Please reply here to discuss the "Personalized first day (6)" idea.
Topic on Talk:Growth/Discussing potential Growth ideas/2023
An alternative to interrupting the editing flow is, after registration is complete, showing a pop-up that shows something like "Congratulations - you're now registered! We've posted a link on your Talk page where you can - if you want - tell us more about what type of editing you're interested in doing in Wikipedia, or why else you've registered." [Then just an "okay" to close the box.]
On the user talk page would be a postingthat explains what is trying to be done (help the user), and a link to go to the actual questions.
Advantages, besides minimal interruption: introduces the user talk page; link for questions is there permanently (more or less), so user can click on it later if not inclined/able to do so immediately,
”When new editors create accounts, they are simply redirected back to the page where they were before.” – not true. Several Wikipedias (all?) use a feature named ”Guided Tours”, which makes the screen go black and suggests articles for editing instead of letting the user continue what s/he was up to. Also, s/he gets various automatic notifications and talk page messages.
I think less distraction rather than more would be appreciated. And when implementing a new feature like this, it must be done in a way such that already existing automatic greeting functions are taken into account (some of them should then probably be deactivated). Otherwise, the result will rather be confusion of new users.
I would really suggest experienced users try creating a new account to see how it works from the perspective of a new editor.
I think trying to identify what the intentions of folks is, should help a lot more in developing content correctly calibrated for onboarding. Especially around what kinds of edits that we can suggest to folks.
There's a definite tension here between "here's a chance to educate them a little" and "get out of my way, I have a change to make". The biggest change I would make would be to the sign-up screen in relation to the email address (optional). Could we provide a bit more motivation to provide an email address? There are two reasons I would offer: password recovery and "enables us to help you better as a new user" (obviously, there can also be a link to go into the precise list of things we would use the email for, which could include "impact" reporting, and what we would not use it for, to allay certains about selling to third parties etc and that they can always remove their email address by going to ... etc). If we had a familiar means of communication with new users, which could support screen shots etc, onboarding would be a lot easier for those who try to support new users (Talk sucks). I think the new users get things sent by email until such time as they click the link at the bottom of the email saying "Stop these emails, I'll read it on my User Talk" (would also be in Preferences). So to return to the tension of teach-vs-backoff, give them the "teach" option, if they don't take it, send the info through via email (where possible) and also write it on their Talk page. Most of our welcomes are very verbose. Just tell them the minimum to get started (and that's doesn't mean every policy and the MoS), which is probably "where can I go to learn how", "where can I go to ask a question".
It sound good, but I don't like to make any addition to the registration process.
I would make this a pop-up or part of the welcome message rather than to interrupt the work flow.
Asking people about their goals might be premature. I dont think I would have been able to answer that question so early on. Even now, after some 9 years it would not be much easier. Letting them know about other projects of our family sounds good but a questionnaire is too much, imho.
Thank you all for weighing in on this "Personalized first day" idea. Our team discussed all the feedback, and I've summarized it here. We're now figuring out whether to pursue this idea, and we'll be back to discuss more if we decide to work on it (please sign up for our newsletter to get updates on our plans).
I want to ask about something brought up by @Kerry Raymond: why do many new editors decline to sign up with email addresses? It's easy to think of a few reasons, such as privacy, or not wanting to get more emails in their inbox. What are probably the most important/common reasons?
This is somewhat unanswerable because most of the people signing up for an account do so unobserved by any of us. Those who sign up at events (where I get to observe them) are strongly encouraged by me to provide an email address. I explain they need to do so for password recovery and I stress it is not used to spam them or passed on to third parties, as these seem to be the concerns. Since no information on the use of the email address (apart from it being option) is provided on the sign-up page, I would presume the typical unobserved new user thinks to themselves "well, it is optional (so I can save the time/effort particularly as I am on my mobile device), and I don't know of any benefit I get from providing it, but I can imagine drawbacks to providing it, so I guess I will skip the email address for the moment, I can probably add it later if I need to (which is true)". So I think the signup page should tell them how their email address will (and will not) be used, or at least have a link to page that does. I think that might increase the likelihood of providing their email address.