Grants:IdeaLab/Simpler, more accessible, feedback options.
Project idea
[edit]What is the problem you're trying to solve?
[edit]The culture of Wikipedia is bureaucratic and intimidating to many people. An environment that is unwelcoming of differing opinions and needlessly arcane sets the stage for harassment.
What is your solution?
[edit]- A report button on user talk pages. Simply click on the button and provide a brief description. This would flag the edit for someone to look at.
- Comment feedback system. There would be plus and minus buttons at the bottom of each comment. Editors and readers alike would be able to use these buttons, as long as they are signed in. This would provide more users the opportunity to provide input on discussions, whether they are too timid to respond, or they just feel that their views have already been sufficiently stated by previous comments. This would also put pressure on users to post carefully, because all their comments will essentially be judged.
- A scale that shows user standing. This could possibly be a green, yellow, and red system. Green means you're in good standing. Yellow means that you're involved in arbitration or have a history of disregarding wiki policies. Red means you've been blocked or banned. It would be displayed with a small colored dot next to your username or signature.
Goals
[edit]Get Involved
[edit]About the idea creator
[edit]Wikipedia editor ~13,000 edits
Participants
[edit]Endorsements
[edit]- Because we badly need something to address the daunting feel of becoming involved in this community both at the technical level and the seemingly insular community level.
I do not participate much for those two reasons.
I feel like any edit I make is Very likely to be poo-pood by the established old guard simply because I'm not one of them, or that my edit will be rejected on technical grounds because the process feels quite needlessly complicated.
It's very much in the bad ways like an open source software forum around here where everything is designed to put off the "rabble" by way of intimidation and byzantine arcana.
This idea, including a system that flattens the ceiling so to speak, so that you don't get so many ivory towers, would solve that problem and many others, while at the same time providing a mechanism for people to passively participate and tell who is in good standing and experienced and who isn't.
This proposal provides a way to indicate consensus without needlessly creating a kind of gamified hierarchy replete with power mad newb humiliating obsessives, which are frankly WAYYY too common now. Innomen (talk) 00:12, 18 June 2016 (UTC)
Expand your idea
[edit]Would a grant from the Wikimedia Foundation help make your idea happen? You can expand this idea into a grant proposal.