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[New Page Proposal] "New and prospective editors" portal

Post by voludu2
This page can now be found in https://wiki.waze.com/wiki/Waze_Map_Editor/Welcome
My aim is still to get some of this information onto the first page that any new WM editor will see when they hit that "wiki" link the first time -- http://www.waze.com/wiki/index.php/Map_ ... map_editor
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We are joined by "new recruits" all the time, and I'd kind of like to have more. There are tons of wazers making URs every day, and if a fraction of them could just fix the direction on the street they live on, then we'd be in pretty good shape.

I am thinking about an "intake" article.
https://wiki.waze.com/wiki/User:Voludu2 ... ap_Editing

Please feel free to type stuff right into it.

I want the new editors to see more emphasis on contacting other editors and less on trying to figure it out on their own. Chat can be intimidating. So they should introduce themselves, and get a resounding "hello Norm" back. that sort of thing.

Eventually, I would like to include a link to it in some UR comments from sensible-sounding wazers who describe their problems well. "Well spotted. If you see any more like this, you can help by fixing them yourself. Learn how at ...."
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Last edited by voludu2 on Mon Oct 27, 2014 12:44 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Post by voludu2
Selection bar models at https://wiki.waze.com/wiki/User:Voludu2

option A has the "new editor" first and called "Welcome New Editors"
option B has the "new editor" first, and called "Welcome to WME"
C..... "Welcome"

I like the new-editor-related icon I put at https://wiki.waze.com/wiki/Waze_Map_Editor
If anybody is clever enough, they can replace the png file itself with something that unambiguously says "new editor" to every new editor that stumbles across it.
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Post by voludu2
I made a change to https://wiki.waze.com/wiki/index.php?ti ... Map_Editor
I like the box to bring attention, but I don't like the "!" because it signifies a warning/error which means problem, which is just confusing.

I suggest we add a type of Mbox -- "neweditor" that calls attention to information for new editors specifically.


Also, I would like to settle on how to refer to the page. I put "For new Editors" into the bar, but it is "WME Welcome" on https://wiki.waze.com/wiki/Waze_Map_Editor and on https://wiki.waze.com/wiki/Map_Editing_ ... map_editor

I am modelling several possiblities at https://wiki.waze.com/wiki/User:Voludu2
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Last edited by kentsmith9 on Fri Oct 31, 2014 4:09 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Reason: Fixed link

Post by voludu2
I didn't find that in the Best Practices topic (viewtopic.php?f=276&t=93921, and linked to that from the wiki page's discussion page) and I could not find by searching in forum or in google an update page for Map editing or waze map editor.

So I started a new topic for this at: viewtopic.php?f=276&t=114669
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Post by voludu2
A quick search did not turn up an existing topic for the template SelectionBar.
So I'll start a new one.
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Post by voludu2
Thanks for your encouragement.
I moved it to https://wiki.waze.com/wiki/Waze_Map_Editor/Welcome
And I changed to first post in this topic to reflect that.

The various navigation boxes used for these subpages needds to be changed to include this page.

My aim is still to get some of this information featured prominently on http://www.waze.com/wiki/index.php/Map_ ... map_editor
to encourage new editors clicking on the wiki for the first time to learn the most important guidelines for map editing, and to seek advice and guidance from experienced editors before making major changes to the map.
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Post by voludu2
So what needs to be added to this document?
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Post by voludu2
In the short term, every editor (whether AM or not), can send a boilerplate PM to new editors with a link to this page and a "more information for new editors" page. I am also developing a "how to welcome new editors" page with some boilerplate text.
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Post by tonestertm
With their significance potentially about to make a quantum jump, I was just reviewing the Welcome Page (formerly New and Prospective editors) and the Waze Map Editor (starting point) pages.

Do any of the technical Wiki wizards know a way that clicking or hovering links could cause some sort of less-than-full-screen window to momentarily open?

It has been mentioned, and I agree, that link-heavy pages are a lot to ask a brand new editor to consume. Part of the problem I personally tend to have with them is losing the main page, and having to find my way back to the big list. If there were a way that we could have the quick, easily digestible text on the Welcome page, with a way to view some more information without actually changing to a new page, or opening a whole new tab, it might make viewing expansion information, while staying on track, easier. Not even sure if this would be "legal" wiki practice, but it could help, maybe.

Alternatively, expansion boxes (is that the correct name?) could provide some additional, important info, without actually opening the referred page, and maybe contain the link?

Really just spitballing here, so feel free to shout me down, propose alternate ideas, whatever. This might be completely lame. I'm just trying to think of alternate ways to format this information to keep the "First Page" usable, while enabling its easy use as a sort of "table of contents" to keep coming back to. (and please don't mention "Back to...page" links. Not what I'm looking for, here.)

Also seems like we might want a more prominent link to that "key starting point for any editor" on the Welcome page, if this is to be the landing spot from the beginners' Feed.

A final point: upon opening this page for the first time in a while, I think the Essentials/Tools/Assisted Edits box should not be at the top. Along with the top bar, which I think is good where it is, it's too much visual clutter for someone looking at the Wiki for the first time. Somewhere farther down the page would be more appropriate, perhaps. And, of course, once more I'll scream into the wind for the removal of Validator and Toolbox links. ;)

(Should this thread be re-titled, or a new one begun, now that the page has a different title?)
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Post by tonestertm
qwaletee, great thought about taking the perspective of the new editor and discovering what causes them problems and addressing those. Other than that, I'm having trouble seeing how knowing what drove them here affects, in a significant way, what they need to know, to begin properly editing. So, maybe you could take those three instances you mention parenthetically as examples and expound a little as to how it would change this page/portal?

And, I am one of those vocal "senior" editors who would prefer that new editors learn to walk before wazing off in a Ferrari at top speed. The mention of Validator and Toolbox, or not, is, I think, exactly what voludu hoped to address, and was inviting comment on. I would prefer they not be recommended or mentioned specifically here. I fear that the argument is somewhat moot, since I constantly see, in chat, freshly minted editors being told to download validator within minutes of logging in for the first time. In the interest of information, I do feel that a sentence about the existence of extensions to be used, after gaining some experience, might be appropriate.
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