Wikipedia:Online Ambassadors/Apply/Wilhelmina Will

The following discussion is preserved as an archive of a successful Online Ambassador application.

Clear support from all discussion participants. Welcome to the Ambassador Program!--Sage Ross - Online Facilitator, Wikimedia Foundation (talk) 14:21, 22 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Wilhelmina Will

Wilhelmina Will (talk · contribs)

Why do you want to be a Wikipedia Ambassador?
I want to help Wikipedia in as many ways as I can, and I think that helping new users is an excellent way to do so.
In three sentences or less, summarize your involvement with Wikimedia projects.
I edit Wikipedia, mostly for article creating, and lately also for copyediting during the Guild of Copyeditors Backlog Elimination drives, and wikifying during Wikification backlog elimination drives. I've also reviewed many DYK noms and GA noms since late Spring, last year, and I plan to get back into the habit of doing that. I've also contributed minorly to Wikimedia Commons and Wikiquote, although with the latter I have a tendency to forget to log in.
Please indicate a few articles to which you have made significant content contributions. (e.g. DYK, GA, FA, major revisions/expansions/copyedits).
For expansion, the oldest and best example is Iggy Arbuckle, which I got out of stub-phase and into start-class heading on for C-class. For DYK, my best contributions are Rachel Wall, Charlotte Badger, David Nichtern, Kim Oler, Yanna McIntosh, Protemblemaria perla, Gillellus inescatus, and others. My only significant GA contributions are reviews, and the edits I made to the articles to fix some of the problems I had noted. I've copyedited many articles (via the above-mentioned Backlog drives; I've done ones for November and January), but I think I've taken up enough space with listing my DYK contribs.
How have you been involved with welcoming and helping new users on Wikipedia?
Often, when I look at my watchlist or the Recent Changes page, and see that an IP or a user who's talkpage link is red has edited, I look at their contributions, and if they seem to be earnest, I welcome them (I give them a friendly warning if they've done improper edits with apparent improper intent). Sadly, the only instances I can think of in which these users ask for my help, or when a relatively new/inexperienced editor comes to me for help, seem to all result in that user's intent being revealed to be improper, but I don't think it would be right to name names/IPs.
What do you see as the most important ways we could welcome newcomers or help new users become active contributors?
I think users who welcome new editors need to be prepared to get involved with the editor's near-future editing, in case the user is interested in becoming an active contributor, and looks to them for help. We should look at all the aspects of editing Wikipedia, namely content-contributing, file uploading, social behaviour (especially social behaviour; even for well-meaning users, it's too easy to get heated up in hot times, or goof up somehow and start a wiki-brawl over it), and also presenting yourself (decorating your userpage). Any users might be interested in any of these fields, and as mentors we need to be ready to (if not know the answers to their questions) have a good idea how to find out the answers to their questions. Providing them with links to the policy/guide pages on these activities is a good start, but one should go further by also presenting them with examples, and maybe even relating some of your own early experiences with them. Also, I might add, for the initial welcoming of the users, I think that a "smiling ambassador" is a good approach, and might make them feel more comfortable, so including subst:Smile might be a good idea.
Have you had major conflicts with other editors? Blocks or bans? Involvement in arbitration? Feel free to offer context, if necessary.
I've been blocked three times in the past, all within my first year at Wikipedia, and I've had a number of conflicts. I will summarize these ordeals with the words I used in my adminship application in May, 2010 (which, I will note, was closed per NOTNOW): The first block occurred because I did not understand the policies about personal attacks. Call me naive, but I didn't even understand what a personal attack was considered to be. I just behaved the way I felt at the time, and i got very 'passionate" about situations and often acted nastily to other users. I've cooled down and tried to clean up my act since then, and generally try to keep out of interactions altogether. The second time was because I wanted a fairuse image I had uploaded to remain, and a replacement with a different picture type that was said to be of better quality threatened it with deletion. I kept repeatedly trying to replace the other image with mine, and when that failed, I tried redirecting my image to that one. I was blocked for disruption that time, but I apologized for my behaviour, and was released soon after. The third time was a mistake; a user thought I had vandalized an article which I pointed out I hadn't even edited since months before the vandalism occurred, and when I pointed this out, he checked, and then released me. For being cool and polite about that incident, I actually received my first barnstar! That pretty much sums it up.

(For conflicts) One of the worst scenarios was when a user accused me of sockpuppetry. I do not believe in doing this sort of thing, and I was outraged that anyone would think I practiced this sort of behaviour. At first I behaved very angrily and aggressively over the situation (I was fifteen at the time) but it didn't take me very long to realize that was not going to get me anywhere. I then decided to back out of the discussion altogether, and instead focus on making as many contributions as I could, to prove to Wikipedia that I was a good editor, and not worthy of being banished. That was what started me on mass article-creation.

The second scenario I am thinking of occured several months later, when another user began repeatedly harassing me, claiming that most of my work consisted of copyright violations, and subtle vandalisms. Again, I got very angry, and very stressed (I thought at some points that I was going to have a stroke, I was hyperventilating so often), but I again eventually decided that the best thing I could do was to opt out of the discussion/s, and just focus on building on my contributions. That user managed to rally a bunch of other users against me, and got me banned from DYK for a number of weeks, though I fortunately was able to win their hearts back later on.
How often do you edit Wikipedia and check in on ongoing discussions? Will you be available regularly for at least two hours per week, in your role as a mentor?
I try to edit Wikipedia, or at least visit it, every day. I don't think I actually edit Wikipedia for two hours frequently, but I check up on Wikipedia several times throughout the day, so there's ample chance for me to reply relatively quickly to a user's comment.
What else should we know about you that is relevant to being a Wikipedia Ambassador?
I'm not sure - I'll have to think that over, at this point.

Discussion

Support, very good contribution history and talk page suggests good relations with other editors, Sadads (talk) 12:03, 15 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Support, Wilhelmina looks like a great contributor who will make a solid mentor.--Sage Ross - Online Facilitator, Wikimedia Foundation (talk) 15:47, 18 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Great user and writer in my experience. /ƒETCH COMMS / 04:08, 20 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]