Wikiversity talk:Welcome templates

Templates relating to unfinished pages
I've noticed that their are a number of templates and categories being use to request page improvements. I feel this is a good move however we need to adopt a common approach to avoid duplicating work and sending out conflicting messages. Also I feel strongly that the messages should not put of new editors and should be welcoming and encourage them to keep on participating. I've listed the various templates and categories below with my thoughts on them.

The Template:Main welcome is very useful for marking empty pages as it puts them into the Category:Empty pages. Unfortunately it is misnamed and would be better moved to Template:Empty page.

The Stub template is a straight forward statement of fact requesting help to expand the page. It's unlikely to put of the original editor although it's not particularly encouraging. It also puts the page into Category:Stubs which is very useful when looking for pages that need improving.

The Template:Welcome and expand does a similar job but puts the page into the Category:Stub pages again potentially very useful. The wording of this template might put some original editors of who feel that they have provided useful content because it says "This page was created, but so far very little useful content has been added." I think it would be a good idea to get everyone to use one or the other of these two templates making sure that they encourage the original editor to continue participating. If not then at the very least make sure that they both put the pages into the same category.

The Template:Welcome and advise (I'm bias as I helped write it) is potentially useful to encourage editors to think about where to host their contributions. It's not clear if it would be better on the editors talkpage or on the article page.

The Template:FVP or Frequently visited pages is potential useful as it highlights popular pages that need to be developed to improve their learning content.

The Template:Cleanup could be potentially useful in tagging pages that need work doing on them. It provides a section where reasons can be given for the cleanup. I can see this coursing problems as it depends on the discretion of the user. People are easily upset by persevered or actual criticisms of their work. I think it would be better to carefully reword this to cover most situations and remove the option to add a comment. If this is necessary they can be left on the talk page. Also it would be useful to have the template put the page into say Category Improvement drive

If I've missed out any templates that should be discussed please add them along with any comments on the above Mystictim 16:02, 12 January 2007 (UTC)

"Unfortunately it is misnamed and would be better moved to Template:Empty page." <-- "Template:Empty page" is an ambiguous name. Many wiki editors have adopted the philosophy that empty pages should be deleted on sight, even without an attempt to Assume Good Faith and talk to the editors who created the page or have edited the page. "Template:Main welcome" was selected as a name in an effort to explicitly proclaim that empty pages should not be automatically deleted and that new editors should be welcomed even if they do not know how to add content to pages that they create. --JWSchmidt 16:20, 12 January 2007 (UTC)