User:Condimentary/log

This is not a personal blog - it is a collection of issues, thoughts and experiences regarding Wikipedia that I reckon might be of use to my future self (or potentially to other contributors)

Initial experiences as a new user

Going through the onboarding and starting to edit, there's been some things that I feel have really helped, and some things I've had problems with. This isn't a list of things that need to be changed, but rather some of the snagging points I've had.

The good

The little interaction I've had with others has been great - someone posted on my talkpage a day or so after joining, and I got a prompt response to a question I had in the teahouse. That's certainly helped to create the vibe that this isn't a solo undertaking, and rather a community of people, in a way that the automated message left on my commons talkpage didn't.

I also stumbled upon WikiLoop DoubleCheck which has been great for discovering vandalism, and I'm interested to see how Twinkle works once I become autoconfirmed

The bad

There is a great deal of information to wade through, some relevant, some less so, and when I find myself wanting to go back to a page I can't find it. For instance, I wanted to check if a site I found was an appropriate source, and knew that somewhere existed a list of sites that shouldn't be used, and were unreliable. As I had originally found that page (and indeed, every other info page) by clicking through a range of links, I had a great deal of trouble finding it again. (It's this page, by the way)

Additionally, when I have made a couple of edits that are more substantive, it's hard to know if I got it right. There's no feedback, and the articles I edited are pretty small, so most likely not on anyone's watchlist. This lack of feedback makes me reluctant to make more changes, as while I want to help I don't want to inadvertently make things worse, and I'd rather not put time into something that'll just be reverted.