User:Bymatth2/New article test
The user:Bymatth2 new article test was conducted on 2–5 April 2015 by the author, user:Aymatth2. The purpose was to confirm assumptions about the way in which short new articles by a new user would be treated by new article reviewers. Results were unexpected, with four articles in a row nominated for deletion, so the test was terminated early. The results indicated a serious problem with the new article review process, since articles were being nominated for deletion without discussion, despite being on notable subjects.
Background[edit]
The author had become interested in treatment of "newbies" when a first article on Calton weavers written by his wife, user:jomillsjo, was speedily deleted in 2010. In March 2015 she pointed out that an inappropriate Speedy request on Natalie Smith Henry managed to get attention from the New York Times and BBC News, and a year later from Huffington Post. The author started a draft proposal at Wikipedia:Village pump (idea lab)/Archive 16#Discouraging biting the newbies. The basic idea was that if editors repeatedly added clean-up tags to new articles by new editors without first discussing the issues with the new editor, or repeatedly made inappropriate (rejected) nominations of new articles for deletion, they could be sanctioned for disruptive behavior. Various concerns were raised, such as instruction scope creep, existing guidelines discourage the behavior and so on. Other ways in which new editors may be discouraged came up, notably the very tough hurdles for Wikipedia:Articles for creation submissions.
Based on the feedback, it seemed that a formal proposal should be limited to saying that repeated actions that might discourage newbies, such as speedy tagging or nominating for deletion without prior discussion on the newbie's talk page, could be considered disruptive. If agreement could be reached on the broad principle that systematically biting newbies could be sanctioned, we could move forward to more specific process changes. But first it seemed appropriate to check if new articles by newbies were in fact being given rough treatment.
Trial concept[edit]
The author checked to see what the process would be for a test mimicking a new user's first articles. Wikipedia:Sock puppetry#Legitimate uses says "long-term users might create a new account to experience how the community functions for new users." This seems to fit the situation. The author obtained an alternative wikipedia account, user:Bymatth2, registered with the same email as user:Aymatth2, created a user page for Bymatth2 with a link back to Aymatth2, categorized as an alternative account, and made a link from the Aymatth2 user page to Bymatth2, categorized as Wikipedians with alternative accounts. He decorated the Bymatth2 user page with a typical litter of userboxes, and a striking picture.
The author selected five articles from his "to do" list – articles he planned to start anyway, on clearly notable topics. These were:
- Ralph Biasi, a Brazilian politician and one-time Minister of Science and Technology
- John Payne Jackson, an influential Nigerian journalist during the colonial era
- Colonne Fabien, an irregular Free French force active in the last months of World II
- Jean Troisier, an eminent French physician and researcher into tuberculosis in the first half of the 20th century
- John Randle (politician), a Nigerian politician during the colonial era
The idea was to start an article for each topic, the kind of tentative outline a newbie might start if they were uncertain whether they were even allowed to start an article, to see what clean-up tags would be added, and what kind of notes would be put on the newbie's talk page. Each article would have enough to give context and indicate significance, so the reviewer could see the article might have potential, and of course a web search would show plenty of sources.
Results[edit]
Ralph Biasi[edit]
The first version of the article for Ralph Biasi (01:07, 3 April 2015) was very basic indeed:
Ralph Biasi was the youngest mayor of the city of Americana.
A simple check would show Americana, São Paulo is a city with a population of about 200,000, so the subject could well be a notable politician.
- After 21 minutes a {{Proposed deletion/dated}} tag was added saying "Hoax. Only mayor of Americana, Sao Paulo is Diego de Nadai." This looked startling, but gave seven days for improvement.
- The author linked in the article from the Portuguese wiki, pt:Ralph Biasi and started gathering material, went to save, and got an edit conflict.
- The reviewer had changed the PROD to an AfD. The AfD submission showed the nominator had seen the Portuguese version, but had gone ahead anyway.
- The author saved the first expansion of the article, and continued to expand over the next two days so as little time as possible would be wasted on the AfD.
Note that user:Bymatth2 could not engage in any discussion, since that would be sock-puppet-like behavior. The user just plugged away at creating new content.
John Payne Jackson[edit]
The first cut version for John Payne Jackson (14:06, 3 April 2015) was more substantial:
John Payne Jackson was a Liberian-born journalist who was influential in Lagos, Nigeria around the turn of the 20th century. The administration of Governor G. T. Carter subsidized Jackson's Lagos Weekly Record in its early days at an annual rate of about ₤150 on the pretext of buying advertising space. The newspaper soon became established. Jackson's writing combined incisive rhetoric with broad learning, and used apposite quotations from a wide variety of sources. He and Herbert Samuel Heelas Macaulay were the leaders of the growing nationalist movement in Nigeria by 1914. Their ambitious objectives and rabble-rousing approach were viewed with hostility by both the government and the leading members of the African elite. Jackson died on 1 August 1915.
- After 6 minutes this was tagged as {{unreferenced}}. This is a fairly clear message, and entirely justified. A note on the user page would have been nice, but perhaps the tagger saw all the messages from the Ralph Biasi article and decided not to write one.
- After about two hours the page was tagged for speedy deletion (A7: does not credibly indicate the importance or significance), which was completely unexpected.
- The author put a challenge to the speedy on the article talk page, and scrabbled together enough material to show notability
Colonne Fabien[edit]
The first version of the article for Colonne Fabien (15:09, 3 April 2015) was slightly shorter, and gave a bare url as a source.
The Colonne Fabien (Fabien Column) was an irregular force of Communist volunteers that was active in Alsace in the last months of World War II. It was led by Pierre Georges, who took the alias Fabien. Fabien and his volunteers are celebrated by the Communists, but for many years there was little official recognition of the force's actions.
- There was no response for almost two hours, when the article was nominated for speedy deletion (A7: does not credibly indicate the importance or significance)
- The nomination was quickly withdrawn, but the talk page message remained, which would be very confusing to a newbie.
- The author expanded the article and moved on.
Jean Troisier[edit]
Jean Troisier | |
|---|---|
| Born | 18 May 1881 Paris, France |
| Died | 31 October 1945 (aged 64) Paris, France |
| Nationality | French |
| Occupation(s) | Physician, medical researcher |
| Known for | Laboratory Director of the Pasteur Institute |
Before starting Jean Troisier the author cleared the Bymatth2 talk page, since it was possible that all the templated messages would bias a reviewer. The new version just said "Hello". The first version of Jean Troisier (12:59, 5 April 2015) was designed to look very close to the speedied Natalie Smith Henry that caused all the publicity. It can be seen here.
It gave the name, Jean Troisier (bolded), empty headings for References and Sources, categories (1881 births, 1945 deaths, French physicians) and the {{Infobox person}} shown to the right. It provides the framework, or skeleton, for the article. The content would be added next. The infobox gave context and a claim of significance (directing a laboratory at the Pasteur Institute is a very senior position.)
- This was tagged for speedy deletion after 20 minutes (A7 again)
- The author challenged the speedy and started expanding
Termination of experiment[edit]
The author had planned to try a few more articles, but the experiment had gone right off the expected track. Instead of the articles drawing clean-up tags and talk page notes, presumably just taking a few minutes of editor effort, each article was being nominated for deletion, in one case AfD, which was wasting time. Clearly there was something more seriously wrong with the new page review process, and it was time to launch a proposal at Wikipedia:Village pump (proposals)/Archive 121#Discouraging biting the newbies
Further tests[edit]
A set of pages were launched on 11 July 2015 that were very clearly about notable subjects to check what tags would be added.
Jacques Solomon[edit]
The first version before tagging contained:
Jacques Solomon (4 February 1908 – 23 May 1942) was a French physicist and Marxist who played a central role in the debate over quantum mechanics in France in the 1930s and 1940s. He was killed by firing squad at Fort Mont-Valérien in 1942.
It also had an {{infobox person}}, empty sections for notes and sources, and Categories: 1908 births, 1942 deaths, French communists.
The tagged version is here. No attempt was made to improve it. Quite unexpectedly, the reviewer proposed deletion on the basis that it was a biography of a living person with no references. It is hard to see why they either missed the fact that the subject was dead, or failed to realize that meant the article was not about a living person.
Albert Métin[edit]
The first version before tagging contained:
Emile Albert Metin (28 January 1871 – 15 August 1918) was a French politician who was twice Minister of Labour and Social Welfare. He died in San Francisco of apoplexy, thought to have been caused by the strain of his work as head of the French mission to Australia.
It also had an {{infobox person}}, empty sections for notes and sources, and Categories: 1871 births, 1918 deaths, Politicians of the French Third Republic, Government ministers of France.
The tagged version is here. No attempt was made to improve it. It just got an {{unreferenced}}.
Francisco Llano de la Encomienda[edit]
The first version before tagging contained:
Francisco Llano de la Encomienda (1877–1963) was a Spanish soldier who served in Africa and was promoted to General in 1931. During the Spanish Civil War he remained loyal to the Second Spanish Republic. He served as commander of the Republican Army of the North, but was unable to unite his forces to effectively oppose the rebel troops.
Salvadó, Francisco J. Romero (2013-03-14). Historical Dictionary of the Spanish Civil War. Scarecrow Press. p. 192.
The tagged version is here. Three users contributed:
- The first bolded the title in the first line and added {{Uncategorized}}
- The second added {{unreferenced}} and {{Stub}}. The {{unreferenced}} was incorrect, since the article gave a book as source, with page number.
- The third added the {{DEFAULTSORT}} key, added Category:Spanish soldiers, changed {{Uncategorized}} to {{catimprove}} and changed {{Stub}} to {{spain-mil-bio-stub}}
Georges Bonnefous[edit]
The first version before tagging contained:
Georges Edouard Félix Bonnefous (30 November 1867 – 27 May 1956) was a French politician who was deputy for Seine-et-Oise from 1910 to 1936 and Minister of Commerce and Industry from 11 November 1928 to 3 November 1929 in the governments of Raymond Poincaré and Aristide Briand.[1]
The tagged version is here. Five users contributed.
- The first added a ==References== header and {{reflist}}.
- The second added an {{Uncategorized}} and a {{France-politician-stub}}.
- The third added a link, unfortunately to the disambiguation page French, and then added {{unreferenced}} and {{stub}} tags.
- The fourth repaired the link to the disambiguation page
- The fifth removed the {{unreferenced}} tag, bolded the title on the first line, and replaced the {{stub}} with {{France-politician-stub}}
Federico Melchor[edit]
The first version before tagging contained:
Federico Melchor Fernández (10 April 1915 - 11 September 1985) was a Spanish journalist and communist politician. He was one of the leaders of the Communist Youth Union of Spain. During the Spanish Civil War he was general director of Propaganda in the government of Juan Negrín. He became a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Spain.
It also had Categories: 1915 births, 1985 deaths, Spanish communists
The version after tagging is here. Two users contributed.
- The first added {{unreferenced}} and {{stub}} tags
- The second added the {{DEFAULTSORT}} key and changed the {{stub}} to {{Spain-bio-stub}}
Conclusions[edit]
Results are not very conclusive. Unlike the first test, only one of the five new articles was tagged for deletion. Perhaps it is more obvious that politicians and generals are notable. Apart from the proposed deletion, no attempt was made to communicate with the new user through talk page messages. Several errors were made by the reviewers, in some cases fixed by a later reviewer. Little effort was made to improve the articles. The tags do not seem particularly likely to trigger improvement, but that is just a personal opinion.