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The other day, Krystle and Jack and I were talking about patrolling and how important it is for wikiHow’s mission. After @KnowItSome ’s awesome patrolling demonstration yesterday at the online meet-up, I realized we’ve never really taken the “next steps” on encouraging new patrolling quality, since @SudoKing released his awesome patrolling throttle tool (read about it here if you haven’t!). There’s a really careful balance with new patrollers, because we all know it’s an engaging and vital way to help out, but can also be hard and confusing! We definitely *don’t* want to discourage new people from learning the ropes - jumping in and getting helpful Quick Notes is the best way to turn into a pro patroller. But at the same time, new people need to know when there’s a better way to do something, so getting that super supportive feedback is key!:slight_smile:So I wanted to see if all you patrollers out there are willing to be on the look-out to give new folks a helping hand? We have the {{newpatroller}} and {{newpatroller2}} templates that give a really easy way to send the basics to new people. And of course, individualized feedback and Quick Notes are even better - I know I benefitted from learning this way in my early days here! I was also thinking that it might be beneficial for us to put a “patroller who needs help” section on the Admin Notice Board, so that any admins who are active at the time of a new/uncertain patroller getting on a role can provide some feedback, set a temporary limit if needed, and check in with them to encourage quality, careful patrolling. What do you guys think?

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I think that’s a good idea. I know wikiHow has experimented with mentoring and maybe doing patrolling mentoring would also be a good idea. So, instead of just saying what was done wrong and how it can be fixed, maybe could offer to mentor with patrollers and answer their questions on an ongoing basis. That way, it would feel more collaborative and not like people were being constantly monitored or punished.

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Love it. As usual @Elocina makes an excellent and intuitive point. Collaboration is inviting, monitoring is not so great. How would we make the offer? Would each of us who sees a need, simply reach out and offer informally to be a mentor? Also, as to identifying such people in the forums, I would love to see wording other than “patroller who needs help”. How about something more along the lines of “Fantastic new patroller on the rise”. Wording like that is one hundred percent positive. When I was new here, had I found myself on a list of “new patroller who needs help”, I am really not sure how I would have reacted to that. But had I found myself on a list named something more like “Amazing new patroller to get to know”, you can bet I would have come back again and again.

4

I love the mentoring idea, and definitely agree that kind of collaborative approach is better than anything that might come off punitive. That’s one of the awesome things about the throttling tool: after they hit the limit, it shows them a message asking them to try out another tool and help out with patrolling again tomorrow, but it doesn’t come off like a punishment. Big kudos to SudoKing for a supportive and friendly design:slight_smile:Great point about language, @KnowItSome . I definitely wouldn’t want to put anything in the forums that might come off discouraging! I was referring to the Admin Notice Board, where wording is often a bit less sensitive, but I still agree that the positive description is way better, and love the patrollers on the rise idea! I started a section here, but it could probably use some adjustments, so please feel free! http://www.wikihow.com/index.php?title=wikiHow%3AAdministrator-Notice-Board&diff=15438236&oldid=15436846 I think informal mentoring probably fits the bill to build a climate all the patrollers-in-the-know help the newer ones. I’ve seen individual pro patrollers do this in the past, and more often than not, it seems to be well-received and encouraging:slight_smile:

5

I like the mentoring approach. It seems a supportive and efficient way to bring new patrollers aboard if there are enough potential mentors who have available time and are willing to commit . I think it would also be awesome if some experienced patrollers were to agree to share their patrolling (with commentary) in Google Hangouts and to record the sessions for posterity. I could see these recordings becoming a suite of valuable learning tools for patrollers—experienced or new.