User talk:Jael28

welcome

hey there, ED , glad to see you are not at new comer here BA Ocansey (talk) 14:27, 14 March 2025 (UTC)

Hey Brian, happy to connect with you here Jael28 (talk) 14:29, 14 March 2025 (UTC)

Article list

@Jael28 I'm not sure if you've read the email I sent to OF West Africa (danane@ofwafrica.org) earlier this day, but the article list is fundamentally flawed since most of them cannot be created without violating WP:SYNTH and WP:OR. I would appreciate if you could communicate with us at the Village Pump, explaining the full scope of your project and the article list, and to ask for suggestions to make it more productive and overturn some of the participants' blocks. Children Will Listen (🐄 talk, 🫘 contribs) 20:29, 23 July 2025 (UTC)

Hi @Jael28, following up from the SPI. It's true that the list of topics is going to cause a lot of problems, at least on English wikipedia (not sure about the general topics standards for all involved languages). I'd suggest working with experienced community members to draw up an article or topic list before events like this. It's also a good idea to find a bunch of already-extant articles that aren't very good or have some obvious content holes to patch up, since it's usually easier for new editors to work on something that's already there than to start from scratch. Having an approachable and appropriate set of topics would help a lot. Otherwise... well, as a teacher myself, you have my sympathies. -- asilvering (talk) 22:08, 23 July 2025 (UTC)

Thanks for your recommendations @Asilvering. The list was actually built by experienced users but you know how these things happen. We are exploring ways of critically reviewing this method going forward and one of our proposed suggestions is to work with admins. I hope you will be happy to come on board when called upon. We're already chatting with @ChildrenWillListenvia email. Jael28 (talk) 12:38, 24 July 2025 (UTC)

Hm, that's a real surprise. Were these editors specifically experienced on English Wikipedia? It's possible that we have very different expectations about topics. I wouldn't have expected so, but it's possible. -- asilvering (talk) 14:49, 24 July 2025 (UTC)

I wouldn't say that they're specifically experienced on English Wikipedia. They are just experienced wikipedians that edit other languages as well. Given the rules on English Wikipedia, I think we should used editors specifically experienced on English Wikipedia going forward. Even though the campaign ends in a week, we are committed to making amends. What do you suggest is the way forward? Jael28 (talk) 13:19, 25 July 2025 (UTC)

For something to do right now, instruct all the participants who aren't blocked to only edit existing articles instead of editing articles in draftspace (Draft:...) or create new ones.

For next time, I would definitely consult the Village Pump a month earlier to discuss the article list and the policies the participants have to be aware of before they start. An issue was that we had no idea that these people were engaging in an editathon until very recently, so you can make them disclose that in their userpages ("This user is participating in the Africa Wiki Challenge 2026. Please contact so-and-so for any concerns or complaints")

Since this event runs for two months, perhaps dedicating Week 1 completely for training might be a good idea, and if people who are doing this virtually fail to attend, say, at least three sessions, they should be disqualified from the event. I would recommend having at least one OFWA representative be active every day checking their work and taking complaints from administrators. Participants should be penalized with a three-strikes policy; if a person uses AI, games the points system, or otherwise engages in disruptive behavior three times after being warned, they should not be allowed to win the cash prize. If someone commits sockpuppetry or other egregious abuse, they may even be barred from further OFWA events. To ensure transparency, all warnings and disqualifications would be logged in a central place by admins.

Either way, thank you so much for working with us and helping us counter our systemic bias. I cannot stress the importance of removing these biases enough in order to achieve a truly neutral and complete encyclopedia. I feel with these suggestions, these events could be extremely productive and help us cover a much wider variety of topics than we do now. Children Will Listen (🐄 talk, 🫘 contribs) 16:01, 25 July 2025 (UTC)

Thank you so much for the detailed response. This information is very helpful and it is a learning curve for us because this is our fifth year of organising this campaign and have never had such issues. I completely agree with informing your team prior to the start of our next campaign. This is information we did not know but with growing technology and people trying to outsmart the system, it is the right thing to do. Thanks a lot Jael28 (talk) 11:59, 26 July 2025 (UTC)

@TechnoSquirrel69, I wonder if you might have some advice here, given your experience with Wikipedia:Developing Countries WikiContest? -- asilvering (talk) 16:08, 25 July 2025 (UTC)

Thanks for the ping, asilvering, and thank you for your efforts to combat systemic bias on Wikipedia, Jael28. On the event procedure side, I don't have much to add to the sensible suggestions ChildrenWillListen left above. On the list of topics, I agree that what I can see on the event page doesn't align with several English Wikipedia policies and guidelines, particularly the neutral point of view policy. Unfortunately, I'm not sure I can offer any advice on how to adequately address that issue within the time that's left in the event. I'm also not all that experienced with outreach events like the AWC; the DCWC, where I'm on the coordinator team, is more of an open contribution drive than an editathon. However, if you'd like my help brainstorming ideas for a future edition, I'd be happy to chime in. —TechnoSquirrel69 (sigh) 20:30, 25 July 2025 (UTC)

Oh, I wasn't expecting that you'd have any suggestions for right now, but I expect this event or something similar will be run again in the future. Something like Wikipedia:Developing Countries WikiContest/2025/Suggested articles is probably a good idea, rather than a list of suggested topics, especially since the topics listed in the Africa contest have "essay-like" titles that are really prone to someone just dumping the name into chatGPT and pasting the result right onto Wikipedia. If you have any suggestions for how to generate the list of topics, or how to help new editors who are struggling with the coverage biases that make it hard to find enough WP:SIGCOV for topics that seem like they ought to be obviously notable, that would probably be really useful. -- asilvering (talk) 22:55, 25 July 2025 (UTC)

Thanks @TechnoSquirrel69 we’ll definitely take you up on your offer when preparing for the campaign next year.

@Asilveringthank you too for your help and the work you’re doing here Jael28 (talk) 12:02, 26 July 2025 (UTC)

Hi @ChildrenWillListen yes, I have and we have responded. We have addressed your concerns and expressed interest in working with you to resolve some of these issues, especially for our campaigns. We're hoping to have clear next steps after you've responded to the email. Thanks again for notifying us. Jael28 (talk) 12:35, 24 July 2025 (UTC)

Hello, Jael28!

Hello Jael28, I’m @Gvihar, here to guide you. With my guidance, you can get the help you need.

Core Policies

• Verifiability (WP:V): Always cite reliable, published sources for any facts you add.
• Neutral point of view (WP:NPOV): Write in a balanced, unbiased tone—avoid taking sides.
• No original research (WP:OR): Only include information that’s already been published elsewhere.
• Civility (WP:CIVIL): Be respectful and assume good faith when interacting with other editors.

Editing Basics

• Sandbox: Test formatting in your personal sandbox: Sandbox
• Preview & Summaries: Always click “Show preview” before saving, and write a brief edit summary.
• Signing Talk: To leave a message, type `Gvihar 21:47, 25 July 2025 (UTC)` at the end to auto‑sign with your username and timestamp.

Handy Links

• 🚀 Tutorial
• 📑 Citing sources guide
• ⚙️ MoS (style conventions)
• ☕ Teahouse (ask questions)
• 🗂️ Uncategorized pages (help categorize)

I hope this helps you get started smoothly. Feel free to adapt or ask for more guidance—happy editing! Gvihar 21:47, 25 July 2025 (UTC)