VisualEditor/Portal/Why/id

Jumlah
Grafik di atas menggambarkan tingkat retensi penyunting baru dari waktu ke waktu, dan jumlah orang yang aktif menyunting yang kita miliki. Seperti yang Anda lihat, nilainya tidak positif. Wikipedia sedang berada di tengah krisis jumlah penyunting. Kita menjauhkan begitu banyak pendatang baru, dan kita kehilangan nyawa dari proyek kolaboratif apapun, yaitu para kontributornya.

Secara sederhana, hal ini berarti kita tidak memiliki cukup orang untuk melakukan pekerjaan yang perlu kita kerjakan. Catatan di belakang semakin menumpuk, dengan jumlah orang yang sedikit yang dapat menangani tumpukan tugas pada halaman baru, atau pemeliharaan biografi orang hidup (BLPs).

Tingginya promosi Artikel Bagus dan Artikel Pilihan timbul sebagai akibat dari kurangnya orang yang tidak hanya menulis artikelnya, namun meninjau dan memelihara artikel mereka. Setiap orang memiliki kisah tentang di kawasan mana mereka bekerja dan kita tidak memiliki cukup orang untuk menyelesaikan semua pekerjaan ini.

Penyebabnya
We've got a problem, and there are many reasons why. Some people go away because they don't want to contribute productively, which is fine. Others go away because they find the community too hostile, or because they can't work out where to find help.

But ultimately, a lot of people leave because editing is just too complex. Back in 2001, when Wikipedia was founded, a lot of big sites expected users to write in markup of various forms, and we were one of them. Writing markup was a common skill in people who worked on the internet, whether that was BBCode, wikimarkup or even straight HTML.

The problem is that it's now 2013, and we are, if not the only major site still using markup, definitely the only one using markup of this complexity.

Moving away from markup
In 2013, people don't expect to have to learn markup to write something on a website. They're surprised when they come here and do, and most are not enthused by the experience.

Many new users don't start off trying to make big changes; they start off trying to make small ones, and yet have to learn markup anyway just to be able to read the editing panel. They get intimidated, and they leave, as our user tests demonstrate.

This need for a better way to edit is something the community has recognised again and again, as early as 2004. We're building the VisualEditor in response; because people have asked for it, and more importantly because people need it.

Wikimarkup is already intimidating to newcomers, and the level of intimidation will only increase as other websites move forward. We're building it because if we don't, that graph is going to look a lot worse in five years.

We're not expecting everyone to use it (the source editor will still be around) and we're not expecting everyone to be convinced. But we're determined to do a good job, and determined to demonstrate the impact this software can have, through both user tests and quantitative data.