Wikipedia talk:Co-op

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Greetings: This page is for discussing The Co-op. If you are looking for a mentor, please use the "Find a mentor" button on the main page. Thanks.

Automated matching has started!

Hey folks. HostBot has started to automatically match new learners with mentors based on category. If you're chosen, you'll be notified on the learner profile's talk page. If you don't want to mentor additional editors beyond the ones you are currently with, go into your mentor profile, and put a "1" next to the "unavailable" parameter, which will inform HostBot not to match additional editors to you. Thanks, I, JethroBT ^{drop me a line} 09:20, 13 March 2015 (UTC)

I am totally confused again.

• In what way will a host be notified by a message being left on a talk page related to someone he or she doesn't know?
• Does this mean that the new user now has two talk pages to manage instead of one?
• Where will the matches be listed?
• The co-op page has only three people on it. Does this mean that the others are not matched yet?
• If I do manage somehow to be notified about this match, what am I expected to do next?—Anne Delong (talk) 11:20, 13 March 2015 (UTC)

@Anne Delong: Let me answer your questions:

In what way will a host be notified by a message being left on a talk page related to someone he or she doesn't know?

HostBot looks for a match based on the category of help a learner needs. So if they chose writing (e.g. Category:Co-op/Requests/Writing), it will look for a mentor who has selected writing in their own profile. If no one is available in that category, it looks for an available mentor who has "General editing" selected. Once a match is found, HostBot writes a message to the talk page associated with their profile, where it pings both editors, sending them notifications.

Does this mean that the new user now has two talk pages to manage instead of one?

Yes, but that isn't much different than the Q&A page that editors use at the Teahouse to ask questions. If you'd rather have the discussion someplace else (like on their talk page, which is what I've been doing because it's one less ping to do.)

Where will the matches be listed?

They aren't, at least not yet. It would be great to have this list, but it's not really necessary, and we didn't have the development resources or time to easily implement representations of matched editors (and allow them to become unmatched) in the Co-op. All that is important is making a match happen.

The co-op page has only three people on it. Does this mean that the others are not matched yet?

The front page is intended to be a sample of participants in the space, not a list of all of them-- that would get unwieldy over time, I think. I've had to play matchmaker with Category:Co-op learner up until now, but all of those editors should be matched now as long as they are in a category (which is what the bot looks for).

If I do manage somehow to be notified about this match, what am I expected to do next?

It sounds like you're talking about a case where you can't mentor them. If that's the case, I think it's best to search through Category:Co-op mentor and find a mentor who is a decent match for them based on what they want to do. If you can mentor them, I think the best way to start is to look at their profile, see what they want to do, have a conversation to clarify what they want to accomplish (also so that mentorship can be specified to that goal). And then once the goal has been reached, you can award them an appropriate barnstar.

Thanks for your questions, Anne. I, JethroBT ^{drop me a line} 17:34, 13 March 2015 (UTC)

If anyone is interested

Hi there! I have been matched by Hostbot to mentor a newcomer but a sudden real life trouble left me no time for Wikipedia so I was wondering if anyone else can mentor him on my behalf. Thank you. Jim Carter 07:35, 15 March 2015 (UTC)

I'll do it. Huon (talk) 12:16, 15 March 2015 (UTC)

This raises an interesting question of quality control. Jim Carter has notified us that he can't spend the time for mentorship. What would happen if a prospective mentor simply went AWOL? Is there some sort of control mechanism in place that checks whether the potential mentors are still active? I assume little would be more frustrating than signing up for a mentorship program, being matched to a mentor and then never hearing from them. Huon (talk) 12:35, 15 March 2015 (UTC)

@Jim Carter and Huon: Thanks Jim for letting us know and Huon for mentoring. The hope is that mentors will be proactive in letting everyone know when they are unavailable, which they can do so by marking a "1" next to the "unavailable" parameter in their profile. Right now, no such mechanism exists if an unavailable mentor has failed to do that and is matched to a learner, but I agree that we should have something in place. In development of the space, I imagined a "feed" of newer editors, which could either be editors recently matched or editors who are awaiting a match, that we could implement on the mentor landing page. For now, while the pilot is small scale, I have been able to keep watch over newer editors to ensure they are matched with someone. I, JethroBT ^{drop me a line} 05:56, 16 March 2015 (UTC)

If no mechanism is available to check on whether mentors are actively mentoring (and if the co-op is successful it will be likely too much work for I JethroBT to keep checking all the time), perhaps something could be added to the instructions suggesting to the "mentees" that if they don't get a response in a few days they apply again or leave a note somewhere asking for a new mentor.—Anne Delong (talk) 17:21, 19 March 2015 (UTC)

Thanks Anne, I appreciate the suggestion-- it's easy enough to add this message. I'll have them get in touch with me for now, but if someone else would like to be a contact person for editors seeking a mentor, please let me know. Thanks, I, JethroBT ^{drop me a line} 05:58, 21 March 2015 (UTC)

Co-OP logo

One thing I noticed is that my mentee received a common every-day welcome from I dream of horses, a Co-OP invitation and a generic Teahouse invitation. Nice but confusing for a newbie. Unlike some of the other mentees, mine did not get a generic "Co-OP welcome" and was not introduced to me as a mentor. And then I show up and start telling him what to do. Until I tell him he doesn't know I am a mentor from the Co-OP. So...I went back and added the logo to our first few communications. I'll just add it for the first few. I guess another solution would be to add "Co-OP mentor" to my signature. . Buster Seven Talk 11:23, 16 March 2015 (UTC)

@Buster7: Thanks for bringing this up. Earlier on, I was doing those welcomes manually, since we had no bot making matches. I think as long as you introduce yourself as a Co-op mentor when you first interact with the editor, that should be fine. I think the use of the logo in the first message is a solid idea-- today, I'll try to develop a template that includes the logo and allows you to write a personal message introducing yourself. I, JethroBT ^{drop me a line} 17:48, 17 March 2015 (UTC)

WTF? Problem with the bot or ?

Screenshot of notification

When I signed in this morning, I had a notification from Host.bot but it wasn't useful, indicating I was mentioned on [No page] talk page. Since it looked like I might have been matched with a learner, I went to Category:Co-op learner and then went to each profile, then to the learners' talk pages to see. Looks like almost all are already matched but none with me. Some mentors are matched with two or more learners. I haven't been matched. I don't know if there's a problem with my profile, with the bot or ?? I'm willing to help out but I just wasted a couple of hours looking to be sure I wasn't neglecting someone looking for guidance. DocTree (ʞlɐʇ·ʇuoɔ) WER 16:24, 17 March 2015 (UTC)

@Doctree: Hey Doctree. That was a mistake on my part-- the bot looks for pages within WP:Co-op that have one of the categories we have designated for skills (e.g. Category:Co-op/Requests/Writing) While updating WP:Co-op/Featured learners, I placed a category accidentally while I was making these cards for the front page. As it turns out, I got matched up to you (because I was the last person who editing that page). HostBot then created Wikipedia talk:Co-op/Featured learners, which you can see I deleted earlier today. Sorry that I wasted your time like that-- I should have gotten in touch with you about it. But the mistake was entirely mine, and the bot is working as it should be. I, JethroBT ^{drop me a line} 17:43, 17 March 2015 (UTC)

Not a problem, @I JethroBT:. Just left the image so you could see exactly what I received. DocTree (ʞlɐʇ·ʇuoɔ) WER 17:51, 17 March 2015 (UTC)

Organizing learners

I don't know if anyone has already mentioned this, but do we currently have a way of telling which learners are already being mentored and which ones still need one, without checking the learner's talk page? If not, are we working on this? ~ Anastasia [Missionedit] (talk)

@Missionedit, Jmorgan (WMF), and Fhocutt: Hey Anastasia. This got discussed a little bit above, but right now the answer is no, because neither HostBot nor the Co-op maintains a variable indicating who is being actively mentored (or not). One idea, perhaps, is to initially put new learners in an category of "not being mentored" initially. Once HostBot is matched, we can direct the mentor to actually sign their name on their profile indicating they are mentoring that editor, which removes them from the category (and places them in a "being mentored" category). We could then display these on the Mentor landing page. I'm pinging Frances Hocutt and Jonathan Morgan, who built the profiles, to see how easy or difficult it might be to implement this. I, JethroBT ^{drop me a line} 06:10, 21 March 2015 (UTC)

@Missionedit: Looks like we have a solution using categories to track who isn't being actively mentored that we'll be putting together in the next week-and-a-half. See T93503 for more information. I, JethroBT ^{drop me a line} 22:27, 24 March 2015 (UTC)

I JethroBT, Missionedit: I've added a new parameter mentor=, to the Learner profile template. This parameter is not displayed on the page, but when mentor=1 the learner profile will be put into Category:Co-op_learners_not_currently_being_mentored. When a mentor accepts a new learner, they should change this parameter to their username. The username won't display, but will be visible in the code when one clicks "edit". I've also updated the learner profile preload template, so that all profiles created from now on will have mentor=1 by default. What I've done here isn't the most elegant or intuitive solution, but it does solve the immediate problem. It'll have to do until I have time to play around with the code some more. If you find that these changes break anything in the learner or mentor profile templates (which both run off the same Lua module), please ping me ASAP. Cheers, - J-Mo ^{Talk to Me} _{Email Me} 23:18, 26 March 2015 (UTC)

My learner

My mentee is, at the moment, stuck at a crossroads by having a draft he created declined for insufficient secondary sources. But that is not what I want to share. While he is corresponding with the declining editor he is still not signing his edits. Some might say "not a big deal" others might say "He should know the Basics first". Anyway, to my point. By my insisting that he sign correctly, it was like a momentary shutting down of his troubled mind, dealing with this (to him) unimportant trivial factor, figuring out and maybe finally actually reading Wikipedia:Signatures, and then hitting "restart" and seeing his success. We all know that little successes lead to bigger successes. We also all know that momentarily leaving the scene of trouble or problems is a good thing. And for me, it was also a success 'cause I was wondering if I was "Doing Co-Oping Right". I was disheartened by failure but elated with HIS success. I try to be the teacher that I had when I started. He showed me all the little things. He didn't let me get caught up in the maelstrom of article creation until I was ready. (Which took quite a while actually). . Buster Seven Talk 17:06, 19 March 2015 (UTC)

@Buster7: I'd like other mentors to chime in here if possible. Signing is weird, but it's a weird thing we've all gotten used to. It's also pretty important, not just from an informative standpoint to let others know who you are and when you commented, but it's one of those conventions we have that helps you fit in to Wikipedia culturally. Anyway, because it's important, I think it was fine to put things on hold and take a step back to focus on that. I'm sure this will come up a lot— that learners will have an end goal, but will have a few skills and principles to understand before they get there. I just want mentors to have good judgment in when to put things on pause: How important is it to stop and step back? I think if it happens too much, an editor who has something to offer may feel like they will never be able to do it. I, JethroBT ^{drop me a line} 06:22, 21 March 2015 (UTC)

At one point we all thought we would never understand that 2+2=4. We all thought "I will never be able to do it". And then, all of a sudden it made sense, we understood Basic Arithmetic, and the whole world of Math opened up to us. Same here. New editors sign up and they want to do Trigonometry and they want to do it NOW. They just got their learners permit and the want to drive in the express lanes. And they are surprised and frustrated when they have problems.. Buster Seven Talk 06:47, 21 March 2015 (UTC)

Need a Mentor!

Hey folks-- Go Phightins! is unavailable and cannot take Newrunner769 for mentorship. Would someone be willing to mentor this editor? Thanks, I, JethroBT ^{drop me a line} 20:06, 31 March 2015 (UTC)

Hi, I JethroBT. I can do this, since neither of the people assigned to me haa asked for any more help after the first question. I am on my way to a three hour meeting now, though, so I would have to reply after that; if a speedy reply is needed, someone else may want to jump in.—Anne Delong (talk) 22:47, 31 March 2015 (UTC)

Another mentor needed

Hey mentors-- earlier last month, I was initially matched to David Tornheim who decided to wait on mentorship until a recent ANI discussion was resolved. At this time, I cannot commit the time needed for additional mentorship. I know many of you haven't been matched with someone yet. Could someone consider mentoring this editor? In their profile, David was looking for help related to WP:NPOV as it relates to cases of industry slant in article content. I, JethroBT ^{drop me a line} 21:41, 6 April 2015 (UTC)

I JethroBT, so far the co-op is taking very little of my time because the three to which I have been assigned haven't asked for any help with anything. Maybe I'm doing something wrong? Also, I can't find the list of who is matched with whom. I can easily write to this user as I did to the last three, but so far it's been rather pointless.—Anne Delong (talk) 04:00, 7 April 2015 (UTC)

I have similarly been matched to two editors, neither of whom has chosen to ask for any specific help. One did not even respond to the contact I made with them through their talk page nor the efforts I had put in on their behalf, which I found quite off-putting. Cwmhiraeth (talk) 07:33, 7 April 2015 (UTC)

@Anne Delong and Cwmhiraeth: Yes, this failure to engage is a trend I have been following, and I agree it's not fair to mentors' time or effort. It's also happened to me a few times as well. In our first month, about half of the learners coming into the space whose mentors made an initial engagement with them have not responded back, and many of those learners went inactive sometime after they requested a mentor. It's possible they didn't understand how to talk to other editors. They may have changed their mind about mentorship, or about editing Wikipedia altogether (hence the inactivity). They could have neglected to login again. There may be other reasons too. In any case, Soni and I thought it best to make a request on phabricator (T94785) about making better criteria for Co-op invites through HostBot to target editors who are more likely to stick around rather than drop off. I, JethroBT ^{drop me a line} 00:39, 8 April 2015 (UTC)

I JethroBT, do you still need a replacement mentor as per your request above?—Anne Delong —Anne Delong (talk) 16:41, 8 April 2015 (UTC)

@Anne Delong: One is still needed, yes. I'm glad to hear mentorship is not taking up too much of your time. If you want to volunteer, please do. I, JethroBT ^{drop me a line} 22:11, 8 April 2015 (UTC)

I think some drop off is to be expected. Perhaps mentors should be given guidance on making some initial contact before investing significant efforts, in order to maximize the best use of their time? isaacl (talk) 13:02, 8 April 2015 (UTC)

I have left a message for that user. I didn't get a reply to my question about where to see a list of who is mentoring whom, although I see that a list of mentees can be found at Category:Co-op pilot learner, and my browser highlights the page that I have visited. There needs to be a way to separate learners who have just one specific question (sending them to the Teahouse) from those who need ongoing help, but I don't know how this can be done.—Anne Delong (talk) 02:47, 10 April 2015 (UTC)

@Anne Delong: Thanks for the reminder. I know you have brought it up before, and agree that it's important for mentors to have a way to track who they are mentoring on tracking who you are mentoring. I've been working on the final report for the grant that funded this project (and am proposing a second phase), and so I have a lot on my plate as does Jmorgan (WMF) who has been doing a lot of the development work. I'm glad there was a roundabout way to determine who you are mentoring in the meantime. I'll make a task on phabricator to see if we can generate a category for mentors that contains who they are mentoring based on the mentor= parameter in the learner's profile. In the meantime, it may be best to just simply keep track of your mentors in your userspace or on your Co-op profile. As for relegating editors to the Teahouse or here, many mentors here have also participated in the Teahouse, so in some cases it might not matter too much where they go. However, it'd be pretty easy to create a notice on the front page informing editors that simple questions can be addressed over at the Teahouse. I'll get that notice up this week. I, JethroBT ^{drop me a line} 20:04, 10 April 2015 (UTC)

@Anne Delong: Just as a heads-up, we have a plan for implementing a place where you can comprehensively see who has been matched with who. Check out the discussion on T96315 for reference and to keep an eye on developments. I, JethroBT ^{drop me a line} 19:09, 17 April 2015 (UTC)

Resources to get mentors started

As I am beginning mentoring a user, may I ask if there are templates or resources to get started. I've seen this, however are there more? Thanks, ///EuroCarGT 23:42, 9 April 2015 (UTC)

@EuroCarGT: Soni and I compiled that set of resources-- we tried to make it fairly comprehensive, but we know we probably missed some things. Yunshui has some great essays on common editing tasks here. I think the adoption programs that have been put together when WP:AAU was more active are a good reference. A few worth checking out include User:Worm_That_Turned/Adopt, User:Xenocidic/wikiadopt, and User:TheQ_Editor/Adopt. Some templated responses here may also be useful, particularly the ones on images. I, JethroBT ^{drop me a line} 19:24, 10 April 2015 (UTC)

Thanks for the links. ///EuroCarGT 20:53, 10 April 2015 (UTC)

Mentor match script halted for evaluation - keep an eye out for new learners

Hi all, I've halted the script that matches new leaners with mentors (hopefully temporarily) while the Bot Approvals Group review the results of the 30 day trial. In the meantime, Co-op mentors will need to watch out for new profiles the "old fashioned way" and reach out to learners individually. Here's a related changes feed that will show you when new profiles are created. I_JethroBT or I will update this thread when matching is re-implemented. Cheers, Jmorgan (WMF) (talk) 18:46, 14 April 2015 (UTC)

@Jmorgan (WMF): Actually, is it possible to stop sending out invites temporarily until the matching mechanism can be reinitiated? I'm afraid invited editors will be left hanging for too long if matching has to be done in this manner. I don't have a lot of time to patrol for unmatched editors over the next week. If there are mentors who are willing to actively patrol this list once a day, please let me know below, but otherwise, I think we should cease invitations until automated matching can be resumed. I, JethroBT ^{drop me a line} 18:57, 14 April 2015 (UTC)

@I JethroBT:. No problemI I also stopped sending invites. However, since invites were sent out today, yesterday, etc, folks should still keep their eyes open. Cheers, Jmorgan (WMF) (talk) 19:10, 14 April 2015 (UTC)

Making sure that learners are getting matched

Mentors, to help ensure that learners are getting matched in a timely fashion, please make a habit to:

1. Check on Category:Co-op learners not currently being mentored to see the list of learners who need a mentor.
2. Replace the "1" of the mentor= parameter of the learner profile with your username once you've reached out to the learner (see this example). Doing so will remove the learner from the "not being mentored" category.
3. Contact another mentor using Category:Co-op mentor if you cannot mentor someone you were matched to! We don't want to leave people hanging.

Speaking of #1, we have five editors who need a mentor right now:

Wikipedia:Co-op/Abhyud

Wikipedia:Co-op/cavalierman

Wikipedia:Co-op/iso-convener

Wikipedia:Co-op/sarbagna

Wikipedia:Co-op/Smittzerland (was matched to Jim Carter, but is not available to mentor right now.)

Available mentors, could you please get in touch with these individuals? Thanks a bunch, I, JethroBT ^{drop me a line} 18:59, 17 April 2015 (UTC)

Next steps and FormWizard

Hey mentors. I've decided to temporarily stop new editors from coming in while we make some tweaks to The Co-op. I'm not really convinced the manual system for matching people together is working well, and I don't have time to make matches for everyone like I did at the beginning of the pilot. Also, as we're examining the results of our pilot from last month, one big takeaway from the was that mentorship does appear to be not well-suited for very new editors: Many of them drop off the map for any number of reasons. A few were clearly not here to build an encyclopedia and were blocked. A few figured out the answers to their questions just by exploring on their own. Many simply did not reply to you once you got in touch with them. I would rather mentors be spending their time with editors have taken some time to engage with Wikipedia. Before, any editor with a new account who made 10 edits in a 24-hour period could be invited. We will now be inviting editors using stricter criteria that requires them to be autoconfirmed before being invited. I am also considering implementing a higher edit count requirement.

The other major announcement is that we are implementing a new approach to building profiles using a new gadget called FormWizard, and we'd like mentors to test this out before we reboot the Co-op. One thing we noticed was that learners would fail to get matched because they would fill out the "interest" parameter with a general topical interest like sports or artwork, rather than with one of the specified parameters like writing or images and media. They did not get matched until I noticed the problem. We also felt like the pre-filled forms are kind of awful to navigate through as a newer editor. FormWizard provides an interface so it actually feels like you are making a profile and asks learners to choose from a drop-down menu to get matched, which eliminates the problems of putting in bad inputs that cause errors.

Anyway, what you can do to help test FormWizard is the following:

1. Go into your preferences, and choose the Gadgets tab. Under the Browsing header, click the checkbox for FormWizard. Hit the save button at the bottom of the page.
2. Clear your cache and head over to Wikipedia:Co-op/Mentor landing.
3. Click on the red "Create mentor profile" button. A form should pop-up requesting you to fill in the usual mentor profile bits. If it doesn't work, try closing your browser and opening it up again.
4. There will be two steps in profile creation. Make up a fake profile and let me know when you've made it below. Please let me know if anything unexpected or weird happens.
5. After you've made the fake profile, please experiment with the "Update profile" button at the bottom of the profile page. This allows you to change an update different parts of your profile using FormWizard.

If everything seems to be working well with FormWizard, we're considering rebooting the space sometime in the next week or two. As always, questions are welcome. I, JethroBT ^{drop me a line} 22:51, 2 May 2015 (UTC)

Final Report / The Future!

Hey mentors. The Co-op has more or less been on hiatus because of a long wait for approval at the Bot Approvals Group to get FormWizard up and running here on en.wiki. That has been approved, which means we can basically reopen the space at anytime. The grant funding this project has also come to an end, and our final report detailing our research and the results of the pilot is more or less done. (It's still pending final approval from WMF). Without going into all the nitty-gritty, getting mentored through the Co-op seems to have a benefit on new editors in terms of the time they remain active and on their productivity. The Co-op is also much faster at getting new editors paired up with a mentor compared to similar programs, such as WP:AAU. It also seems to have some benefits for experienced editors who have been around for several months and contributed already.

I want to thank all of you for helping to get our pilot off the ground. Your time and effort toward reaching out, educating, and assisting editors seeking mentorship is valuable and important work. I believe Wikipedia benefits in numerous ways when we maintain spaces that serve to support people who are just getting started learning the ropes here. We show people that learning to become an editor isn't impossible, and that it is worth their while. We show that working collaboratively is a fundamental part of being an editor. Most importantly, I think the Co-op shows that we care about new editors and the challenges they face, and we like to support people who are driven to build an encyclopedia.

The big issue now is the future of the Co-op. Without mentors, I'm afraid to say that this project is dead in the water. But I think our pilot shows that the space has some promise. I'd like to know who is still available to mentor once we reopen the Co-op. If you are available and interested in mentoring, please sign your name below:

1. I, JethroBT ^{drop me a line} 22:59, 24 June 2015 (UTC)
2. Huon (talk) 23:50, 24 June 2015 (UTC)
3. Anastasia [Missionedit] (talk) 00:29, 25 June 2015 (UTC)
4. Howicus (Did I mess up?) 00:33, 25 June 2015 (UTC)
5. DocTree (ʞlɐʇ·ʇuoɔ) WER 01:15, 25 June 2015 (UTC)
6. ~SuperHamster Talk Contribs 15:23, 25 June 2015 (UTC)
7. Tokyogirl79 (｡◕‿◕｡) 04:41, 26 June 2015 (UTC)
8. (your name here)

FYI, once our final report is finalized, I'll be doing a blog post for our space on the WMF Blog and publicizing our results on relevant projects here on en.wiki, and encouraging interested mentors to join us. I also want to let everyone know that while I will still be mentoring for this space, I'd also like to know if anyone is interested in helping me maintain the Co-op, as I don't have quite as much time these days to check on things day-to-day. I, JethroBT ^{drop me a line} 22:59, 24 June 2015 (UTC)

I'm semi-retired now, so I won't be signing up to be a mentor for the co-op, but I wish the co-op the best. :) Regards, --AmaryllisGardener ^talk 00:32, 25 June 2015 (UTC)

If the Co-op is being re-launched, perhaps we could put out a new call for mentors somewhere? Howicus (Did I mess up?) 00:33, 25 June 2015 (UTC)

@Howicus: Definitely. I think the Signpost would be a great way to get the word out. Would you be willing to contact them to see if they would be interested in writing about our pilot results and reopening? I was planning on making brief announcements about our final report and that we're looking for mentors over on WP:WER, WP:Teahouse, WP:Help Desk, WP:AfC. We could also consider putting out a call over User talk:Jimbo Wales. Maybe also at Wikipedia:Village_pump_(miscellaneous)? Any other suggestions? That said, I've generally found that the best way to recruit is to invite editors you know who you think might be interested in mentoring via their talk page. It's more work, but I think editors definitely appreciate a more personal invitation. I, JethroBT ^{drop me a line} 05:04, 25 June 2015 (UTC)

well i found here via TRM and am interested in finding out more. thanks Edmund Patrick – confer 05:39, 25 June 2015 (UTC)

@Edmund Patrick: Were you interested in mentoring? You can create a profile at the mentor landing to get started, and check out the announcements section for a bit of explanation. You can always ask any questions about the space here or on my talk page. Welcome! I, JethroBT ^{drop me a line} 21:27, 6 July 2015 (UTC)

Put me down as a "maybe"; my ability to mentor is dependant on how much stuff gets thrown up at ArbCom, so any mentorship I provide may be a little patchy. Yunshui ^雲_水 07:24, 25 June 2015 (UTC)

I really wish to join and help out, however, I'm so busy with my real life that I couldn't sign up, pardon me. By the first of July I might get some time to help out again. Best, Jim Carter 09:47, 25 June 2015 (UTC)

• I signed up before but never got someone to mentor - not sure if there was a lack of people to mentor or if I messed something up in the process. But I'm still interested in mentoring for the future. ~SuperHamster Talk Contribs 15:23, 25 June 2015 (UTC)

@SuperHamster: Thanks! Unfortunately, that you were not matched was partly just the luck of the draw, though it also has to do with what topics you were willing to mentor on. Writing was common for learners to choose for matching, whereas communication was less so, for instance. I, JethroBT ^{drop me a line} 05:47, 26 June 2015 (UTC)

• I'm willing to do it, although I'll admit I'll likely have the same time constraints with school. Tokyogirl79 (｡◕‿◕｡) 04:41, 26 June 2015 (UTC)

Reminder: how to mark your profile inactive, who to ping with bot/gadget/profile issues

Hi all, We're starting the Co-op up again, so it seems like a good time to review some of the technical details:

1. If you don't want to be matched with new learners, add this category to your mentor profile page. You can add the category manually, or set |unavailable=1 in your profile template.

2. If HostBot is acting weird, ping J-Mo. I run HostBot, which invites people to the Co-op (and the Teahouse, and the Wikipedia Adventure). HostBot also matches learners who create profiles with the mentors. If the bot does anything strange, it's quickest to tell me (not I_JethroBT, who, despite his name, exhibits few if an robophilic tendencies).

Also let me know if the Form Wizard gadget and the mentor/learner profile templates exhibit any unexpected behavior, or if you have questions/comments about same. Cheers, - J-Mo ^{Talk to Me} _{Email Me} 22:53, 6 July 2015 (UTC)

I'll also add in a third point here as well:

3. When you are matched with a learner, please navigate to their profile page and put your username in the mentor= field. This removes them from a category indicating that they've merely been matched by a bot, but haven't yet had a real mentor interact with them. It's also helpful for others to know who is mentoring them. Thanks, I, JethroBT ^{drop me a line} 23:36, 6 July 2015 (UTC)

Issue raised at the Teahouse

Please see Wikipedia:Teahouse/Questions#was invited to join the co-op .. having trouble creating profile, thanks Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 07:41, 7 July 2015 (UTC)

Thanks Roger. Jethro responded and I tried to fix their profile so that the bot matched them with a mentor. Cheers, - J-Mo ^{Talk to Me} _{Email Me} 17:59, 7 July 2015 (UTC)

Feedback

The signup is less than efficient. This morning I attempted to sign up with the wizard. It insisted that I entered by user name as User:XXXXXXXX, then the boxes completed I went to save. It didn't- and no feedback. I was also a little confused why we have two boxes to describe ourselves; and why there was a stated arbitary limit on the first one (140 char) and not for the second- but that froze at about 250.

So I signed up the old school way- no limits, no second box for self description. Registered as User:XXXXXXXX (wrong it just wanted XXXXXXXX). Did a preview: all fine, so I saved and looked at my entry. Fine- if you like centred text.

I clicked on the Category- Technical skills- and there was my name- twice. Once as User:XXXXXXXX and my original entry from March- XXXXXXXX. It looks if my technical skills are needed. With the wizard, it should have reported that it couldn't save as it had stripped User: from User:XXXXXXXX, and found that XXXXXXXX already existed then recover gracefully. With the old school appproach, it did need to strip User: from that field before attempting to save.

-- Clem Rutter (talk) 19:59, 8 July 2015 (UTC)

@ClemRutter: Hey Clem. I encountered the same problem when I tried to recreate my profile using FormWizard, which doesn't allow you to overwrite an existing profile. What I can do (and what I did in my case) is I can delete your profile, and you should be able to recreate it. Your current profile will still work fine, so it's up to you. As for the limits, you're right that they are not really necessary for mentors. They were imposed in case we ever decided to incorporate free text descriptions in the featured mentors section on the landing page (like learners currently have). That text would need to be limited though, so as not to exceed the box dimensions. I, JethroBT ^{drop me a line} 20:47, 8 July 2015 (UTC)

Sisterprojects

Hi mentors,

I would like to start a discussion about the mentorship program. Would it be possible to tell new users about the sisterprojects? In my opinion the Wikipedia project can sometimes be frustrating because of all the rules. I think new users will find participating in a learning project on Wikiversity more easy. What do you think?

Regards,

Tim, Timboliu (talk) 07:43, 25 September 2015 (UTC)

Inactivity and closure.

Hey folks. First, I want to thank everyone who has volunteered their time for this project. I enjoyed being able to build this space and give it a spin here to see what mentorship could bring to the table to help newer editors out. For what it's worth, I think the Co-op has demonstrated some evidence that it can work as a model for matching editors together. A lot of newer editors have seen real benefit from using the Co-op through efforts of mentors to mediate conflict, help build article content, and generally help learners achieve their goals as contributors.

Since several months ago, I've been unable to devote a lot of time to checking over and maintaining the Co-op as I did earlier in this year. There has also big drop-off in activity from mentors here, and there are only a small number of us responding to mentor requests. Furthermore, the bot is not reliably matching learners to mentors for some reason, and we lack the resources to devote attention to this issue. Consequently, Jtmorgan has turned off new invites to the Co-op, and I'm inclined to agree with that course of action given the activity level here. I have some suspicions about why activity has waned-- the system for matching may not be working well, perhaps mentors are frustrated that many learners drop off from editing (sometimes even before we have a chance to contact them-- I certainly felt this frustration during and after the pilot), and the lack of an active maintainer.

On that basis, I'm considering marking this project as inactive/historical/some other appropriate tag, though I want to hear from you whether that seems sensible. Folks who are still mentoring, by all means, continue to mentor your current editors. But until this space has someone who can actively take care of it, and has a core base of mentors, I don't think it's fair to new editors to keep the Co-op open. Let me know what you think. Thanks everyone for participating in this experiment, and I'm grateful that we were able to engage with newer editors as long as we were able to. I, JethroBT ^{drop me a line} 18:41, 8 October 2015 (UTC)

While I understand everyone has busy lives and lots of different interests in how they want to spend their time on Wikipedia, I'm sorry to see this program shut down. I had an editor with a few months experience who could use some mentoring and my first thought was to direct him here.

Thanks to everyone who put their time into this project! Liz ^{Read! Talk!} 19:43, 22 October 2015 (UTC)