Wikipedia:WikiProject Article Rescue Squadron/Newsletter/20091001/News

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Studies and articles about deletion
In August 2009 The Guardian newspaper, in an article entitled "The online encyclopedia is about to hit 3m articles in English – but growth is stalling as 'inclusionists' and 'deletionists' fight for control." journalist Bobbie Johnson wrote, "The two groups had been vying for control from early on in the site's life, but the numbers suggest that the deletionists may have won. The increasing difficulty of making a successful edit; the exclusion of casual users; slower growth – all are hallmarks of the deletionist approach...

..."For editors that make between two and nine edits a month, the percentage of their edits being reverted had gone from 5% in 2004 all the way up to about 15% by October 2008. And...people who only make one edit a month – their edits are now being reverted at a 25% rate,"...

In other words, a change by a casual editor is more likely than ever to be overturned, while changes by the elite are rarely questioned. "To power users it feels like Wikipedia operates in the way it always has – but for the newcomers or the occasional users, they feel like the resistance in the community has definitely changed.""

In a November 2009, Wall Street Journal article, "Volunteers Log Off as Wikipedia Ages" stated, "...in the first three months of 2009, the English-language Wikipedia suffered a net loss of more than 49,000 editors, compared to a net loss of 4,900 during the same period a year earlier" In the article Jimmy Wales stated that "...if the community has become more hostile to newbies, that's a correctable problem." ...

Samuel Klein, a veteran Wikipedian who serves on the board of trustees...says that the Wikipedia community needs to rein in so-called deletionists -- editors who shoot first and ask questions later."

The Wikipedia signpost, Wikipedia's weekly newsletter, wrote about the Wall Street Journal's article twice. In the second article, the signpost refuted the claim that Wikipedia editor numbers have dropped.

A May 2009 Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article entitled "Wikipedia quick to ax page", writing about the deletion of Wikipedia Art, the journalist questions Wikipedia's deletion policy and the makeup of Wikipedia editors.

Inviting editors to join the Article Rescue Squadron
Editors are welcome to invite other editors to join the Article Rescue Squadron.

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This invitation is the reason that the article rescue squadron is now one of the largest wikiprojects on wikipedia today.

If an editor makes a real effort to save a worthy article, invite that editor to join the Article Rescue Squadron.

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 * Article Rescue Squadron member User:MichaelQSchmidt is writing a Newcomer guide to guidelines, to help and retain new editors.