User:Zijieke/report

During my experience of writing and publishing my own article on Wikipedia, I have noticed some problems and potential areas that could be improved by Wikipedia. “Magic words,” the talk page, accessibility, and commitment are areas that I would like to discuss in order to improve Wikipedia for better quality and improvements on ease of access for the Wikipedia community.

First, Wikipedia seems to have many “magic words” or secret codes, such as adding “~” before signing the name in an article. I remember seeing a list of different codes that are supposed to be used to add features to an article. I personally have trouble remembering all of these codes, even though I am taking a class about online communities. This would, perhaps, be even more difficult for other people who jump on Wikipedia as a fresh beginner. This is a “newcomers” issue that we have discussed with the example of subReddits. One subreddit that faced issues with newcomers was the NoSleep subreddit. Similarly, newcomers who add information to Wikipedia may not know the “rules” applied. For instance, as students in this Online Communities class, we are told to sign off our names after every comment by using “~” to avoid confusion. However, newcomers may not have sufficient reminders and access to these rules. Wikipedia may improve this by adding pop-ups that remind newcomers to add certain symbols, phrases, or “magic words.”

Second, the “talk page” seems a little confusing. It would be easier for users if Wikipedia made the platform seem more user-friendly. For example, there could be chats or separation between “comments” and user names when people post on the page. This is also something that could help newcomers feel more attached and involved with the community. For example, someone may want to ask questions, contact other users, or simply chat with other users online. New users may find live chats helpful, since they could ask older Wikipedia users questions and have their problems resolved. For work that is continuously edited or work that is debated by contributors, there could be a “vote” button that allows others to vote which version to update as the final version. This role is similar to the “moderator” role on Reddit. On subreddits, moderators are able to mediate, help fix problems, and clean up on newcomers’ work. In the case of Wikipedia, others could serve as “moderator” roles and help vote or pick out a better and final version on a Wikipedia article.

Third, although I took a class on Online Communities and had a fuller introduction on how to use Wikipedia, I still had trouble figuring out how to access it. For example, I did not know how sandboxes work, how to add images, how to use table of contents, and other features. It would be helpful if users were given a tour of wikipedia and guided through a series of steps before digging in. Further, Wikipedia could create some sample tasks for users to practice and work through before letting them go on their own. In class, we learned that when users must complete more tasks and spend more time in order to be admitted into a community, they are more likely to stay longer and be more committed. In this case, Wikipedia should make new users complete a set of tasks that help them practice their Wikipedia knowledge before they can be part of the community. This way, people may feel like they should contribute more in the future, since they spent so much time getting into the community in the first place.

Lastly, for new users to be more committed and better contributors, Wikipedia could create tasks or small quizzes for newcomers to complete before moving on to writing articles. These quizzes could be about what they are interested in or more knowledgeable about. Adding this could raise the quality of newcomers, because some newcomers may give up if they are less willing to commit. Those who complete all the tasks are more likely to become long term and deeply committed contributors, which means there will be less but higher quality Wikipedia users.