Hah, it’s pretty easy to get worked up over all the awesome things to learn on wikiHow.
Lovely message, Vish! Definitely solid advice. Don’t worry about coaching too much up front - welcome wagon is more about just being encouraging and supportive than doing too much coaching (they’ll figure it out over time). A positive spin on advice is definitely the way to go when you see someone new who’s a little lost! For example, maybe try something like introducing yourself, congratulating the user on taking the initiative to start an article, and then giving some really calm, optimistic advice.
“I did see that for now its been marked as incomplete. Don’t worry - there’s still time to fix it up! The ideal format for your article to thrive on wikiHow would be a complete article in step-by-step method, where each step starts with a verb and instructs the reader to do something until the task is completed. Do you think there’s any way you can edit your work into that format? Or if you’d like, I can give it a go!”
And then maybe finish it off with a question or two about wikiHow. Here’s some of my favorites!
- You must have a lot of experience in (…)! How long have you been learning/doing (…)?
- Cool work in our (…) widget! Have you considered taking a stab at any of our other tools on the Community Dashboard?
- How are you enjoying wikiHow so far? Would love to hear from you!
- Sweet advice on (…)! Do you have any other cool hobbies?
- Interesting username, by the way! What does it mean/why did you choose it? I love it!
It’s totally okay to get a little bit more chatty on your Welcoming messages, just try not to go totally out there that doesn’t stem from an edit or contribution. The biggest goal of a Welcome Message is to establish communication, establish yourself as a friendly mentor, and make them overall comfortable on wikiHow (because it’s honestly a pretty overwhelming site!).
My biggest advice to you is to keeep itttt positive. I actually had the same issue in my original test, and although I still passed, it continued to be a problem for me to keep it wildly friendly despite the advice I got. I actually just went ahead and dug up some advice Anna gave me from my test a whileee ago specifically because I think we tend to both go in a very informative direction (despite the goal of the message not to be coach-ey). Here’s some advice from my test!
“Just in case it’s a particularly sensitive user, that softer wording sometimes helps them feel more welcomed - but I loved the friendly tone in general! Awesome!”
“Same advice, just a teeny bit softer because you never know whether the person you’re writing too might be a little bit sensitive - we want to encourage as much as possible and assume good faith, so just positively explaining the policy is your best bet. Then, if they keep writing dups, we can always advise more strongly in the future!”
I think it’s safe to say I’ve improved a lot since then, and it really just comes with practice and feedback, practice and feedback. :)
Your message was wildly informative though, and that’s awesome because it means you’re recognizing exactly what you think they’ll need and trying to help them (and I love that!). Just remember any user could be sensitive towards any sort of rough tone, so being as friendly and welcoming as possible are your main goals.If you still feel like you need a hand after taking Adelaide’s quiz, let me know and I can run you through the same sort of thing (a set of scenarios and feedback) to prepare you for the real thing.
Good luck to you- I’m sure you’ll do great. Overall, it seems like you’ve got a real knack for this sort of thing, Vish!
