The first few messages that a person gets when they join the wikiHow community can have a profound effect on how whether they decide to stick around and become a valuable contributor, or leave and never return. A personal welcome message can demonstrate that wikiHow is powered by real people who want to help new users. At the same time, an unprofessional looking welcome message might dissuade some people from contributing.
When creating a welcome message, it is important to create one that has helpful information which new users need; it is equally important that it be easy to read, and appeal visually to men and women of all ages. This article offers some guidelines to help you create an attractive, helpful welcome message and add a personal touch when you greet new wikiHow editors.
Steps
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1Find a new user to welcome. Use the wikiHow Logs Page to access a list of new users. Go here to see the list.
- This page lists the most recent user accounts that have been created on wikiHow, and can be updated by refreshing the page.
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Remember that "personalized" means the message is personal to the person you're writing to, not personal to you. It needs to be a message that the person knows you wrote specifically for them . Try to include their username and specific contributions they have made in the message.Advertisement
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Greet them by name. If they've added their real name to their wikiHow profile, or you can deduce what their first name is from their username, use that!
- Avoid using their username if possible, as this makes it seem like an auto-generated message or a template.
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Give a compliment on one of their edits. E.g. "That was a really nice edit you made to Juggle a Soccer Ball. Thanks for cleaning up the grammar and punctuation."
- Ask a question. Some examples:
- How did you find wikiHow?
- What do you think of this site so far?
- What are some topics you like to read about?
- Comment positively on something they wrote in their profile. E.g. "I see you wrote on your profile that you have an English Mastiff. Those are really great dogs. My aunt had one when I was growing up."
- Ask a question. Some examples:
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Offer some suggestions for what the person can do on wikiHow.
- If you see that they are editing articles on a certain topic, suggest that they try out Article Greenhouse by Topic in their area of expertise.
- If they have just started and have not made many (or any) edits yet, suggest that they try out Quality Guardian--it is a very easy way to get started on wikiHow.
- If they seem to be a good writer, suggest that they Answer Requests or rewrite stubs in the Stubs Greenhouse.
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Offer some links to help pages that will help them get around wikiHow. Some good basics are the wikiHow Tour and the Writer's Guide.
- If they are patrolling, ask them if they've read How to Patrol Recent Changes on wikiHow yet.
- While offering resources is good, do not overwhelm a new contributor with links. Links should only form a very small portion of your welcome message.
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7Offer help. Remember, they're only new to wikiHow, and it can be quite a steep learning curve, so offer to help them with any questions or concerns they may have!
- For example: Please feel free to message me with any questions or concerns, I'd love to help you out!
- If they ask you a question you're not sure about, direct them to the Help Team, the Article Review Team, a booster, or an admin
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Tips
- Avoid using unique font sizes and colors that might make your message hard to read. For example, pink links on a red background are not readable by many individuals.Thanks
- Keep the focus on wikiHow and not your welcome message. You will have plenty of opportunities to express your individuality and make friendships once discussions begin with people on wikiHow. Until then, the focus should be introducing people to wikiHow, and not you, your hobbies, your favorite bands, and such.Thanks
- When you post a welcome message, you are representing wikiHow. When assessing your welcome message, ask yourself, "If I were a new user reading this message, what would I think about the site?" If you have any doubts about whether something is appropriate, ask for help from an experienced user.Thanks
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Warnings
- Don't ask personal questions straight away.Thanks
- Don't use too many pictures. One or two can be OK, but more than that can be too much on a viewer's eyes. Don't place a photo of yourself, since the focus of the welcome should be on wikiHow and not the message itself.Thanks
- Don't write in all lowercase or in all caps. Use proper spelling and grammar. Avoid acronyms, wiki jargon, l33t, SMS shorthand and any other forms of writing that most people would not be able to understand.Thanks
- Don't create a welcome message that will be a turn off to any specific age group, nationality or other demographic group. For example, well-intentioned welcome messages by younger users might accidentally turn away older users if they contain bright colors, references to pop culture, or photographs of very young people.Thanks
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