This page is about experienced editors reflecting on their own experiences, with a specific emphasis on what it was like to be a new editor. It was inspired by my experience meeting people at WikiConference North America and wanting to recreate that feeling onwiki. I don't think my questions were anything particularly groundbreaking and I'm sure people have attempted to collate something similar at other places like at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Editor Retention. Regardless, it's thrilling to see the perspectives of so many Wikipedians. I think the best way to approach all this is to read it for yourself as open-ended answers and authenticity can never truly be summarized the way a simple survey with yes/no answers can.
On a somewhat frequent basis, I issue invitations to participate here. This is not a requirement and people are free to pitch in without a formal invitation as long as they consider themselves to be an experienced editor.
I got into Wikipedia shortly after finishing my PhD thesis. I'd written introductory chapter on oxazolines and I knew that it would likely just sit on a shelf and never be read again. The existing page was pretty basic and I figured I could improve it very easily by just copy-and-pasting across some general information.
If you could go back in time, what do you think would've helped you as a new editor?
There were certainly things I did wrong at the start, mostly to do with getting the tone right. Writing science articles for Wikipedia is very different to writing for scientific journals, and it took me time to learn and appreciate that - but that doesn't mean I had any particular trouble I needed help with. Some things can only be learned by persistance.
Did you have help as a new editor? What worked and what didn't?
I can't say that I did. Occasionally I'd take something to WP:Chem
Do you think you'll keep editing for the foreseeable future?
Something dramatic would have to happen to make me stop
Have you ever been involved with WikiEd?
Not really.
It's a good idea, but I'm not sure how well it works in practise. Some years ago WikiEd was viewed as a bit of a menace. The chemistry editing community of en:wiki is small, I would estimate fewer than 20 frequent editors. WikiEd class sizes could be upwards of 50 and being students their assignment pages would all appear at the same time (presumably the deadline day). This would cause a lot of bother for the community, because the new pages were often of a poor quality and needed heavy editing, merger or deletion. However, the students were being marked on these articles and were of course resistant to any of that. The experience was regrettably negative for all concerned.
The present situation is less severe.
Have you ever edited on mobile? If so, what are your thoughts on it? If not, why not?
No, never. I imagine you could make simple edits: a typo, a reference, a short sentence - but writing substantive content via a phone sounds like no fun at all. I don't expect I will ever try.
Is there anything you would change about Wikipedia?
Like many I still dislike the new layout.
I really wish someone would fix [Graph module]. Wiki is the worlds most popular encyclopaedia - but we can't render statistical information as graphs. Madness.
The think the notability guidelines for living people need to be severely tightened.
Feel free to also share anything else you wish to :)
In 11 years this is first time I'm been surveyed. Wikipedia still feels like a Web 1.0 kind of a place - I don't think it understand it's content creators anywhere near at well as webpages with a similar ranking. That might be the secret of it's success, with obsessive people just being left alone to do their thing, or is might be a problem - truly, who can say?
When did you start editing Wikipedia? Although I created my account in June 2020 (during the pandemic), I started editing in December 2023, the exact day of Clovermoss' RfA. I only made a few edits before December 2023 and have never made edits while logged out (the warning saved me!) or using another account at time of writing.
Why did you start editing Wikipedia? Since the pandemic, I have thought about editing on Wikipedia. I have real life interests in transport related content (roads, railways, public transport, etc) and thought about editing on these topics. I also started to have some interests in video gaming content and help out at DYK.
If you could go back in time, what do you think would've helped you as a new editor? When I created the farm simSun Haven, I didn't know that game didn't meet the notability criteria even though it was quite popular (about 15,000 Steam reviews). I just thought that since we have My Time at Sandrock, a game with similar popularity (and which I have made significant contributions to), I thought Sun Haven deserves an article. However, when that game gets to the Swtich, I may consider editing that again. Now I learned that notability does not equal to being popular and won't consider improving/creating it until it gets on the Switch. However, I did create a successful video game article and got that to DYK: Coffee Talk Episode 2: Hibiscus & Butterfly. I intended to create that article on its one year anniversary. I also didn't know about DYK until March 2024 (after reading through theleekycauldron's 2nd RfA) in which I made my first nomination for cozy game, an article I didn't make. This meant I would have likely nominated Sun Haven for DYK if I didn't make that first.
Did you have help as a new editor? What worked and what didn't? I did have some help at the Teahouse but other than that, I did learn some of the stuff by myself including the fact that I didn't know how to reuse citations without copying and pasting for a while. I also had a little help on my first DYK nomination.
Do you think you'll keep editing for the foreseeable future? I am not sure to be honest, but I think I should be here for at least 12 months from now. It's like when I use to have interests in playing Subway Surfers years ago and have never played that for a long while.
Have you ever been involved with WikiEd? No and I never even heard of it.
Have you ever edited on mobile? If so, what are your thoughts on it? If not, why not? I never considered editing on mobile because its quite hard to do. I am alright with reading Wikipedia on mobile but editing is on another level. It's hard to type over 1000 characters using a mobile keyboard and to copy and paste to use sources.
Is there anything you would change about Wikipedia? I can't say for sure. One thing I can think of is that maybe the new UI could be improved further or to allow unregistered users to go back to the old one.
I saw that there was a missing article, Marie of Savoy, Duchess of Milan. I was interested in late medieval Milanese & Italian biography at the time, specifically anything around the time that I think Shakespeare set The Tempest or that he may have drawn upon for his characters.
If you could go back in time, what do you think would've helped you as a new editor?
Did you have help as a new editor? What worked and what didn't?
I did not receive much help as a new editor. That said, I probably did not require much. I initially edited during my shifts as a part-time university librarian. As a librarian, I understood the importance of citation, & as a full-time IT worker I was comfortable in Wikitext. There was one single bit of advice that I got that helped, at this particular edit.
Do you think you'll keep editing for the foreseeable future?
Yes
Have you ever been involved with WikiEd?
Not really. I know Sage Ross & am acquainted with Frank Schulenburg & LiAnna Davis. I have used the Outreach Dashboard. Several years ago I sat in panels of editors for a couple of classes at the University of Washington in Seattle.
Have you ever edited on mobile? If so, what are your thoughts on it? If not, why not?
I did while I was commuting by mass transit for a couple of years, but I prefer editing with a keyboard. Sometimes when I am doing a major overhaul on an article I will check out how it looks on mobile. It would be nice to simply simulate that on the desktop somehow.
Is there anything you would change about Wikipedia?
Better recognition of the volunteer editors by the WMF staff
Better tools, tutorials, slide decks, learning modules, & et cetera for teaching new users
Better tools, tutorials, slide decks, learning modules, & et cetera for GLAM
Feel free to also share anything else you wish to :)
