A: Another user posted an invitation on my talk page. I found it helpful right away, with friendly yet helpful advice. A: Everyone tries to put a positive face on the problems presented, even though the hosts must be tired of seeing the same problems go by time after time. I liked the straightforward way that the hosts let me know what was acceptable and what was not. A: I liked the straightforward way that the hosts let new editors know what was acceptable and what was not, without looking down on anyone for being ignorant. It's been a pretty positive experience. A: As a librarian and computer programmer I am used to material that is logical and arranged according to a preset plan. Wikipedia is more like a village where the roads have grown in random directions because that's where the first people happened to walk. The Teahouse helped me get past that until I could see the underlying infrastructure and the people that are gradually article by article pulling it toward a cohesive whole. A: I hope that the teahouse hosts keep up the good work, and attract more super-friendly people to help out. What goes around comes around! &mdash;Anne Delong (talk) 21:43, 20 February 2013 (UTC)
 * 1) How did you find the Teahouse?  What were your first impressions?
 * 1) What do you like best about the atmosphere at the Teahouse?
 * 1) What experience, interaction, guest, or host stands out for you as a highlight?
 * 1) What has the Teahouse enabled you to do that you might not have done without it?
 * 1) What do you hope for the Teahouse as she continues to grow up?

Yunshui
1. How did you find the Teahouse? What were your first impressions?
 * I was actually a bit of a latecomer to the Teahouse project; I'd been aware of it for some time, but frankly, wasn't a huge fan of the idea at first. It seemed a bit too Facebookesque for my liking, and so I left it alone for several months after its inception, preferring to work at the Helpdesk or the New contributors' help page (which seemed a bit less fluffy and a bit more in keeping with my ideas of how Wikipedia should work). After a while, though, I started dropping in to the Teahouse to see what all the fuss was about, and found that it was actually turning into a very positive force for helping new editors. There was no specific Road to Damascus moment, but eventually I recognised that I'd been wrong about the project - it actually fitted its intended purpose far better than any of the other new editor help forums. Plus, my natural affinity for all things Oriental wouldn't let me steer clear of a project so clearly rooted in one of my favourite Japanese traditions.

2. What do you like best about the atmosphere at the Teahouse?
 * I'm glad that the "be nice!" ethic hasn't been allowed to supersede the need for accurate and, where necessary, unwelcome information about content policies. Most of the current hosts seem to be doing an excellent job in striking a balance between encouragement and gentle admonishment, dissuading inappropriate activities whilst still coming across as friendly and helpful. And best of all, it turns out the place hardly reminds me of Facebook at all...

3. What experience, interaction, guest, or host stands out for you as a highlight?
 * I was particularly happy to be able to help out Sagaciousphil, who cropped up at the Teahouse in September and has since impressed me no end with her editing (so much so that I ended up nominating her as Editor of the week a short while ago). I've also been generally impressed by the other regular hosts, who've dealt with issues ranging from the arcane to the ridiculous (you know who you are) with enthusiasm, good humour and friendliness.

4. How has the Teahouse enabled you to empower other editors?
 * I'm not one of Wikipedia's great content creators, so it's very rewarding when I can assist those that are (or that will be in the future). Helping new editors to build articles that meet the requisite guidelines and will improve Wikipedia is probably the most useful thing I can do here, and the Teahouse provides a tool to enable me to do just that. By fixing minor issues at the Teahouse before they can become serious (i.e. CSD-worthy) problems, we not only encourage new contributors, but also help to build a better encyclopedia. You never know which newbie struggling with citations will be the next Koavf; the bit of friendly assistance they get at the Teahouse may mean the difference between this and this.

5. What do you hope for the Teahouse as she continues to grow up?
 * "She"? I'd like to see the attitude of the Teahouse spread more widely across Wikipedia - whilst there a definite need for stern warnings and blocks for many new editors (and I hand those out fairly liberally myself), we also need to welcome and encourage the genuine new content creators. I fear, now that Wikipedia is such a widel-known reference tool, that we have a larger influx of SPAs than genuine Wikipedians; the majority of new users seem to want to create an article on a particular topic that's dear to them, be it themselves, their band or their company. Few of these people have much interest in continuing to edit once their pet project is up and Google-indexed; those that do (or those that come here with the intention of improving the encyclopedia, rare though they are) are more likely to stick around if they're met with a friendly welcome and the offer of assistance.*

*Caveat: I spend more time than most working with CSD listings, the majority of which these days are puff-pieces by SPAs with a promotional agenda. It's probable (I hope!) that my perspective is somewhat skewed by this - maybe we do have a lot of incoming editors with positive, Wikipedia-friendly intentions and I just don't encounter them very often. --Yunshui

Gtwfan52
I received an invite to the Teahouse from Rosiestep on March 11, 2012. I had registered as an editor on February 27. I made a few assorted edits and in early March, decided to correct what I felt was a major omission in the article on Goshen College. I wrote it in my sandbox and then went to Teahouse on March 22 and asked for an honest critique. I got a great one. They offered constructive criticism and specific instruction on how to do some things I had no idea how to do. This was followed up by some copyediting from Teahouse hosts once I put the addition in the article, and finally, by a very encouraging "atta boy" from Sarah at the Teahouse. I continued making minor edits to other articles of interst to me, mostly to places in my home state, Indiana. Sarah again gave me some great encouragement by awarding me an "Indiana Barnstar" on April 3.

I have been bitten pretty hard at some other places I have asked for help on Wikipedia, getting the attitude "If you don't know this stuff, I am sure not gonna waste my time telling you. The door is thataway===>"  Teahouse is always friendly, and completely adopts my Dad's favorite saying, "The only stupid question is the one you don't ask."

Sarah, whom is missed badly, Go Phightins!, NtheP, and DocTree, Fuhghettaboutit, and Ryan Vesey are all standouts. Garamond Lethe has been supremely helpful in general, and especially with the extremely technical questions which always baffle me.

I have maid it a point that if I feel I must give a somewhat negative answer to a question posed at Teahouse, I always take my answer to the users talk page. I have found that in the long run, this has established more long-term mentoring opportunities than merely answering questions. The general style of answering we always use at Teahouse is something I have always tried to use in all my conversations, and I tink that has allowed me to have a fairly high success rate at dispute intervention and general mentoring than I would have otherwise. Of course, there will always be times when no good deed goes unpunished, but you just gotta gloss those over and move on. The relationships I have developed through Teahouse, and lately, WER, have given me people to fall back on when that happens.

For the future, I would like to see more development of new hosts. There is one regular question asker that I think has a large potential to be a fine host, that being User:Anne Delong. I do think a training course (short) for new hosts would be in order, with emphasis on proper deorum and on resource location. Teahouse works much better when we give a simple explanation, and link to the policy that has the reat of the details.

On a personal note, without Teahouse and especially the kind words from Sarah, I probably would be long gone. We miss you Sarah, and hope you can find time again for Teahouse soon. Gtwfan52 (talk) 04:47, 21 February 2013 (UTC)

Gwickwire

 * 1) I found the Teahouse from an invitation that was left on the talkpage of someone having trouble with an AfC submission. My first impression was something along the lines of "Oh, yet another place for new users to get help, great.."
 * 2) I like the Teahouse the best because (most of the time) the hosts are very nice and explanatory. We try not to just link, we explain it in simple terms, instead of going "see WP:RANDOMPOLICYHERE.
 * 3) I think what really stands out to me as a highlight is that the hosts are just amazing in explaining. I've heard/seen time and time again where a new user says they would've left Wikipedia and given up had it not been for the Teahouse.
 * 4) I think the Teahouse enables me to empower other editors by giving me the ability to not only link and template, but explain the rules/policies/problems in an easy-to-understand way. Kind of like a "Wikipedia 101" class, but shorter and a lot friendlier than a college professor.
 * 5) As the Teahouse grow up, I hope that we can continue to get away from linking and shortness, and continue to be the place on Wikipedia to get a concise, explanatory, easy to follow answer about anything (re: en.wikipedia of course). I also hope that the question asking may evolve into some sort of form, instead of a preloaded template as it is now, but not a big priority :)
 * Anything else, feel free to ask! gwickwire  talk edits 01:17, 21 February 2013 (UTC)

StarryGrandma

 * One year on reflections:
 * I ran into it late one night when I was a new user, seeing invitations going on new users' pages but not on mine. I thought it was in Australia. (It was 3AM and it was tea, not coffee.). It turns out I had started editing just before Teahouse started, so I hadn't been left out.
 * Much of Wikipedia converses in its own jargon with specialized terms, abbreviations, almost a secret language. What I like best about the Tearoom is how real world the conversations are.
 * The highlight was when I was able to answer an editor's question myself, and that editor immediately finished her page and started working on a multitude of other things.
 * It's helped me because I use it as a reference. Sooner or later almost every strange thing I have run into gets asked as a question here. The archives are wonderful.
 * As the Teahouse grows I almost hope it doesn't become too popular and lose its unrushed friendly atmosphere.
 * I'd like to hear from other Teahouse visitors here. The hosts are responding at Wikipedia talk:Teahouse/Host lounge if you are curious. StarryGrandma (talk) 21:22, 21 February 2013 (UTC)