 | This page in a nutshell: The WMF Growth team has built a set of features to encourage newcomers to make edits and to participate by improving the project. These features are now the default on-boarding experience for new users, with 100% of them encountering this feature after they register a new account. The work is summarized below. |
Research has shown that newcomers struggle to edit and continue editing Wikipedia because of three main challenges: technical, conceptual, and cultural. They currently do not have access to the resources they need to surmount those challenges. To give these things to newcomers, the WMF Growth team has built three interconnected features, described in more detail below:
Some features are also available for experienced community members:
These features are currently being deployed to 100% of new accounts created on English Wikipedia. See mw:Growth/FAQ#test for instructions on how to try the features.
In November 2020, we published results from a controlled experiment that showed that the Growth features statistically improve newcomer outcomes. Because of these results, we believe that all Wikipedias should consider adopting these features.
The features are currently available on over 300 Wikipedias. All of the features are available on both desktop and mobile. Though primarily built for newcomers, it is also possible for experienced users to turn them on and use them.
Once we started to expand to more wikis, we wanted to start talking about these features with English Wikipedia and ask for input. As said above, we are constantly iterating and developing. We hope English Wikipedia will take on these features fully, but before any deployments happen, we will make sure that we have built something that will work on this wiki, and that all deployments will be in line with the community's preferences. We know that English Wikipedia has many existing efforts to help newcomers, like the Teahouse and automated welcome messages. We would be sure to make sure our team's features work well alongside those.
As you read this page, please leave any questions, ideas, or reactions on the Talk page. You can also check the Growth FAQ. You can also join in more detailed discussions of the features and plans on Talk pages on mediawiki.org. You can also sign up for our team's newsletter here.
This page gives a quick outline of the work of the WMF Growth team, which aims to increase the retention of new editors. The team has been working since July 2018, and primarily pilots experimental features in four Wikipedias: Czech, Bengali, Arabic, and Vietnamese. In 2021, we are continuing to iterate and develop the feature set, but we also know that we have already developed features that have a positive impact on new editors. For that reason, we are planning to deploy to more wikis during 2021. (Note: when we say "new editors" or "newcomers", we're talking about users who have newly created accounts – not anonymous editors.)
In an experiment with Arabic, Czech, Vietnamese, and Korean Wikipedias, we've seen that this set of experimental features prompts newcomers to be more engaged in the wiki and make early productive edits. Importantly, in addition to the statistical results below, communities have been having positive experiences with these features. No wikis that have begun using the Growth features have requested to turn them off.
In order to understand the impact of Growth features, and specifically "newcomer tasks", we deployed the features in a controlled experiment. Some newcomers received the features (the treatment group) and some did not (the control group). The experiment lasted for six months.
In general, the analysis showed that the Growth features improve outcomes for newcomers. Below are the most important points.
We believe that these results confirm that the Growth features, in particular newcomer tasks, lead newcomers to edit more and lead newcomers to stay on the wiki for longer.
For more information on these experiment results, see this page on mediawiki.org.
As of March 2022, the features are deployed to all Wikipedias, with most of those wikis having 100% of new accounts receiving the features. On English Wikipedia, 100% of new accounts receive the features, with 50% of those also receiving the mentorship feature.[needs update]
We are most excited about this feature, because it is prompting newcomers to make productive edits. This is a workflow that suggests articles to edit, shown to users via the "suggested edits module" on the newcomer homepage. Newcomers are able to choose from different types of edits (based on maintenance templates) and filter to topics of interest (based on ORES models). They then can choose from a feed of articles to work on. Once on an article, the help panel will provide guidance on how to complete the edit. Communities will be able to choose whether this workflow nudges newcomers toward the visual editor or the wikitext editor.
In 2021, the Growth team is building new editing workflows that are meant to be smaller and easier for newcomers to accomplish, especially from mobile devices. These are called "structured tasks". As of June 2021, we have deployed the first structured task for adding wikilinks to four Wikipedias (Arabic, Czech, Vietnamese, and Bengali). In it, an algorithm suggests to newcomers words or phrases that could be good wikilinks. We are also considering a structured task around adding images from Commons to Wikipedia articles. We hope community members can join discussions here about how to proceed with this work. You can also leave thoughts about the project on the talk page on this wiki, if you prefer.
Results so far
For more information about newcomer tasks, see this page on mediawiki.org.
This special page hosts the newcomer tasks workflow, and contains other modules that give newcomers access to the most important things they need to see on their first day. After creating their account, newcomers see a popup (and some other notifications) encouraging them to visit their homepage, which is accessible through the link to their username along the top of their browser window. Though the team is still experimenting with different modules, here are modules that may appear on the homepage:
Results so far
For more information about the newcomer homepage, see this page on mediawiki.org.
This is a box that newcomers can open while they are editing. It does four things:
The help panel appears in both the wikitext and visual editors. When we deploy this feature, we make sure that a wiki's existing help desk (or Teahouse) will work with the features, and that experienced users watching the help desk are willing to receive the incoming questions.
Results so far
For more information about the help panel, see this page on mediawiki.org.
Communities can change how the Growth features work by editing Special:EditGrowthConfig. The Growth team advises to make configuration changes after a community discussion. Also, please inform us of your discussions when they happen, because we can help you on the issue you found, or assist you with the configuration. It is also very useful for us to know that you have that discussion, so that we can improve the features.
Mentorship features are a set of tools to match newcomers looking for advice, with experienced editors ready to help them.
Mentorship is activated at English Wikipedia. Volunteer mentors can sign up to be a mentor at Special:EnrollAsMentor, and then interact with the newcomers they are assigned to on Special:MentorDashboard. On this page mentors can configure their mentorship preferences, and, if needed, put themselves on pauseorquit.
Please visit our FAQ for more information.
| Wikitext | userbox | where used | ||
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{{User Growth Team features mentor}}
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linked pages | ||
{{User mentor}}
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linked pages |
