1

I joined wikiHow because I heard that it was a friendly community, full of positivity. Kudos on the initial messages:

  1. Welcome to wikiHow, GingerFlower! We’re glad you’re here.
  2. Hi GingerFlower,

I did not expect and do not like the negativity and prodding implied the messages on my main page:

  1. Oh, shucks. You haven’t answered any questions yet. If you see an article question to which you have an answer, give it a shot!
  2. Bummer - you don’t have any thumbed up edits yet. Go ahead and make your first bold edit, and hopefully it will be rewarded here.

I, personally, did not feel bad about not doing anything here until I read these messages. I mean I JUST joined. 

I resent bing goaded into helping with the project, though I understand that it might “seem” a good strategy to get new folk to join in. 

What rankles me most is having negative things posted on my page by default. I have consciously chosen in my life to disengage from unnecessarily negative things and do so now. I will not take action to remove the negative from my page, but I hope those of you who hold the puppet strings will find a kinder, more positive way to get individuals involved.

2

^±1 I can’t really argue with that. Wikihow is a friendly website, and those default messages do not show additional our kind community. Bummer definition: A disappointing or unpleasant situation or experience. Shucks definition: An expression of modesty, embarrassment, disappointment, or anger. Not welcoming.

3

Yeah I kinda agree. The messages could be a bit nicer.

4

I see both sides. While it’s not great to hear people being bombarded with what they think is negative feedback, it is asking for new users to join in “on the fun” and help out. I did, along with most people who join this site looking for a great place to contribute. Why else would a user join a wiki site when their main reason is not to contribute to a collaborative project?

5

Hi there and welcome to wikiHow, I cannot find any evidence that you have had any negative posts on your talk page, you say ‘‘until I read these messages’’   you have only had one message and that was to welcome you to our project, what was negative about that?

You go on to say  Oh, shucks. You haven’t answered any questions yet. If you see an article question to which you have an answer, give it a shot! Bummer - you don’t have any thumbed up edits yet. Go ahead and make your first bold edit, and hopefully it will be rewarded here.

I really do not think that your comments are fair and you have taken the message totally out of context and you in my view you have put your own spin on the welcome message and your choice of words such as making bold edits and getting thumbs up suggest you have used wikiHow before? 

Personally, I hope you stick around and make contributions to our project and join in with an open and receptive interpretation of that message, however I would hate for you to feel that you are being goaded as you put it to join in here, simply because you were sent a message welcoming you to our site:(

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6

Ok, Sarah, you made me see a totally different point of view.

7

@SarahB I believe this is what GingerFlower means:

This is the text displayed on the Thumbs Up and Q&A widgets on your user page if you haven’t had any TUs/haven’t answered any questions.

8

@ Zodiaw I am talking specifically about the note made in the post:slight_smile:

9

https://www.wikihow.com/Special:Contributions/GingerFlower   this is a malicious sock that has been blocked.

10

Hi all,

I want to make it known that the account that started this thread is a sockpuppet of a longtime wikiHow contributor pretending to be a new account, apparently with the intent of stirring people up in the forums. I’ve blocked GingerFlower.

I’m happy for us to consider whether the messaging on these tools strikes the right tone for wikiHow, but I think it would be best to do it on a thread that was started with constructive intent. I’m closing this thread, but anyone who would like to discuss this some more is welcome to start a new discussion.