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Readership spike

Anyone have an idea what has been causing a 5x to 8x increase in pageviews since August? See pageviews chart above. Mathglot (talk) 10:18, 7 November 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Brainstorming a possible basic skills section

I see numerous brand new users at the Teahouse ask about creating a new article, or complaining about how hard it is to do. Teahouse hosts generally try to gently dissuade them as being not an easy task to start out with (not all do, though), and we already say plenty near the top about its being a difficult task, and how they should start with some more basic tasks and so on, and I think we do that bit right, and don't need to change anything.

On the other hand, some brand new users are going to plow ahead anyway, and try to create a new article. For that group, I think we could support them better in pointing out the absolute rock-bottom basic skill set a new user will need to know before getting started. How to create a wikilink. Acquiring sources. Creating a citation. What "in your own words" means. I am not thinking of reinventing the wheel here; all of this is covered elsewhere, of course, but a brand-newbie won't know where to find it all, or what the basic skill set even is. (Neither do I off the top of my head, unless I really think about it; I'm too used to writing articles by muscle memory to even really remember what all the basic skills are at this point.)

Anyway, maybe we could just list and link a required basic skill set, maybe like a brief, annotated linked list, to give them a kind of directed reading plan along with a pointer to their sandbox before they get started. Advanced beginners and everyone else can just jump over that section. Wondering what y'all think? If you were going to list out the mandatory minimum skill set before writing an article, what would you include? Would love to see everybody's list, and see if we can coalesce into something useful. Mathglot (talk) 11:42, 20 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I'm working on my 1st new article; how do I Contact my Wikipedia mentor?

MOVED
Moved to Wikipedia talk:Mentorship.

The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

The page says for help, "Contact your Wikipedia mentor – they are there to answer your questions!" but the instructions don't work.

  • Let's fix the instructions or system? How? Also:
  • How do I Contact my Wikipedia mentor?

When I click, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Mentorship#How_do_I_ask_my_mentor_a_question? it says:

How do I ask my mentor a question?

On your homepage, look for the module labeled "Your mentor" and click "Ask your mentor a question about editing".

I click and get to my homepage, but don't find anything about mentorship. Is it because I have >500 edits? Then instructions should say so.

I also don't find 3 dots for opting in or out. https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Growth/Communities/How_to_configure_the_mentors%27_list#separate-list also says I should see the mentor module. I do have newcomer homepage enabled and do see my homepage. Just no mentor module. -- RememberOrwell (talk) 19:43, 28 January 2026 (UTC)[reply]

do you have "Display new user homepage" enabled in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Preferences? - Otherwise (Talk?) 19:51, 28 January 2026 (UTC)[reply]
Yes, and I tried toggling it off/save/on. No change. (Exact wording is:
Newcomer editor features
  • Display newcomer homepage
  • Default to newcomer homepage from username link in personal tools).
"{{#mentor:Foo}} {{subst:#mentor:Foo}}": " ". Strange; they're not set - preview/save as nothing. I wonder where the value is saved. RememberOrwell (talk) 20:25, 28 January 2026 (UTC)[reply]
It might just be easier to ask your question(s) at the Wikipedia:Teahouse. Many experienced helpful editors there. If you're deadset on the mentorship program, I can get you to the appropriate place to get IT help, just let me know. - Otherwise (Talk?) 20:28, 28 January 2026 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks. I welcome a pointer to that; if it's broken for me, it's probably broken for many.
By the way, see my last 2 edits. I edited my reply to be more precise and was warned of an edit conflict, and the new conflict resolver popped up. I'm quite confident I didn't see or choose to discard your reply, but it was discarded by my save, which I looked at after saving as it was my first time using the conflict resolver. I saw the damage it had done and fixed it. I figure I should report that issue too! RememberOrwell (talk) 20:38, 28 January 2026 (UTC)[reply]
Just what happens when there's two simultaneous edits! - Otherwise (Talk?) 20:38, 28 January 2026 (UTC)[reply]
No - not in my experience. (searches) Ah, this thing: [1]) or "TwoColConflict", which has been undergoing changes recently. RememberOrwell (talk) 20:53, 28 January 2026 (UTC)[reply]
I suspect thats it! - Otherwise (Talk?) 20:53, 28 January 2026 (UTC)[reply]
(It's possible I recently activated it.) It's a beta feature at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Preferences#mw-prefsection-betafeatures RememberOrwell (talk) 20:54, 28 January 2026 (UTC)[reply]
To be clear, this edit https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Help_talk:Your_first_article&diff=prev&oldid=1335358849 attributed to me. I'm quite confident I didn't see or choose to discard your reply, but it was discarded by my save, which, fortunately, I looked at after saving as it was my first time using the conflict resolver. I saw the damage it had done and fixed it. Good thing we weren't having an argument. Good thing I caught it right away. RememberOrwell (talk) 20:59, 28 January 2026 (UTC)[reply]
Better now than later! - Otherwise (Talk?) 20:59, 28 January 2026 (UTC)[reply]
Reported. Hopefully that does the trick.
Anyway, again, yes to your offer of a pointer to the appropriate place to get IT help getting mentorship working. RememberOrwell (talk) 21:35, 28 January 2026 (UTC)[reply]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:Directory#Technical_help - Otherwise (Talk?) 21:54, 28 January 2026 (UTC)[reply]

Hatted and moved to better venue. Mathglot (talk) 18:46, 31 January 2026 (UTC)[reply]

The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.
Moved to WT:Mentorship § I'm working on my 1st new article; how do I Contact my Wikipedia mentor?

PS: Solved - sorta. If you're having this problem-your homepage doesn't have a "Your mentor" section- see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:Mentorship#I'm_working_on_my_1st_new_article;_how_do_I_Contact_my_Wikipedia_mentor? for info/workarounds. RememberOrwell (talk) 13:33, 5 February 2026 (UTC)[reply]

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