Wikipedia:Newcomers aren't all clueless

Newcomers are very important to Wikipedia. Who knows, the guy you saw fixing typos with the red talk page might one day become one of our best article writers. So leave them a friendly welcome, and encourage them to stay with us. But please remember: new editors aren't all clueless. Yes, you get the editor who never seems to get into the habit of signing their talk page posts. And course you get the editor who cannot understand our inclusion policies. Most people who edit Wikipedia are intelligent individuals, and while they don't know everything on their first edit, many things are self-explanatory. So please do not patronise them, or make them feel small. Another point is they could have edited anonymously for a while, or have come from another project. So they are familiar with how wiki works.

So in short, treat newcomers with respect and help them out if they need it, but don't patronise them because they aren't all clueless idiots.