Comment on A generational gap on Wikipedia - 91% of WP admins started editing before 2010
GunnarRunnar@kbin.social 10 months agoHopefully they realize it's not healthy for Wikipedia in long term and make a course correction.
No idea how they work internally but probably some kind of mentoring program would be in order. There's now way someone relatively new will learn all their quirks that have been developed in the past decade and too many people on the internet expect you to know everything already to be worth a shit to them.
Silverseren@kbin.social 10 months ago
There is a mentoring program and I'm a part of it. Unfortunately, a lot of the accounts going through it very blatantly aren't there to actually make a good Wikipedia article on something, but to instead promote themselves or their company.
gibmiser@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Half-baked idea incoming.
Wiki Jr. A Wikipedia dedicated to kids culture. Kids contribute and edit, have a mentor, put it on college applications. When they turn 18 can migrate account to real Wikipedia.
Silverseren@kbin.social 10 months ago
Possibly, though Wikipedia and all of its related projects have an 18+ requirement. Likely because of copyright issues, as under 18 year olds legally can't give up a share-alike license on the content they make.
Aatube@kbin.social 10 months ago
Note that this requirement is not really enforced
chickenf622@sh.itjust.works 10 months ago
Can they just give it to the public domain? I’m sure Wikipedia would other copy left systems, but for kid content I could see it being less important.
GentlemanLoser@ttrpg.network 10 months ago
Free child labor, nice
MBM@lemmings.world 10 months ago
I don’t know if it still exist, but that used to be a thing. I was pretty active on there during primary school.
GunnarRunnar@kbin.social 10 months ago
You think recruiting new blood is the biggest hurdle right now?
Silverseren@kbin.social 10 months ago
I think long-term retention is more the problem. There's plenty of new editors that show up to do something, but they don't care about being an editor on broader subjects long-term.
There's attempts to retain interest more through things like editathons on specific topics, such as with the Women in Red group, that have seen a decent amount of success.
FaceDeer@kbin.social 10 months ago
I used to be an editor, and an admin. Quite a prolific one, in fact. I eventually quit (not really "officially", I just gradually ran down my frequency of editing until I eventually realized I just wasn't any more) because editing Wikipedia was no longer fun. And as far as I could tell, that was deliberate and as-designed.
Rules, rules, rules. No articles on quirky topics for the sake of quirky topics. Strict limits on pop culture. Articles for Deletion became a death sentence, arguing felt like trying to be a lawyer in a court that had already ruled against you and was just making things official. Just a tiring slog to produce something I wasn't terribly interested in any more.
Not really sure what the solution is, if there even is one. Wikipedia seems to be what it wants to be, now. I am a bit saddened because what it used to be was fun, but I've moved on. I'm glad Wikipedia still exists and has been useful to a great many people over the years.