[17:31:02] Test [17:33:26] Mark__ - Hey, how are you? [17:33:41] Phew! [17:34:00] Great, how are you? [17:34:28] Good, glad you could make it. Sorry about the delay in getting instructions to you. Looks like you got my message. : ) [17:35:48] So, are you all ready to begin the interview? [17:36:17] I did indeed. I had a couple of false starts, but eventually I made it. [17:36:25] Yes, please. [17:37:26] Can you see this? [17:37:45] Yeah, you're good. [17:38:16] Excellent :) [17:38:46] So, as Gabe told you already, this interview is going to be about your background as an editor and your experience helping editors on the Adopt-a-user program/ [17:39:06] (We're actually looking at a bunch of help spaces, of which AAU is one of them) [17:40:07] So, to get us started, were there any other places on Wikipedia that you've worked with new editors? (e.g. the Help Desk) [17:41:33] Let me think. I have worked off-wiki with a few editors from non-english-language Wikipedias. Namely via Facebook Messanger. [17:42:25] In most cases they already have expierience on their respective projects. [17:43:22] Got it. As for yourself, for how long have you been editing Wikipedia? [17:43:45] I joined Dec. 21, 2008 so almost five years. [17:44:05] Less active lately. Possibly from burnout. [17:44:54] Sure, that happens to many of us. : ) [17:45:32] How have you contributed to Wikipedia? That is, what editing or topical areas do you feel like you have some expertise in? [17:48:43] A started out by editing interests related to my personal interests such as golf, military hardware and technology. After my third failed RFA, I was started a massive overhaul of article titles and article title policy. [17:49:09] I think I've moved 5,000+ pages. [17:50:38] Oh wow. I do article moves from time to time, but that's impressive. [17:51:52] So, in terms of mentoring, would you say you're currently active at adopt-a-user? [17:53:26] I'm listed as active, but I think I would have to be a bit less passive to get a willing adoptee. [17:53:59] My last adoptee was a sock-puppeter and that was in 2013. [17:54:14] Ugh, bad luck. [17:54:49] Feb. 2013. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:Vicstars [17:55:10] When you were mentoring, what motivated you to do that kind of work? [17:58:13] What motivated me to start, or to keep going. I can't remember why I started. Some of the adoptees I helped out the most were close to my age and had the same interests as me so therre was a certain friendship component there. [18:00:25] Was there something about the AAU program that drew you in to that program in particular? [18:00:52] (Other than the adoptees being close in age / same interests) [18:05:00] I wanted a program that would allow me to continue to engage with the people I met, It was also peripheral enough to commit to for a long period of time. [18:05:59] They didn't have the ambassador program back then, but I woudn't have been able to devote enough time to that. [18:09:35] Got it, so you enjoyed that it was more lightweight program that allowed for longer engagements. [18:10:28] So, as someone who has mentored, did you get a sense of what motivates learners to look for help or support through mentorship, like at AAU? [18:11:02] and by learners, I mean newer editors. [18:17:15] Mark__ - Just checking; are you writing your response? [18:17:30] yes, one moment. [18:19:06] In some sense most new contributors just want to be seen as net positive to the community. If they get a bunch of negative messages, they are going to want some reassurance that what they are doing is helpful, as well as some guidance on how to avoid stepping on others toes. That's probably partly just me morphizing me own experience as a new editor. [18:20:59] Yeah, I definitely agree that the feedback aspect is quite valuable. [18:21:00] That is, some policies are very loosely interpreted. It was all very confusing. [18:22:40] What are some editing skills that learners frequently want to know about? [18:25:49] I see formatting mistakes they make such as when they are editing their userpages and I just correct them and maybe leave a note on their talk. [18:26:50] So, you'd say things like wiki mark-up tend to be pretty troublesome? [18:28:28] It's a frequent hangup. Usually just a missing close bracket. [18:30:10] So, when you were mentoring, how often, at most, would say you interacted with your mentees? [18:34:00] I have their page watchlisted and I might chime in about once every two weeks. I also checked their recent contributions about once a week for about two months [18:36:53] Did you have a clear sense of what your learner wanted to know when you began mentorship and as you progressed through it? [18:39:34] Wikipedia talk pages present a very slim cross section of editors. Emails and talk pages are a very rigid and limiting form of communication. If I were to mentor nowadays, I would probably request that I have some short-form way of communicating w/ them. [18:46:19] So, are you saying if there was a more short-form way to communicate, you'd have a better idea of the learner's needs? [18:50:19] Absolutely. The way we communicate now is like leaving handwritten notes in the margins of a newspaper. Horrible! [18:50:49] Can we wrap this up by 2pm? [18:51:03] CST* [18:51:10] Yeah, I think we can finish by then. [18:52:34] Have you ever had a learner drop out/cut off the interaction? If so, did the learner provide an explanation? If they did not, do you have a sense of why they dropped off? [18:53:29] I don't think so. I think some dropped off the face of the Earth and stopped editing, but I never had any communication problems. [18:54:44] Got it. [18:54:45] Do you have a sense of how your interactions with learners impacted their subsequent contributions? [18:57:41] I think most stayed on longer. It helps identify someone who genuinely interested in editing, as opposed to the ~80% that never make an edit when someone deliberately seeks out an active editor. [18:58:19] Excellent. Okay, last question... [18:58:51] What could be improved about the AAU program or other help spaces you've participated in? [19:01:59] Yearly culling of the AUU adopter list. Semi-annual bulletins to UAA adopters would also be good for engagment. [19:02:13] Great ideas. : ) [19:02:18] Thanks a bunch for your time, Mark. Our team is piloting a mentorship space on en.wiki called the Co-op, and your feedback here will be really helpful in informing our design decisions. [19:02:54] Thank you! [19:02:56] Let me know if you have any questions, and if you're interested in mentoring for our pilot, later this year, let me know. [19:03:09] Have a good rest of your week! [19:03:10] I sure will!