Wikipedia:Don't overwhelm the newbies: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 20:28, 11 December 2012

Revision as of 21:59, 11 December 2012

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{{essay|WP:WHELM}}

{{nutshell|Do not ask newcomers to read all the policies and guidelines. If necessary to link to policies/guidelines, limit yourself to '''one (1)''' per comment.}}

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Joining Wikipedia can be like wading into the water at an oceanfront beach. At first, it seems pleasant, so you go further out, into deeper and deeper waters. Suddenly, a big wave appears, and gets bigger and bigger until it crashes onto you. That wave is [[WP:List of policies and guidelines]]. A helpful Wikipedian places the {{tl|Welcomeg}} on your talk page, and you diligently start to read. Five years later, you give up.

'''''==Don't overwhelm the newbies!'''''==

There are ''many'' policies, guidelines, and essays. They're all worth reading, eventually. But there's no need to tell a newbie to read them all, now. If you need to tell a newbie about the need for notability, link to [[WP:N]], '''or''' a more specific policy (such as [[WP:Notability (authors)]]), but don't link to [[WP:V]], [[WP:NOT]], [[WP:NPOV]], [[WP:COI]], and [[WP:NOR]] as well. Whenever possible, link to simpler pages, such as [[WP:Referencing for beginners]]. Better yet, just tell the newbie the problem, so he doesn't have to read the entire policy himself.

==Biting vs. Overwhelming==

There has long been a guideline known as [[Wikipedia:Please do not bite the newcomers]]. The guideline suggests being extra-[[WP:civil|civil]], and explaining a lot. These are extremely important rules. But the guideline does not prohibit bombarding a newbie with an abundance of policies, which the newbie will often he must read in their entirety. A newbie may receive a very friendly message with many links, which can drive away the newbie as quickly as insulting him. So don't bite, but don't overwhelm either!

;Examples

*''"Your so-called references to the subject's website don't prove anything, as per RS. If you're not here to contribute facts, you don't belong here."''

**Violates [[WP:BITE]].

*''"I noticed you made some changes to [[Foo]], and we appreciate your help. While you did provide sources (though see [[Wikipedia:Citing sources]] for how best to cite), some of them violate [[Wikipedia:Reliable sources]] and [[Wikipedia:Verifiability]]. See also [[Wikipedia:Biographies of living persons]], [[Wikipedia:No original research]], and [[Wikipedia:Conflict of interest]]. Also take a look at [[Wikipedia:Neutral point of view]]. For more information about Wikipedia, see [[Wikipedia:Five pillars]], and [[Wikipedia:What Wikipedia is not]].

**Does not violate [[WP:BITE]]. However, this will still likely overwhelm the newbie, and so should be avoided.

The above (made-up) example is a bit extreme, but the following conversation (minus the names) really occurred, in the Teahouse - where one should be extra-careful.

<blockquote>

;Very basic summary of what original research is please?

I read the article and it was quite hard to understand.

:Hi Newbie! [[WP:Original research|Original research]] is material that you cannot back up with reliable published sources (because such sources do not exist). Say, you know for certain that "such and such has a dog", so you add it to the corresponding article; but no reliable, published sources exist to back up that statement: it will have to be removed. See also [[Wikipedia:Verifiability]] —the threshold for inclusion in Wikipedia is verifiability, not truth.

</blockquote>

This may not seem too much for an experienced Wikipedian, but a newbie may find even one or two long policies too much. In the above case, a Teahouse host responded to someone who didn't understand [[WP:OR]] by recommending a look at [[WP:V]]. That's not so helpful!

==See also==

===Related===

*[[WP:Please do not bite the newcomers]]

*[[WP:Please bite the newbies]] - a humorous essay meant to be read upside down

*[[WP:Newcomers_are_delicious, so go ahead and bite them]] - a more graphic version of the above

*[[WP:Encourage the newcomers]]

===Unrelated, but important===

{{multicol}}

*[[WP:NPOV]]

*[[WP:V]]

*[[WP:5P]]

*[[WP:NOT]]

*[[WP:N]]

{{multicol-break}}

*[[WP:NOR]]

*[[WP:RS]]

*[[WP:CON]]

*[[WP:IAR]]

*[[WP:DR]]

{{multicol-break}}

*[[WP:CIVIL]]

*[[WP:EDIT]]

*[[WP:TITLE]]

*[[WP:AGF]]

*[[WP:BOLD]]

{{multicol-break}}

*[[WP:SIG]]

*[[WP:TALK]]

*[[WP:WAR]]

*[[WP:3RR]]

*[[WP:USER]]

{{multicol-break}}

*[[WP:HAT]]

*[[WP:HARASS]]

*[[WP:NPA]]

*[[WP:OWN]]

*[[WP:NLT]]

{{multicol-break}}

*[[WP:SOCK]]

*[[WP:DEL]]

*[[WP:LENGTH]]

*[[WP:VANDAL]]

*[[WP:COPY]]

{{multicol-end}}

*[[WP:Manual of style]], and every single one of its subpages

*[[WP:List of policies and guidelines]], and every single item mentioned.

There are also over a thousand essays in [[Category:Wikipedia essays]]. While you do not need to follow every essay, you should still read all of them.