New Editor Engagement

This document is a work in progress. Please feel free to add your own thoughts or comment on the talk page.

This is the portal page for New Editor Engagement Projects. This set of projects is focused on reversing the trend of editor decline by increasing new editor participation and retention. This is an umbrella project; many projects are contained within its scope.

Purpose

The New Editor Engagement project has two main goals:

• Retain new editors: Encourage new editors to continue editing.
• Increase engagement of new editors: Encourage new editors contribute more.

As with any project around participation, we need to make sure we attract and retain the right kind of editors, i.e., editors that contribute in a positive manner to our projects.

Rationale

Since peaking in 2007, the number of active editors on Wikipedia projects has been declining. The Editor Trends Study identified one of the main drivers of decline as the decrease in retention rate of new editors. The declining number of New Wikipedians is another cause of the decline. As a results of this research, Sue posted the March 2011 Update describing these trends and their implications for the Wikimedia communities. Subsequent to the March 2011 Update, Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees passed the Openness Resolution (April 8, 2011). This resolution recognizes that for the Foundation's goals to succeed, a more stable editing community is critical to the long-term sustainability and quality of the movement and its projects. Accordingly, the Executive Director has been charged with reversing the editor decline top priority for the upcoming year.

Recent Activity

Update as of February, 17 2012:

• Teahouse: Teahouse is in active development, and will be open soon. Progress can be viewed at Wikipedia:Teahouse

Update as of July 25, 2011:

• Article Feedback: Rollout to all of the English Wikipedia completed at approximately 2pm PDT today.
• Moodbar: Up on prototype. Plan on pushing to English Wikipedia (new users only) at 3pm PDT today.

Update as of July 21, 2011:

• Article Feedback: Rollout to English Wikipedia continues. Will increase to 80-90% coverage today.
• MoodBar: Pushing to prototype today.
• WikiLove: In production. Collecting and analyzing data. Future development pending analysis.

Projects

The planned and active projects in New Editor Engagement are:

• Article creation workflow, a redesign of the landing pages and workflow for creating new articles in Wikipedia
• Article Feedback Tool, a tool designed to encourage readers to provide feedback on articles.
• Echo (Notifications), a redesign of the notifications system in Wikipedia
• GlobalProfile, a system designed to ease difficulty for page patrol, reduce "bite", and encourage identity within the projects
• MoodBar, a tool designed to encourage feedback from new users
• New Page Triage, redesigning the New Page Patrol experience
• QuickComments, a tool designed to make it easier for new users to leave messages for other users
• Teahouse, an on-Wiki support center promoting one-to-one cooperation between experienced users & new users
• Template A/B testing, a data-driven approach to improving the templates used in communication on User Talk pages
• Timestamp Position Modification, a small experiment in encouraging readers to notice that pages are frequently updated and that there is a revision history
• WikiLove, a tool designed to encourage community health and reduce "bite"

There is also a list of smaller issues related to the new editor experience that deserve attention. Please amend and comment on the issue list if you want to add your input.

Lifecycle Terminology

Please see Participant Lifecycle for a description of the terms being used to describe the new editor lifecycle.