User:Avapowchik/Reflection

Introduction

On the surface, joining a new online community appears to be simple; you sign up, fill out your information and start posting. However, people often forget about the barriers that communities have against newcomers, such as community norms and interface accessibility. To my surprise, Wikipedia is like many other online communities – like Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, etc. However, “Wikipedians” like their community members to behave a certain way and have interactions performed to their liking. As a newbie on Wikipedia, I slowly was socialized into the community and learned about the community’s governance and moderation.

According to Kraut and Resnick, recruiting new members is one of the five major problems in dealing with newcomers in an online community. Kraut and Resnick claim, “…online communities will inevitably die without a constant supply of newcomers” and “many online communities do little active recruiting for new members”. I do not believe that Wikipedia actively seeks out new members. This surprises me since there are so many unwritten articles. I think that Wikipedia should strive to reach out to more high schools and colleges to try and recruit new Wikipedians. In reality, they are the ones who are probably using the site the most for school, whether they admit it or not. If I was not taking this course, I would probably never have joined Wikipedia.

My Experience

The first thing I did was create a Wikipedia account, which was simple enough. Although, I was nervous (and am still nervous) about how to operate Wikipedia’s simple yet confusing at times interface. I was greeted with a welcome message and notified on completing baby steps like my making my first edit. However, if it weren’t for Professor Reagle and the librarians, I would have been extremely lost in the process of selecting an article and how to write one properly. I will give Wikipedia some credit in trying to make their site a welcoming environment to newcomers. With policies such as, "Please do not bite the newcomers" which thankfully states, “Remember: all of us were new editors at Wikipedia once”. As Reagle mentions in his book Good Faith Collaboration, “We must treat newcomers with kindness and patience — nothing scares potentially valuable contributors away faster than hostility”

. Newcomers are vital to the growth and stability of an online community and without them the community would die.

My experiences on Wikipedia were centered around the article I have written for class – Happy Hippie Foundation. The only roadblock I had encountered was that there appeared to be an article already written but on the Spanish Wikipedia. The conflict was quickly resolved with the help of my professor. Also, since my page was related to celebrity, Miley Cyrus, I had to link my page to hers. Since her page is closely monitored, before I could even link it myself, someone had already done it. And, when I tried to edit something in her page I was unable to because I was not a pre-approved editor. While I understand the need to have some pages untouchable by the common Wikipedia editor, it was a bit deterring that I wasn’t considered good enough to make a minor edit and felt like it was defeating the purpose of Wikipedia.

While some veteran Wikipedians are harsh on newcomers, I can completely see their point of view. Unlike most social networking sites, Wikipedia is first and foremost an encyclopedia. Therefore, all of the information that is published by Wikipedia needs to be as accurate and true as possible. So, when a newcomer makes a mistake or someone vandalizes a page, it gives Wikipedia the bad reputation that it has amongst teachers and other intellectuals. It is up to Wikipedia and its users to welcome newcomers and assimilate them well into the community in order to avoid misconduct and handle mistakes civilly.

WikiLove

One aspect of Wikipedia that I felt was positive was “WikiLove”, a quick and whimsical way to show your appreciation for another Wikipedian. As Fung mentions in his article, “WikiLove: An experiment in appreciation,” people like to feel valued and “being looked down on by more experienced editors is the most likely to cause people to say they will edit less frequently”. While as a newcomer I personally never received any WikiLove, it felt good to give some out and interact with other Wikipedians.

Conclusion

I’m grateful that I was shown the world of Wikipedia through the eyes of a contributor not just as an outsider reading the articles. Being a newcomer in a well-established community is difficult, whether online or elsewhere the rules are the same and often hard to follow. Thankfully Wikipedia, aware of its history with newcomers, tried to provide a welcoming environment for me.

Overall, my experience on Wikipedia was very positive but it was not an experience I’d like to have again. Personally, the site is not one I would choose to engage on for socializing. Also, I’ve discovered I don’t enjoy virtual anonymity when it comes to talking to people, especially if that interaction could potentially become an argument. That being said, unlike some of my classmates, I never encountered any negativity targeted towards myself on my Talk Page or the article that I have written. I’ve enjoyed interacting with my professor and classmates on our QIC page and learning about how Wikipedia is more than just a website that I occasionally click on for quick information. I never knew that there was a whole world of Wikipedians on Wikipedia and that it is this community that keeps this taken for granted website alive. That being said, while my experience on Wikipedia was positive, I don’t believe that was a direct result of Wikipedia being accessible and welcoming to outsiders, but rather a result of my professor and classmates making the assimilation enjoyable.