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Help Project newsletter : Issue 4

The Help Project Newsletter Issue IV - September 2012

Project news summary The in-person usability tests from the wub's community fellowship have been written up. Three new introductory tutorials for new users have been created: referencing, uploading images and navigating Wikipedia. The Article Feedback Tool has been deployed to pages in the Help namespace, and can be added manually to help pages in other namespaces. Read more... Page statistics were updated for the month of August.

From the editor Hi, and welcome to the fourth issue of the Help Project newsletter. It's been another busy month in the world of Wikipedia help. The results from the in-person usability tests conducted as part of the help pages fellowship have been released. There are no great surprises here, the tests confirmed that people have trouble with the existing help system, and people looking for help on the same topic often end up at wildly different pages. Editors who experienced a tutorial and/or edited a sandbox as part of their learning were noticeably more confident when editing a real article. Drawing on that, three new "Introduction to" tutorials for new users have been created: referencing, uploading images and navigating Wikipedia. These join the popular existing introductions to policies and guidelines and talk pages. Feel free to edit them, but please do remember that the idea is to keep them simple and as free from extraneous details as possible. All three have been added to Help:Getting started, which is intended to be the new focal point for new editors, and will also be seeing a redesign soon. In other news, the Article Feedback Tool (AFT) can now be used to collect feedback on help pages. By default it has been deployed to all pages in the Help: namespace. It can be disabled on any page by adding Category:Article Feedback Blacklist, or enabled for pages in other namespaces by adding Category:Article Feedback 5 Additional Articles. Once a page has AFT applied, you can add feedback using the form which appears at the bottom of it. Feedback can be reviewed by clicking "View feedback" in the sidebar, or the "Feedback from my watched pages" link at the top of your watchlist. I'm now entering the final month of my fellowship, and will be focusing my efforts on making much needed improvements to Help:Contents, the main entrance point to our help system. It's been a pleasure working as a fellow, and I just want to thank all the people who have helped me or offered advice over the past months. That definitely won't be the end of my involvement in the Help Project though, I'll be sticking around as a volunteer and continuing to write this newsletter. Any comments or suggestions for future issues are welcome at Wikipedia:Help Project/Newsletter. If you don't wish to receive this newsletter on your talk page in future then just edit the participants page and add "no newsletter" next to your name. -- the wub "?!" 20:00, 7 September 2012 (UTC)

WikiWomen's Collaborative

Hi, just a note to say I support the idea of the WikiWomen's Collaborative. I have at least one or two female friends who refuse to have anything to do with Wikipedia, one of whom (who has the time and the motiviation to contribute a lot) believes it be, in her own words, "wasting an awful lot of energy picking arguments with what look like self-important, puffed-up wallies". Anything that can be done to counteract the systematic bias that results from lack of involvement like this is a good thing. --Ritchie333 ^{(talk) (cont)} 13:46, 15 October 2012 (UTC)

Hello Sarah, I've just noticed that a welcome message you use for the collaborative may be causing an unintentional problem. I've just posted a message at User talk:HelenOnline immediately below your welcome and my message has been subsumed into your box. I am no good at coding but I suspect there is something missing at the bottom of your box to return the formatting back to normal. Could you, or someone who knows how to do these things, add the necessary code to </turn the formatting off> somehow? Many thanks, Kim Dent-Brown ^(Talk) 09:04, 19 October 2012 (UTC)

Ignore this.... I think! It was probably my mistake in not adding something like a <<br />> after your welcome template and before my own post on Helen's page. As you can see, I'm sufficiently incompetent both to cause the problem and not understand the solution.... Kim Dent-Brown ^(Talk) 13:19, 19 October 2012 (UTC)

Hola Sarah, I've just read your message for Women Collaborative, count me in! Let me know what else I can do to spread the word!--Tanuyeiro (talk) 15:00, 23 October 2012 (UTC)

Adoption

How do I become an adoptor? I'm really helping out these two people and they want me to adopt them. Can you give me some links for signing up to adopt? DEIDRA C. (talk) 20:45, 22 October 2012 (UTC)

(talk page stalker) Hey Deidra. I think it's great you are willing to adopt users, but I think you should wait a while and dive a little more deeply into Wikipedia. Most of your editing has been on user talk pages, and less work on article content creation, dispute resolution, copyright, or deletion of articles, all of which a potential adopter should have some level of experience with (though it certainly doesn't need to be absolutely perfect). I'd suggest trying to check out these different aspects of being an editor before trying to adopt. I'll let Sarah weigh in here too, but I just wanted to give you my thoughts on the matter. I, Jethrobot ^{drop me a line} (note: not a bot!) 20:58, 22 October 2012 (UTC)

Nevermind. <_< :P :( DEIDRA C. (talk) 21:01, 22 October 2012 (UTC)

Hey! It's awesome that you want to adopt a user. It's a lot of work and dedication. I do have to agree with Jethro though - it takes a lot of Wikipedia experience in writing articles and knowing about policy before you can do that. So once you rack up some more article edits, perhaps you can become an adopter :) I think it's a great goal to work for! SarahStierch (talk) 21:12, 22 October 2012 (UTC)

Be patient, Deidra. You just basically got your learners permit. It may be a bit early to become a driving instructor. What you might consider is offering yourself up for adoption. Having a mentor to guide you around the Wonderful World of Wikipedia is a great opportunity for you to learn the ropes. When the time comes I'm sure you yourself will be a great teacher and explainer. But, for now, it would be a dis-service to future new editors. ```Buster Seven Talk 21:28, 24 October 2012 (UTC)

Have to agree with the others here. I have 4500 edits and am still currently in an adoption program. Be patient :) Go Phightins! 21:30, 24 October 2012 (UTC)

Nevermind. Forget it. They only wanted me to be their adopter because I'm not confusing and I explain things in a way that they will understand. They mentioned how other adopters are confusing and give them policy links which are also very confusing. I explain the what the policies are and what they mean. Policies are very confusing and unnesessary for new users. DEIDRA C. (talk) 21:07, 27 October 2012 (UTC)

@ Deidra. You don't know what they want! And you certainly are not competant to decide for them what they want. Its their journey..not yours. @Sarah. Something needs to be done about this situation...and quickly. New Users come to Wikipedia completely blind to the hows and the wherefores of Wikipedia. They should not be led by a novice with questionable motives. A quick check of the contributions [1] of User:Deidra shows that she is radically and negatively effecting the initial, important first contacts that new users are having. She should not be adopting anyone. I think we have a prime duty and responsibility to protect new users from being mis-lead. This is not a road less travelled. This is a road that shouldn't be travelled at all...not by this user. As a member of WP:WER, I had a premonition that something twisted would happen. I dare say everyone involved here had the same premonition. What can be done to protect new users from being "misguided" without their knowledge? or permission? I will discuss this elsewhere. ```Buster Seven Talk 04:47, 28 October 2012 (UTC)

Review from two different points of view

Dear Sara,

Thanks for your earliest review. I completely agree with your view that its not possible for Wikipedia to have a page about every contributor as an article but situation out here is very critical in south-east Asia especially India, Pakistan & Afghanistan. Social activists like us are unable to write or approach Local media out here because this puts us on high risk of getting attacked like Malala Yousafzai (Pakistan) or killed like Shehla Masood (India). I have been already attacked twice in Assassination attempts. I lived by luck and prayers.

Wikipedia itself admits in its article Attacks on RTI activists in India that activists like us are vulnerable human rights defenders (HRDs) in India. Unlike other HRDs, a majority of the RTI activists are not part of an organisation; they often act alone, moved by anger at corruption and other illegal activities. RTI activists are vulnerable because they live in the same areas as public authorities and political leaders who do not want information about their activities to be disclosed. For the most part, human rights defenders receive media attention only when killed or seriously injured. This article is neither my biography nor an advertisement; it’s just an effort to raise a genuine and reasonable voice for human rights in democracy to bring transparency before I get injured or killed like other 25 activists in India and an article gets published on Wikipedia after my death in this struggle. I know that it looks very common and general thing from your point of view but being a social activist, human rights defender and RTI activist my life is on risk and I want this article to get published on Wikipedia only because if I also get killed like other 25 activists at least people will get inspired from this sacrifice and will continue this struggle ahead, no matters if it comes on cost of my blood or life. I hope now you will have a different point of view while editing this article.

Warm Regards Abhijeet Sinha Sinha

I have unreviewed a page you curated

Hi, I'm Mrt3366. I wanted to let you know that I saw the page you reviewed, Niat-Nam, and have un-reviewed it again. If you've got any questions, please ask me on my talk page. Thanks, Mrt3366

OTRS question

Sarah and Steven: Both of you had some involvement with 2011121910019394. A question arose at Wikipedia:OTRS_noticeboard#File:Wpcplogo.jpg. Would you be so kind as to make sure my answer is correct? I don't know whether there was an intention to freely license it and that got lost in the discussion of why it didn't show up on Facebook, or if it was licensed and I missed it, or if it simply is intended to remain as a non-free logo.--SPhilbrick(Talk) 14:32, 23 October 2012 (UTC)

Probably best to ask Steven, as he's the lawyer and legal rep from WMF. I use a pseudonym because I have to, for a reason :) SarahStierch (talk) 16:48, 24 October 2012 (UTC)

Reference your feedback on my entry

Hi Sarah - thanks for looking at my entry and suggesting how to improve it. I'm tried to make it more neutral (please let me know if you think it reads better now) and also taken out the copyright symbols.

You had also mentioned to include more citations. In relation to the entry how do you think I could do this and what are citations. Whilst not being computer illiterate at all I am finding negotiating around wikipedia & understanding it's rules and editing pages etc a challenge!

Many thanks

John. Johnalex001 (talk) 09:35, 24 October 2012 (UTC)

Sorry Sarah - I should have let you know the address of the contribution/entry I am trying to make... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:Articles_for_creation/Walkodile

Thanks. John. Johnalex001 (talk) 09:39, 24 October 2012 (UTC)

Hey John! Thanks for trying to contribute to Wikipedia - I know it can be overwhelming. A good place to get help about a specific thing (i.e. "what are citations and how do I add them?") is the Teahouse, a place I co-created for new editors like yourself to get easy to understand help. Anyway, you already have two citations added the EU prize and the London Gazette news article. What you'll need is more content like that. Basically, if something in a Wikipedia article doesn't have a citation or a source, something in the media or publications that talks about the subject, it can be challenged or removed. Subjects that can be considered promotional, like yours, risk being completely deleted if they do not have enough coverage. In the article, you state that the product has been featured in over 200 articles. That means there are over, in theory 200 citations that could be used to write the article. Just keep inserting references and the article will improve. ANd yes, the language has improved! SarahStierch (talk) 16:52, 24 October 2012 (UTC)

GA Review for Valerie Solanas

GA on Hold, please see GA Reviewer comments at Talk:Valerie Solanas/GA1. — Cirt (talk) 15:14, 24 October 2012 (UTC)

Any chance you'd be able to respond to this? I'd be willing to give it an extension after revisiting in one week to see if there's any progress. Let me know your thoughts? Cheers, — Cirt (talk) 16:07, 26 October 2012 (UTC)

Hey Cirt. I'm going to be offline for the majority of the weekend starting this afternoon. The article review sort of hit at a time when I'm not feeling very motivated right this second to work on it - and I know Kaldari is busy this weekend too. It might have to have an extension, on it. Sorry. I didn't know there was a one week limit type of thing (or I forgot there was..). Sorry! That's been a pretty exhausting article to work on due to the research we've done (Kaldari and I have literally sat up until the wee hours working on that article, and I know Nick has too) so I've got to have a spark of motivation to devote to it - the perils of being a writer and researcher in my real life and volunteer life ;) SarahStierch (talk) 17:35, 26 October 2012 (UTC)

Hey, no problems, keep me posted and I'd be happy to give y'all an extension of another week or two. :) Cheers, — Cirt (talk) 03:10, 27 October 2012 (UTC)

Chantal Benoit

(for Wikipedia talk:Articles for creation/Chantal Benoit) rejected for - "appears to be a non-notable athlete"? have you looked at the refrences? She is considered the best female wheelchair basketball player in history, ans have three paralympic gold medals, and she was a Flag bearer. is that a non-notable athlete? what is the standard? 80.74.110.142 (talk) 15:21, 24 October 2012 (UTC)

Hi there, I didn't decline your article. You might want to talk to Go Phightins!. One tip - you'll probably want to fix your spelling and grammar and also add citations that aren't just from the Olympics website, if possible. Another good person to ask for help is LauraHale, she specializes in disabled women sports. SarahStierch (talk) 16:54, 24 October 2012 (UTC)

WP:UP#PROMO

Please read it. Thank you.--Müdigkeit (talk) 18:07, 24 October 2012 (UTC)

		Wikipedia Motivation Award
		for your tireless efforts to promote wikimedia, which inspire others Slowking4⇔ †@1₭ 18:51, 24 October 2012 (UTC)

call me obtuse, but i have no idea what that means (i.e. message lost in noise); but then i see no one is reading the "save your drama for your llama" warning above. after the User talk:Timeshift9‎ user page debacle, i can have no confidence it doesn't mean "don't promote yourself on your user page" LOL. Slowking4⇔ †@1₭ 18:51, 24 October 2012 (UTC)

Followup on deletion of Dominic H. Francisco

You deleted Dominic H. Francisco as a result of a recent AFD. However, that AFD included three related articles in a bundled nomination: Russian Horrors, New Terrain, Baltic Dreams, which are still hanging around. Additionally, the creator of these articles, User:Dhf510, has apparently converted his userpage to an exact copy of the deleted article. I'm not sure what the best course of action is here (reversion, deletion as recreation, MFD, etc.), especially considering that he is self-admittedly the subject of the deleted article. In any case, thanks for your help! Squeamish Ossifrage (talk) 18:22, 24 October 2012 (UTC)

And it looks like User:Orangemike got them. Enjoy holiday! Squeamish Ossifrage (talk) 18:53, 24 October 2012 (UTC)

POLL

"What is better? Ice cream, cookies, or brownies?"

(go to my Talk page to vote). (Type your answer next to the bullet points and don't forget to sign your posts)

Looking forward to your vote DEIDRA C. (talk) 21:10, 24 October 2012 (UTC)

Thanks, Sarah! Someone sort of put down my sprirts just now. :( But thank you, Sarah!!! DEIDRA C. (talk) 21:22, 24 October 2012 (UTC)

Couple of questions

After such a serious decision about my first article will ask you to help me with the next one. I hope it should be more happy.

By the way. How can I take photo from another language Wikipedia? I mean copyright procedure. Thank you Kinedw (talk) 22:44, 24 October 2012 (UTC)

Hi there. It might be best to ask for help at the Teahouse, a space that I co-created to help new editors like yourself. I'm pretty swamped with other wiki projects and so forth, so I might not be able to provide the assistance you need to help with your article. The image you seek to use depends on the copyright of the image - if the copyright page says it's CC BY SA or CC BY A then you can use it on any Wikipedia article regardless of language. If it says it is copyrighted and/or fair use, then I don't think you can use it. It might be best to double check with the Teahouse folks though. SarahStierch (talk) 22:52, 24 October 2012 (UTC)

Thanks! Kinedw (talk) 14:53, 25 October 2012 (UTC)

OH SARAH!

THANK GOD THAT I FOUND YOU! It's ME RAIDENRULES123! I'm sooooooooo sorry that I had to change my account! So sorry! I had forgotten my password and it expired! I'm sorry! DEIDRA C. (talk) 22:42, 24 October 2012 (UTC)

Ah, that happens sometimes. Glad you got a new username :) SarahStierch (talk) 22:08, 25 October 2012 (UTC)

Thanks to Papillon (dog) I found my account and all of yours. DEIDRA C. (talk) 21:03, 27 October 2012 (UTC)

Remove "Crystal" tag from Digital Preservation Article

Hi Sarah: This is in reference to the tag "crystal|date=November 2011" which you added to the Digital Preservation article. This article is now in the process of significant revision as part of an NDSA Working Group WikiProject on Digital Preservation. We feel that the editorial issue you identified has now been remedied and would like to remove the tag. Please let us know if you have any objection. Davissp (talk) 21:35, 25 October 2012 (UTC) on behalf of the NDSA Working Group WikiProject on Digital Preservation

Hi there. Go for it, be bold as we say :) Glad to see the article being improved! SarahStierch (talk) 22:05, 25 October 2012 (UTC)

Donald Wallace in Croton

Hi Sarah, long time, no see! I'm doing some bit by bit improvements to Croton-on-Hudson, my current home. You recently added Donald Wallace to the village's notable residents, but I can't find a reference to Croton in the source you gave (Cooper Union museum). Can you help out with that one? Eventually, I'm going to eliminate the list, and just retain a prose style discussion of those notable residents/former residents who have sourcing. I'd hate for a contribution from one of my favorite Wikipedians to not be included :-) Cheers, AstroCog (talk) 12:46, 26 October 2012 (UTC)

ACk! I used the wrong source :) It should have been the New York Times source. I'll fix it now. And yes, I'm +1 to prose over lists, for sure! Thanks for coming by! SarahStierch (talk) 17:53, 26 October 2012 (UTC)

Thanks! AstroCog (talk) 18:25, 26 October 2012 (UTC)

Hi Sarah

Thank you for your help! Much appreciated. --CultureEurope (talk) 11:17, 27 October 2012 (UTC)

Trout away...

Guilty as charged (and fixed!) _{What Halloween does to you...} Theopolisme _Boo! 00:00, 28 October 2012 (UTC)

Ha ha :) No trout needed. Not this time at least ;-) SarahStierch (talk) 00:01, 28 October 2012 (UTC)

DYK for Ward Bennett

Casliber (talk · contribs) 00:02, 28 October 2012 (UTC)

Talkback

Hello, Missvain. You have new messages at Writ Keeper's talk page.
Message added 05:11, 28 October 2012 (UTC). You can remove this notice at any time by removing the {{Talkback}} or {{Tb}} template.

Writ Keeper ⚇♔ 05:11, 28 October 2012 (UTC)

Not sure if you saw this (Above @ Adoption)

@ Deidra. You don't know what they want! And you certainly are not competant to decide for them what they want. Its their journey..not yours. @Sarah. Something needs to be done about this situation...and quickly. New Users come to Wikipedia completely blind to the hows and the wherefores of Wikipedia. They should not be led by a novice with questionable motives. A quick check of the contributions [2] of User:Deidra shows that she is radically and negatively effecting the initial, important first contacts that new users are having. She should not be adopting anyone. I think we have a prime duty and responsibility to protect new users from being mis-lead. This is not a road less travelled. This is a road that shouldn't be travelled at all...not by this user. As a member of WP:WER, I had a premonition that something twisted would happen. I dare say everyone involved here had the same premonition. What can be done to protect new users from being "misguided" without their knowledge? or permission? I will discuss this elsewhere. ```Buster Seven Talk

A teenage girl leaving cookies on peoples talk pages is the least of my worries on Wikipedia. I saw the post, and the rest of peoples comments and chose to disconnect, per the drama llama template on my talk page. I'd say this fall into the drama llama category. Sorry Buster! I know for a fact she is a teenager and she has no questionable motives. She isn't adopting anyone, either, if you didn't continue to follow the conversation. Again, she's seriously a teenage girl, I don't think you need to take this too seriously and taking "serious" actions really is a lost cause. SarahStierch (talk) 15:38, 28 October 2012 (UTC)

The fact that she is a teenager was quite obvious. This is not an issue of Age. Its about a neophyte leading and teaching a neophyte under the guise of "I'm Experienced. You can listen to my advice." But this isn't FaceBook. She has done more than just give out cookies (she gave me some). She did in fact adopt a user, User talk:Brybry1999, on October 22nd at his/her talk page., (my guess is he or she is also a teenager, probably 13 years old), with the comment, "I know all the policies....". I take the mistreatment and the possible damage to a potential WP career (Brybry1999's) as very important. I dont want to hurt Raidens fragile spirit. But, she cannot be allowed to present herself as a qualified instructor to new editors that don't know any better. She likes and trusts you. A word from you may do the trick and have her see the folly of her ways. BTW, I liked your "Drama LLama" and I am using it on my page. I completely understand if you don't see it as an important issue. No prob. Having welcomed hundreds of new editors, the Wonderful World Of New Wikipedia Users has become my little niche. ```Buster Seven Talk 16:12, 28 October 2012 (UTC)

This comment on User:Brybry's page sounds like adoption to me.. Ok I will go to you for help...you can adopt me! Not sure what Im doing still new at this. Brybry1999 (talk) 19:52, 21 October 2012 (UTC)BrYan N.'. His comment, "I'm new at this..." says it all. Rather than send him to your Teahouse or place one of the hundreds of informative Welcomes, she takes him by the hand and pretty much says..."Follow me!' ```Buster Seven Talk 16:25, 28 October 2012 (UTC)

@buster. hey it's perpetual september. are you really claiming the power to exclude adopters, outside of the process? "questionable motives"? really? looking through her contributions i couldn't find the "radically and negatively effecting the initial, important first contacts that new users are having." could you be more specific? it's hard for me to imagine what that contact would be that would be worse, than the average wall of escalating warnings and a block, such as [3]. i just spent all my time at WLL events, coaching expert editors who had previously had their edits deleted, on how to interact with the toxic environment. even "questionable" efforts at wikilove are better than that.

with that i will return to the somewhat more friendly shores of wikisource. it was nice visiting wikidramaland. Slowking4⇔ †@1₭ 17:07, 28 October 2012 (UTC)

I am not looking for the power myself. Im looking for someone with the power to protect new editors. If it is not Sarah, no problem. Maybe someone else will see this and better understand my concern. By questionable motives I'm referring to Deidra's childish refusal to follow the advice of fellow editors to not adopt new editors while she is still learning the fundamentals. This isn't a social network site. This isn't about being friendly. I'm one of the friendliest editors you could meet. Would The Romney or Obama camps smile dispassionately while a brand new supporter was promoting herself as a spokesman for the Campaign and telling potential voters to disregard the rules and policies and the advice of veteran politicos? Not a chance. ```Buster Seven Talk 19:22, 28 October 2012 (UTC).

@Slowking4. While I agree there is quite a bit of drama here, Buster has some valid points, albeit somewhat overboard for a child/teen. I have already had to personally address some inaccurate guidance this editor has offered to others, which brought about a bit of unnecessary confusion. That said, the editor in question can actually be found here: User:RAIDENRULES123. As a side note, the concerns have seemingly been abated due to the editor's own adoption by User:Keilana. Hopefully, this will curtail any immediate problems. Best regards, Cindy(talk to me) 19:49, 28 October 2012 (UTC)

AfD

Hi! I saw you relisted some AfDs from Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Log/2012 October 22 but missed this one, which is waiting for a consensus. Thought to inform you. Thanks. Happy editing! --Zayeem ^(talk) 06:17, 29 October 2012 (UTC)

Hi, Sarah

Could you please take another look at this AfD you just relisted? The nominator all but admitted it was a bad-faith AfD, which poisoned the AfD from the start and brought calls to keep or close from four or five different users. There are over 40 citations listed in the article and the AfD discussion, so WP:GNG doesn't seem to be in question. If you don't like "trolling or drama," you might be the right person to put an end to that mess before more WP:SPA arrive. Thank you. - 91.105.232.26 (talk) 06:44, 29 October 2012 (UTC)