Talk:Wiki Guides

Time scale?

The graph doesn't appear to show time scale. Can this be indicated?

What is interesting, is that for most of the time, there appears to be no real difference between the control and the turtles, except right at the end. But given that the red and blue lines have followed each other fairly closely, though sometimes with a little time delay, it would be interesting to see if the red line does follow the blue line upward as it is already indicating it will do. Does this mean that people who are interested in Wikipedia will stay, regardless of help offered and poor initial communication, and that our long-standing belief that we need to welcome and support new people has been misplaced? My own experience of starting on Wikipedia was poor. I got nasty messages telling me to stop editing, but I remained as I was interested in the encyclopaedic project, rather than a social activity. My understanding is that other editors have remained after similar poor early communication. Meanwhile, there are people who are encouraged and supported early on who still drop out. My impression is that people stop being involved in Wikipedia not because of poor quality communication or lack of support, but either because content they add is removed or reverted, or because they have reached their level of interest/ability to contribute. I think editor retention is linked to positive direct involvement in building the project more so than amount of assistance or social interaction. Positive reinforcement through supportive communication, barnstars, and achievements such as GA and FA, improve the quality of the personal experience and the development of the project, though I think it is the ability to make a satisfactory and long-lasting contribution to the project as a whole that keeps people here. SilkTork 12:00, 18 April 2011 (UTC)