I was going to hold back replying here, but after seeing thoughtful discussion on this matter, I thought I’d add my two cents.
To add on from what I said a few weeks ago:
For those who knew me during my work between 2020 - 2023, I occasionally checked the “New Pages” section to monitor new written articles (even though I didn’t have any booster rights). Back then (and as echoed by many), we had new users make new articles that were potentially helpful and contributed well to our mission. While I do re-echo my sentiment that the restrictions put in place are to reduce spam, I’ll admit that doing the task of seeing new articles has restricted me to categorize new WRM articles that are either still “How-to” related, wishes/quotes to say for one person, or just quizzes altogether.
That being said, I took time to imagine some wikiHow users who are here to contribute and want to make new articles the moment they start. However, just as WikiBoat said it:
With that mentioned, I’d be open to relaxing the policies, even if it does mean we’ll be back to seeing spam articles on the site (those articles can easily be deleted or tagged with an NFD tag, short and sweet just like before). If we get more incentives for new users to stay on the site, then I’m sure we’ll have more active contributors for sure. This would also help any university student who has to use wikiHow as an assignment, and restricting their ability to check rather than doing their assignment of making an article first isn’t going to help matters.
Of course, there’s the concern of how some of the WRM articles are going. We all know the mission of wikiHow is to make a reader learn how to do anything… and while I do appreciate some of the new articles that are leaning to contributing to the actual mission at hand (such as this one
and this one, too
), the bulk of new articles, just as mentioned, are shying away from the mission. Take, for instance, this quiz/test I saw while casually checking in the New Articles recently.
Now, I’m open to wikiHow continuing to create quizzes and tests (which keeps reader engagement), but seeing that sort of test quite shocked me. This would fall in the {{nfd|sex}} category. I know wikiHow has put true restrictions on what’s a good topic for a quiz/test, but if an innocent person bumps into this article by accident, I’m sure it would not be pretty. To add on one similar sentiment:
That being said (and just like almost everyone in this thread), WRM has been posting a lot of advertising articles recently. Currently, the main page includes a Sling TV advert, and I’m a bit worried that it would turn into an advert farm if this is not controlled. I also agree with these sentiments (since they already mention my point):
All in all, wikiHow needs to give new volunteers a chance to contribute more than just being redirected to the Topic Greenhouse/Community Dashboard. Progress is inevitable and while some of it is great (the new quizzes that are appropriate and the alternate forums separate from this one), I’m sure this discussion will help make sure wikiHow continues to be volunteer-friendly rather than just restricting new users.
