User:Loopy30/New editor ambitions

New editor ambitions are often driven by the unrealistic expectation that they can do everything immediately. By creating new articles immediately instead of fixing existing articles, they can quickly overstep their abilities, causing more work for others and disappointment for themselves. To lessen this, we should put our efforts in convincing these new editors to start off slowly and learn as they go. Suitable beginner tasks include fixing typos, adding short paragraphs of information to existing articles, fixing un-referenced statements, and adding suitable images to articles that lack them.

Driving analogy

We don't expect new drivers to compete in a Formula 1 race just after getting their driving license, so why do we promote the expectation that new editors can create a new article in their first week of editing?

• When learning to drive, we take some time to learn what all the pedals and switches do. We read through our provincial/state Rules of the Road Handbook to be familiar with what to expect and what is expected of us. This is like attending a Learn-to-edit workshop or reading up on the basic goals and processes of Wikipedia editing.

• We get a learners permit, or register for an account (or not).

• The best instruction starts with watching a demonstration from the passenger seat with a narration of each step the driver is doing. This could be mimic-ed by help from a mentor and by perusing "diffs" in the edit history of an article.

• We then go to a safe space where we are unlikely to cause harm. For driving, this could be an empty parking lot, but on Wikipedia we have our user sandbox.

• Starting at low speeds, with both hands on the wheel, and your foot hovering over the brake, you put the car into motion and maybe steer in large oval. These are practice edits in your sandbox.

• Once comfortable with handling the car, we can go out on the road. Just as we wouldn't start to drive on a busy four-lane thoroughfare with many intersections to contend with (contentious or popular topics), we would seek a quiet neighbourhood street or rural road to begin (a small boring article) and slowly make our first real drive (publish an edit to main-space).

• With time, we progress to highway driving and parallel parking, learning new skills along the way and gaining our full driving license. This experience roughly parallels a new editor's first 500 edits where they are automatically granted Extended Confirmed.

• Both the new driver and new editor should be happy with their new found abilities, but some want to learn the "hard stuff" as well. While not nearly as difficult, I would posit that creating new articles from scratch is akin to learning how to drive a race car. It is more rewarding to both the driver and the editor alike.

• Entering your first race is even more challenging just learning to drive. Creating a biography article is more demanding as well.

• After experience in the junior circuits, to reach the higher tiers would be at the pinnacle of your driving expertise. Arguably, there is nothing more challenging for a Wikipedia editor than to create a properly sourced and notable article on a living person.

Why do we give the impression that "anyone can edit" means that you can write the hardest class of articles to an acceptable standard on your first outing? In the driving world, this would surely just be a recipe for an accident, possibly even taking out a guardrail as you go (damage to Wikipedia requiring others to clean up). The longest editing skill to develop is not the mechanical skill of writing and hitting publish/save. It is the ability to correctly assess which articles should exist, at what titles, and in accordance with already discussed standards that have gained consensus by the editing community. Without that experience and knowledge, a new new editor is just a Dodgem car driver in freeway traffic.

Where we encourage these mistakes

• Any editathon for new editors, particularly ones with a focus on improving a specific topic.
• WikiEd course assignments that promote new article topics over improving existing articles.

Context

I have run several Wikipedia editing workshops and cleaned up after many WikiEd article creations. This has given me much exposure to the attitudes and editing ambitions of new users.

See also

• Wikipedia:Competence is required