User:Titodutta/Blog/Be polite, and welcoming to new editors

"Being polite, and welcoming to new editors" is a fundamental principle of Wikipedia. It suggests to assume that a new editor's edits and comments, even if they contain errors or mistakes, were made in good faith, i.e. they actually wanted to do something good, but due to lack of experience and knowledge something did not go well.

On the English-language Wikipedia, there are a few other essays and pages on this topic telling us why we should be polite and friendly towards new editors. On this 16 August (2015), an editor asked me to explain the practical applications of "assuming good faith. A couple of weeks ago, another Wikipedia editor from the Konkani-language Wikipedia asked me to share my views on "not being a biter or rude to the new editors". These two recent questions have encouraged me write this blog post. In this blog post, I'll share my own ideas and opinions.

New members are prospective contributors

Let's consider these two situations:

Situation 01: A little girl of six or seven years old makes a painting of a sunrise scene and then takes it to her father to show. Although the girl tried to paint a rising Sun behind mountains, the mountains in the painting looked liked triangles, the sun looked like a circular something and the flying birds in the sky did not look like birds at all. Still the girl's father appreciates her efforts and encourages her.

Situation 02: Let's consider this situation: A grown-up skilled and talented painter makes a really nice abstract painting. Unfortunately when he shows the painting to a few people, no one appreciates his artwork, but criticizes and mocks his work badly.

Now, when on Wikipedia we say that "new members are prospective contributors", we actually mean that those new editors are like this girl who tried her best to do something, but could not do it properly. But, if encouraged and appreciated (and not criticized, at least), she will definitely improve gradually.

We can easily relate the second situation above to our daily life experiences, specially when we find there is no one to encourage or appreciate, and we are surrounded by critics, biters and those people who have no trust on us at all.

On Wikipedia, I strongly feel that it is absolutely necessary that we try to be friendly and welcoming to the new editors. We must not bite or scold them for their every minor mistake. This will not go anywhere. If we encourage and help the new editors, who are actually trying to work well and build the encyclopedia, I am very much sure many of them will become skilled editors in future. Just a few words of kindness can go a long way in brightening someone’s day.

Wave after wave

On Wikipedia, to explain the importance of being "welcoming" and "friendly" to the new editors, we often say that "all of us were new editors at Wikipedia once". Of course no one is a Wikipedian by birth. Everyone has to start from A-B-C of Wikipedia. It is foolish to assume that a new editor will be aware of each and every editing guideline and policy of Wikipedia. I'll not repeat the points which are already told in the Wikipedia article, but I'll tell about a few of my experiences here.

In mid-2011, when I started editing Wikipedia, I can remember I faced a huge trouble to understand things. I was not understanding the Wikipedia markup language, I failed to understand the discussion procedure. I had not idea that how to sign on Wikipedia. You may see this post to get some idea of the troubles I was facing at that time. Even after 6 months of editing on Wikipedia, I did not know about Wikipedia good article or Did you know. But, today I am an administrator on the English-language Wikipedia and I am generally considered as one of the best editors from the Indian subcontinent countries.
I know about an editor, who was initially blocked once and warned several times. Later he improved a lot, and currently he is a member of one of the most respected groups of Wikipedia.
I have been training new Wikipedians for a long time now. I have had many student on Wikipedia were very much eager to learn new things. Many of them improved really fast.

Now, let's see all these things from this point of view:

. . . . . .
en:User:Titodutta was a new editor in 2011 who used to make mistakes. . .
In 2012 en:User:Titodutta became an established editor and started training en:User:Example
In 2013 en:User:Example became a skilled editor, and started helping en:User:Example2
In 2014 en:User:Example2 became a skilled editor, and . . .
In 2015 . . .

Thousands of editors are editing Wikipedia everyday. Old editors are retiring, new editors are joining. It is like "wave after wave", an old wave id disappearing and a new wave is coming. We must understand that that's how we progress. That's how we move ahead. There is no alternative.

A few questions answered

When I finished writing the first two sections above, I had a conversation with my colleague and Wikipedian Tanveer Hasan. He appreciated this writing but suggested/pointed out a few things. I found his feedback very useful and relevant, so in the third section of this post, I'll try to answer these things.

Tanveer: This looks great, but somehow it seems that you are oversimplifying your works you have done, the lessons you have learned, or the troubles you have taken. In my opinion, you should talk about the learning points and steps.
My reply: That's a good point. Becoming a skilled editor is not a 1-day event.

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