Wikimedia Adds Features That Can Create New Editors Better Use Wikipedia

New features on Wikipedia (photo: Wikimedia)

JAKARTA - Wikimedia Foundation, the parent company of Wikipedia, added a new feature that makes it easier for users to make their own edits on the Wikipedia platform.

Wikimedia has been testing additional features for these newcomers since 2019, and now they have officially launched them on the Wikipedia platform.

"The way we think about these features seems to start from a place that says: it's very difficult to edit Wikipedia. There are so many obstacles to getting in," Marshall Miller group product manager quoted The Verge as saying.

This new feature, allows users who log into Wikipedia accounts to view a landing page for new editors.

They will also be given mentors from more experienced site veterans who can answer questions. If it goes well, the feature will roll out on Wednesday, October 26, 2022.

The second feature is Simple Editing. There, through this directional page, new editors will be urged to start doing small editing, according to what is recommended by the Wikimedia machine learning system.

In addition to its standard editing tab, Wikimedia also adds guidelines for recommended newcomer tasks such as copy editing and options called "structured tasks" that include adding relevant images and cross-wiki links to pages.

Furthermore, Wikimedia also launched a "add links" to other wiki rounds. If all goes well, wiki will receive the "add links" feature on October 27, 2022.

In testing aimed at keeping communities as Wikipedia editors, about 16 percent of people felt more likely to make their first edits, and another 16 percent might come back and create another article.

While these changes are largely technical in nature, the goal of these changes is to help increase the number of people who feel comfortable connected to other humans in the Wikipedia community, especially for new editors.