Wikipedia talk:Teahouse/Pilot report
Wow, I didn't realize how much work had gone into creating the Teahouse. I'm impressed. Obviously my experience with it has been great, and I've recommended it to a couple of new editors. I have a suggestion regarding the preference that questions be answered with the TH approach - maybe you could lock the question until a host answers. The editor who asked the question should be an exception, so that they are able to add information. ʝunglejill 17:05, 13 June 2012 (UTC)
Under Female hosts in the Pilot report, I was saddened to see:
- some women were discouraged that their contributions were not acknowledged with barnstars or in other ways by fellow hosts
Recognition is important. I know that a barnstar and a dollar won't get you a dollar cup of coffee 'cause you'll still have to find change to pay the sales tax (grumble). Still feels good to get those little tokens. Remember Lori's first question? Who can remove the {{citation needed}} tags on an article? Teahouse advice was, as always, simple and clear. Out of curiosity, I looked at the article. Gad, she took an unsourced article to fully sourced. Must have spent hours researching the sources, then more hours inserting the in-line citations while improving the article with additional information she found during her search. While I was there, I added and populated an infobox. I was impressed enough to send her first barnstar. I didn't expect to get one back but it felt good. I send one when I see extra effort. It's the least I can do. I probably receive more than I deserve. Yep, still feels good.
Nowhere did I see teaching Wikiculture as a goal of the Teahouse. I'm learning while browsing the questions and answers. So are others who visit. Almost everyone looks at some other questions in addition to the answer to their specific question. Teahouse hosts teach by example. Hosts are also firm and confident when some of us get out of line like my 'Flood of questionable articles' rant. Some guy was creating dozens of articles a day by copy and paste from an old book. I've worked for months on one article and am still looking for help from the cartographers to create a distribution map for that Chimney Swift revision. I'm waiting until I finish to move the new material to mainspace so that the revised article will be eligible for DYK. I was jealous that this guy was going to be able to claim contributing 2,500 articles while I worked on one. The hosts and more experienced editors gently let me know that we're all different. Some choose quantity, others quality. Both have places in Wikipedia.
I was invited to become a Teahouse Host. No, I'm not ready yet. If there are chores I can do to support the Teahouse, I may take some on. I will continue to help where and when I can. Let me finish more articles and get one, the revision of Chimney Swift, to at least GA (and I'm shooting for FA). Let me nominate a DYK and work through that process. When I have more experience, I will apply to be a host. Until then, my thanks to everyone involved in the Teahouse (even though I prefer strong black coffee). DocTree (talk) 07:07, 14 June 2012 (UTC)
- Thanks for the thoughtful response once again, Doctree. For what it's worth we were all saddened by, "some women were discouraged that their contributions were not acknowledged with barnstars or in other ways by fellow hosts" and felt that we let-down the fabulous women who hosted at the Teahouse. heather walls (talk) 08:53, 14 June 2012 (UTC)