cactusmonkey1966 wrote:I believe that any requirement to read forums or to read the Wiki would intimidate many from trying their hand at editing. I think your idea of registering with a non usa username so we can contact new editors when we see something we can coach or encourage would be enormously more beneficial.
Regardless of reading it or not, if they don't register in the forum, we can't PM them, and thus can't contact them to let them know of a problem. I've run into plenty of non-usa_* usernames that got me the big "no such user" message when I've tried to PM them. So yea, I think forum registration with a working, confirmed E-Mail address as a requirement to edit would benefit Waze as a whole.
Encouraging a new editor to read the forums is a good idea. Requiring them to at a minimum read the quick start guide is even better (though I'd settle for something which just really points it out with a URL the first time they go to edit). It's really not that big of a read, and it answers a LOT of the questions I've seen pop up in the WME chat window.
IMHO, if the person who gets it has an attitude along the lines of, "What? There's a simple set of instructions that I should follow when editing? Well I don't want to bother with that!" should be discouraged from editing.
We don't have enough editors in Las Vegas by the discussions in this Nevada forum.
Naw, they're probably all busy editing (or making bad edits) and don't bother with the forum.
Let's help them instead of putting up potential roadblocks to getting them started. Once they realize how satisfying editing can be, they'll want to read more to become better editors.
Human nature being what it is, some would, and others wouldn't.
Most new people don't read the Wiki, which shows them how to do it right, because they don't know about it. I know we won't get it, but something like a pop up the first time that provides you with a link to it and you having to check a box saying that you'll read it will at least REALLY call attention to the fact that it's there. There's no way to know if they've actually read it when they check the box, but by doing that you at least make it obvious to them that there's a guide which will give them the information they need for doing it right.
They aren't roadblocks - they're tools. And to do any job right, you need the right tools. And if you can do something that really makes them aware of the Wiki and maybe even encourages them to do so (the quick start guide isn't that big, for crying out loud).
And by encouraging someone to use the right tools sooner, rather than later, you show them neat things they can do that they didn't know about and get them making less errors that then have to be fixed afterwords - usually by an AM or higher who couldn't reach the errant editor since they don't have a valid forum login to PM to....
I understand what you're saying, and I agree that encouraging people to edit the map is a good thing. I just think that encouraging them to edit the map correctly is a better thing, so pointing them at the tools early on is the best way of handling it.
Encouraging them to simply start editing without providing any guidelines is the way that things like a Split-road Sahara that abc836 now had to clean up happens. "Well, it looks that way in Google Maps!" ....
BTW, if you and/or abc are not already using them, there's a few map-editing tools that I absolutely swear by: The WME Toolbox, WME Color Highlights, the WME Junction Node Fixer, WME Junction Angle Info and last, but not least, the WME Validator.
The above list is given in no particular order of importance to me.
Like I said, if you guys aren't already using some of these, check them out. They make editing a LOT better for me.
