User:Talrias/helpme bot poll

This is a poll to determine whether we should merge #wikipedia-bootcamp into #wikipedia-en. This would involve moving the various bots to be in #-en, such as the helpme bot. The helpme bot checks to see if anyone has added the template helpme to their user talk page every 3 minutes, and announces who has the template on their page in the IRC channel, as a way to provide instant help to those who request it.

If you think this is a good idea, or a bad idea, please let me know below. I've divided it into two sections based on which IRC channel of the two is your "home", or which you spend more time in. Please just add your comments in one section! :) Talrias (t | e | c) 12:21, 3 April 2006 (UTC)

#wikipedia-bootcamp

 * 1) I think it is a good idea to merge. (I am also resident of #wikipedia-en). #wikipedia-en is quiet most of the time, so it can accomodate the extra help traffic. Also, untapped talented potential helpers hang around in #wikipedia-en.--Commander Keane 12:31, 3 April 2006 (UTC)
 * 2) Good idea. More traffic from -en. Gflor e sTalk 15:52, 3 April 2006 (UTC)
 * 3) Great idea. &mdash;-- That Guy, From That Show!  (talk) 2006-04-03 18:19Z 
 * 4) The s aren't too much of a bother, and having the bot on #wikipedia-en may very well get them answered faster. Seems like a good idea to me&#160;—  The KMan  talk   18:26, 3 April 2006 (UTC)
 * 5) Oppose Merging with en will have the side effect of preventing most of non-english-native-speakers (like me) to participate. - J_B
 * Helpmebot doesn't check other languages anyway. ems 14:20, 4 April 2006 (UTC)
 * It can be configured to. I believe the Norweigan language Wikipedia uses it (obviously it doesn't get output into #wikipedia-bootcamp though). Talrias (t | e | c) 14:32, 4 April 2006 (UTC)
 * 1)  Weak Oppose for now, newcomers will probably not get the same treatment in #wikipedia-en as they do now in #wikipedia-bootcamp. The latter has a "helpful" atmosphere to it, which may be difficult to replicate in #wikipedia-en. However, I do agree with Commander Keane that a lot of potential help could be found in #wikipedia-en. - Tangot a ngo 14:46, 4 April 2006 (UTC)
 * 2) Strong Oppose, the response time is much longer at #wikipedia-en; although there are users simultaneously present in both channels, my experience has shown that I am more likely to get a useful response at #wikipedia-bootcamp. There may be strength in numbers, but it has not been the case for me here.
 * Then there is a perennial pet peeve of mine which seems to account for a significant amount of the activity at #wikipedia-en — OT issues. If in doubt, observe #wikipedia-en for a week. Such activity is actively discouraged at #wikipedia-bootcamp. Folajimi 15:52, 4 April 2006 (UTC)
 * Oppose i agree with Folajimi. i have been idling on both channels for a few days now and notice that #wikipedia-en has a lot of off topic chat going on, whereas #wikipedia-bootcamp is ask questions, receive answers. i honestly have not experienced a slowness at to responses of questions in bootcamp. in fact most of my questions have been answered quite promptly Ren0 05:49, 7 April 2006 (UTC)
 * 1) Support. The argument that newcomers will probably not get the same treatment, IMO, does not hold, because those users who frequent bootcamp will just stick around in -en more often and help their. The merge just expands the potential amount of people who are willing to help. The vast majority of the time, newcomers don't come into the channel, but request help via . If the users who frequent -en don't mind, this is a good move. Pepsidrinka 17:23, 6 April 2006 (UTC)
 * 2) Oppose pa. Computerjoe 's talk 15:33, 7 April 2006 (UTC)
 * uh, what does pa mean? Talrias (t | e | c) 21:17, 7 April 2006 (UTC)
 * Per above. Computerjoe 's talk 16:48, 8 April 2006 (UTC)
 * 1) Oppose Personally, I think we should not merge wikipedia-bootcamp with wikipedia-en. wikipedia-bootcamp is quiet, but that's how I think it should be. It should not be a social channel like wikipedia-en, where new user's questions would be flooded out anyway -58.104.10.116(a.k.a. Sahanx) 07:10, 8 April 2006 (UTC)
 * 2) Weak oppose. I oppose partly because I'd like to see #wikipedia-bootcamp expand into a general support channel, for more than just the english Wikipedia, and not be merged into a general (social) channel like #wikipedia-en. Bjelleklang -  talk 20:31, 18 April 2006 (UTC)

#wikipedia-en

 * 1) I think this is probably a good idea. All our help requests are on the English language Wikipedia, it was conceived here, etc. Also, the Norweigan language Wikipedia borrowed the helpme idea from here, and outputs the results in #-no. Talrias (t | e | c) 12:23, 3 April 2006 (UTC)
 * 2) I don't actually know how much traffic #wikipedia-bootcamp gets. But if it's not much (i.e., no more than the usual level in #wikipedia-en), I wouldn't mind. Mindspillage (spill yours?) 12:28, 3 April 2006 (UTC)
 * 3) Support, mainly because I frequent #wikipedia-en, but am never in the bootcamp channel. I think if the helpme feature is ever implemented for other languages, it should be easy to configure those requests to go to the irc channel for that language.  jaco plane  12:43, 6 April 2006 (UTC)
 * 4) Support. Keep the bootcamp channel open for active assistance, but add the helpmebot to #wikipedia-en, without objections.  GChriss 03:01, 18 April 2006 (UTC)