This page is for discussing the contents of Welcome to the Wiki.
Showing people a list of items that appear to be rules, "Not social networking, not blog, not chat, not UC Davis" is limiting and not necessary. I think there is tremendous potential for more than what has occurred on the wiki, and to say that this "isn't the UC Davis Wiki" is incorrect; this is the UC Davis Wiki, as it is the Davis Wiki. This is a bit of everything this entry says it isn't.
Maybe it would be better to call these "Social conventions." Telling people of our conventions as they enter our community helps prepare them for standing expectations. We already have an Introduction page which should give an introduction to what we imagine the wiki could or should be.
That's specifically why I didn't link it up after I created it. I am not happy with the draconian feel of it right now, and yet I do think the intent is important — to create a thumbnail of what the wiki is (for editors) by using references that people new here can understand. A non-technical side of things to guide new editors toward the common direction the community works in... with loads of disclaimers so it can't be used as a hammer. A collection of observations of what works geared toward new editors... i.e., trying to impart what makes the wiki unique relative to what they might have used in the past.
Actually, I was planning on rewriting it, but figured I'd toss up the rough draft (as I have in the edit comment) and get input rather than crafting the whole thing myself with my limited observations and points of view.
The prompt, incidentally was my getting sick of using phrases like I did on Kirk Cowgill/Talk: "I cannot speak for everybody, but I'll speculate". To an extent the editors of the wiki do have some similar ideas — we have developed a working culture of community editing. A fairly good effort to document that and come together as a group is Wiki Ethics. That entry, however, assumes a good deal of knowledge about the wiki (the first assumption is that you've edited before) and is way too much in depth for somebody new to the wiki itself. If the "FAQ" is a summary of the "Help On..." entries, this is a summary of the Wiki Ethics entry, geared toward new people. It explains to businesses that they are welcome as long as they don't delete criticism. It explains to people that tossing a "Hi, Ryan!" on a business entry to shoutout to a waiter doesn't make much sense, and it's not personal when it gets deleted. It explains one of the key points causing edit wars — that a public entry about you does not belong to you. It prompts for clarification on some new entries that are questionably public (i.e., the recent DHS eatery entry), reminding new editors that if something is only available to a subset of the town population (like only DHS students), it's a good idea to put the information there.
I don't think these points would be a good idea to put on the Information page (other than as a link), as they do seem intimidating if you're hit with them as soon as you create an account. I created the entry, and can see it being both very useful (to gently guide) and prone to abuse (to be pointed at as a set of rules), with the difference being in wording. Fundamentally, it's an attempt to halt the most common mistakes a new editor can make. It gives the new people coming in a quick distillation of experience.
Perhaps we should rename this page and, of course, work on it some more.
The hardest part of writing a good page for this purpose is the wide variety of directions from which a newcomer may be approaching the wiki. There are business owners that find the wiki when searching for their business and discover negative reviews. There are myspace or facebook users who wander in and see other personal pages. There are those with exposure to the culture of wikipedia. There are also those who posted as students and now regret their contributions as job seekers.
I really like the below rewrite. I reordered a couple things to accentuate the positives (keeping in mind this is for new editors), focusing on things like "businesses are welcome" as the first thing presented. I especially like the double presentation for students and residents... I didn't like the "This is not the UC Davis Wiki" from the original, because it unintentionally implies a hostility or exclusion. While I almost always like prose rather than bullets, this quick introduction entry may be served better being in this format. Bullets also allow for more brief and general wording rather than specifics that people may misinterpret. In the end, this is a much lighter read and more upbeat version, which is exactly what I was aiming at. Thanks.
Here is another shot at it. I liked JabberWokky's first paragraph. Rough Draft:
Welcome to the Wiki! This is intended to be a primer to people who are new to the Wiki to get a handle on what goes on here. Basically, we're a community working together to create and compile anything and everything about Davis — especially the little, enjoyable things. We've been around for awhile and we like to get together and even have some fun now and then. You can find current events, information about businesses (with customer opinions), town history, and people. We invite you to Explore.
This entire site is maintained by the people who use it: anyone can edit this website. That means that as soon as you create your (free) account, you can edit this web page or any other one on this entire site. There are many other people all doing the same thing, all generally friendly and eager to help. Sometimes the edit you want to make will be in conflict with the desires of another user.
![[WWW]](http://wikispot.org/wiki/eggheadbeta/img/sycamore-www.png){kind=small}
We would love for you to join us.
Here are some guides that are tailored to get you started quickly, no matter who you are:
see linked pages for content now.
I like the new layout... I have one comment on the main page though. It starts with saying "I'm friendly" and then immediately lists 4 things that "it is not". Wouldn't it sound friendlier to list it in a different way? IE, instead of "This is not wikipedia", which immediately alienates wikipedia fans, phrase it as "We do differ from wikipedia" or "how we differ..." or "This wiki differs slightly from others" or ... Thoughts? (I had a good phrasing in my head for that example, but I've already forgotten it... sigh... bed time). —WesHardaker
