1

Hi,

As a first day new comer, I have received an overwhelming amount of support. I am however concerned about this ‘Newbie Project.’ Three members in the last hour have invited me to this project. Two of which, I removed off my talk page and responded to one of them expressing my apologies and stating how I am not interested.

I just don’t see the point in this when we already have welcomers to assist newcomers like myself already. I have found it somewhat intrusive and demanding in a sense and I am unsure if some may feel like I am stepping on their toes and I apologise in advance for that but im confused regarding the whole concept.

Am I the only one feeling this way?

P.S- Thank you for the support and even my first two thumbs up edits. I love editing articles and feel free to leave me a message if you want me to assist you in editing.

Thanks.

2

Heads-up: this user has been blocked because it was being used as a secondary account to get around a patrol-block. However, this thread about the project *may* still warrant input from other community members, depending on their experiences. Moving to Collaboration Corner for any further discussion about how to improve the project’s approach.

3

I agree that it can be overwhelming for new users to be immediately bombarded with project invites when you have just entered an unfamiliar environment (i.e. the wiki), even if it’s for a project that’s geared towards helping them.

The project page states that

However, new users can turn to the Help Team for questions, which seems to be more intuitive for them and generally more efficient since more, experienced users monitor that page and new users are actually directed to that page via the tour.

In general, it seems to me that it might be best to not immediately send new users an invite, but instead let them explore the wiki at their own pace and let them wander around a bit, before showing them the newbie club.

If we really want to make the newbie club A Thing, there should be a more defined target demographic, a clear and concise goal, a more organised project page (right now the UIBs come before the question box), shift focus from “top members” and designing stuff to improving the project and helping new users, and separate the members into newbies and experienced users.

4

I agree, I think the order of the stuff may need to be changed. Although designing templates and stuff is fun, it is just the icing on top, maybe if it focused on the real goal as a priority. I’m not saying there shouldn’t be templates, I’m just suggesting, like what Zodiaw said, possibly helping others would be the main focus of the project.

5

I agree. I think those invitations can be very spammy and I don’t like receiving them on my talk page. The template is a bit off-putting, too. Perhaps a more personal message like “Hi there! I noticed that you’ve been (doing this) a lot, so I had a project in mind that might interest you.”

6

I sent out a letter to everyone in Newbie News, and they should know that.

7

It sounds like a fresh direction here could be a good next step. Tagging a few folks involved in this project so they can get an idea of what changes might be helpful to new users: @Cap_pop @Midnight-Dreams @Nataliewilson @Riley-Next @Charminita-Sphinx

I like Zodi’s actionable take here: “If we really want to make the newbie club A Thing, there should be a more defined target demographic, a clear and concise goal, a more organised project page (right now the UIBs come before the question box), shift focus from “top members” and designing stuff to improving the project and helping new users, and separate the members into newbies and experienced users.” 

I think your first next step as a club might be to put a hold on inviting new people, since there isn’t really much to invite them to do yet. This will allow you guys to revisit the goal and target demographic of the project. What is it you aim to do, that’s different from what the existing welcoming and Help Team systems do? If you can hone in on a unique and helpful goal that helps build wikiHow , you’ll be in a better spot to turn this enthusiasm into a mission-focused project:slight_smile:

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Alrighty!

9

Maybe then we could ask our inviters to cut down in inviting people??

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I think it’s best to completely stop sending the invites out for now since there’s no clearly defined mission of the project and the templates are coming across as mass spam of gaudy bright colors that can be off-putting and might actually discourage newbies from sticking around.

Just my $0.02. 

11

Yeah, this week, there were tons of invites for nearly every new member.

As others have said, I fear that it seems a bit spammy to the new users.  Plus, there is a chance that they would get confused, which might disrupt them from contributing the easy way instead of worrying with a project.  :-/

12

I’ll re-organise the project page and tune down the border, I agree.

13

okay, thanks for the feedback. I’ll fix it.

14

I guess if there is jobs like designers or inviters then maybe they feel they *have to* invite loads of people and create new templates even when there is none that need to be done. I think some members (myself included) may have felt the need to go a bit over the top with all the jobs. Also I think that excessive, bright colours and stuff, can look good but if it is subtle but if not, it may potentially be a bit off putting as it may look like it’s a project just for kids and may not be taken seriously. I am not against the idea of the club, I like it, I wouldn’t have joined if I didn’t, but maybe it could benefit from a bit of a cleanup. This is just my opinion on it however.

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@InfernoTerra Great metaphor.

@RubyRoseRain   From what I know from gaming stereotypes, most “noobs,” as new players are insulted as, are portrayed as childish.  And then, bright colors are almost always associated with youth (as well as simple patterns).  I agree that the project needs two types of cleanup:

  1. Cleanup the page’s design.  Make it more minimalist but still welcoming.  Take my talk page border as an example of simplicity. 
  2. Cleanup the project itself.  Currently, there are lots of members, but to be honest, most are not doing anything.  In short, there isn’t much activity.

I believe that this project could have a chance at making an impact on wikiHow, but at the moment, the Help Page seems like a more effective way for new members to get help.  Really, I think that the Help Page is all we need for a Q&A on wikiHow-related questions. :-/