Vikidia:Requests/Administrators/2023 03

Where is everybody?

I'm sitting here at 4:30 in the morning, tidying up the absolute WRECKAGE that exists in Recent changes.. What happened to the global admins and stuff who used to help when this happened? I know we all have real lives outside of Vikidia, but this is silly. I'm busy elsewhere these days, and I was hoping someone would pick up the ball and run with this. It seems that this hasn't worked. Back to the grindstone! DaneGeld (Talk to me!) 04:44, 6 March 2023 (UTC) EDIT: I just noticed Caesar Augustus has been working his butt off a few pages back in RC. Is he now the only active admin? I've not seen Ajeje fur a while... DaneGeld (Talk to me!) 05:03, 6 March 2023 (UTC)

I'm still around not as much tho, user wildkratts1989 89.116.33.58 14:12, 6 March 2023 (UTC)

Wildkratts19892, forgot the 2. Wildkratts19892 (talk) 14:13, 6 March 2023 (UTC)

Asking permission to...

Hello. I am hereby asking permission to

1. edit this wiki
2. run a school pilote project, as described here : User:Anthere/sandbox/WikiChallenge African Schools (please read)

Why do I think I am able to edit a wiki ?

I have done so for exactly 20 years. Though it sometimes happen that I create stubs, I usually create real articles and am not known to be a vandal or a poor editor. I created an account here today and my first edit was to create Sierra Leone. I am an admin and a bureaucrat on Wikipedia.

Why do I think I am able to run this project ?

Because I have run a similar contest on the French Vikidia since 2017. Whilst a few complained a few times for a reason or another, I have generally found support and never been blocked for doing anything wrong. I am not working on it alone, only in partnership with other people, none of whom have been considered a nuisance

Is the project within Vikidia mission ?

I believe it is. The mission statement in French is Vikidia est une encyclopédie en français, pour des lecteurs âgés de 8 à 13 ans et tous ceux qui veulent une présentation simple d'un sujet. Elle est en train d'être écrite, améliorée, et chacun, quel que soit son âge, peut y participer !’’. We are planning to do just that.

Would the project benefit Vikidia ?

Whilst it happens from time to time that admins on the French Vikidia complains that the articles written by the kids are from low quality, over 90% of the articles created over the 5 years have been kept, and ALL of them have been improved. At least one has been made the article of the week. I also believe that, except for Tunisia, a very large number of of articles about Africa on Vikidia, came from the WikiChallenge.

Besides the benefit in terms of numbers of articles, I also believe it would increase the diversity of content, to move away from European-based contributions and to warmly embrace other people and other cultures

It would increase the contributor traffic on the English Vikidia. Not by a lot, but given that the wiki is hardly active, this would still be a benefit

Also, considering that we would promote the contest, and link to articles published in our communications, it might also bring a bit of additional light on Vikidia

What could be the risks or the negative consequences ?

Articles could be of low quality, and more specifically sometimes missing sources (a situation that is sometimes reported on the French project). This is a known risk, in particular because the children/schools are not connected to the Internet in Sierra Leone. This makes it particularly difficult to ask for clean and detailed sources. I recognize this is an issue, and whenever I can, I try to improve the situation myself. I believe this is the main risk

Articles could be copyvios. This happened a few times in the past, in particular from Tunisia, where some of kids have access to Internet. In Sierra Leone, this is unlikely.

The current community could be overwhelmed by new contributors. This is very very unlikely... we will run the first pilote only in Sierra Leone. I would expect possible 10 articles ? There is one main other interested country, Cameroun. They would only join us in 2024, and Cameroun has been already contributing for 3 years and is locally organized by experienced members of Wikimedia Cameroon. This risk is thus very unlikely

I am not primarily English speaking. But I believe my English is good enough to fix articles.

Have Vikidiens been involved in the French version ?

yes. User:Macassar has been a member of the contest jury for the past two years. Several Vikidiens proposed their help as well and did copyedits. For example User:Magasin3, but also others

Have Vikidians expressed support ?

A few complained (in particular about unsufficient sources). But generally, I got support. Of course, the fact it is an accepted project on the French Vikidia does not mean it should be accepted on the English Vikidia, but comments might help. See some interviews here :

from user:Astirmays: https://flip.com/groups/12547405/topics/32139027/responses/384516900

from Macassar : https://flip.com/groups/12547405/topics/32139027/responses/383914395

I hope the project can stand in the Vikiproject space. Which is actually currently empty. I would be very proud to be the first school project, and hopefully several more would soon follow :) Otherwise... I can keep it in my user space if you feel it can not be accepted in the shared space. It makes linking a bit awkward though :(

Last, I would like to say that the project is not meant to start tomorrow. There is time to discuss. Normally, the English pilote will launch at next school year. Thanks Anthere (talk) 00:20, 24 March 2023 (UTC)

This project is going well on the French version, I have no reason to be against it. CaesarAugustus (talk) 21:18, 24 March 2023 (UTC)

Thank you for doing this, Anthere:, and I'm really sorry I was so snappy with you last night. I appreciate your work and personally, I think the project would be a great idea for the English Vikidia - it might actually liven the place up a bit! Also, thank you for clarifying that you'd discussed putting the project here with the Vikidia association. It would have been nice if they'd told us they'd given the OK to the project too, and I'd have left your work alone. I will move your work on the project back into the Vikiproject name space, and let you get on with what you were doing. I just wish we hadn't been the last to know it was happening! I wish you success with the challenge, and I hope it goes well! If it does, we may even be able to do it yearly, like the French site does! Have a great night, DaneGeld (Talk to me!) 22:31, 24 March 2023 (UTC)

Thanks guys. DaneGeld, I apology I was a little bit too bold and did not contact you prior to posting. I promise I will inform you earlier with the next steps :) Normally, I will talk with the local organizer in Sierra Leone in April and try to train them a bit as well as get them to create their account here. But they might has well only do it in September/October for all I know... I will probably update the project page in the next few weeks, and will try to create or improve a few country pages by myself, but the drive will only officially launch next October/November. Thanks Anthere (talk) 09:26, 27 March 2023 (UTC)