Wikipedia talk:Adopt-a-User

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	To-do list for Wikipedia:Adopt-a-User:	edit  · history  · watch  · refresh
Ongoing: Adopters please add your details here. For Adopters and Adoptees to share their experiences. Immediate: Complete construction of the Adopter's Area and Adoptee's Area. Copy edit and develop the Adopter's Area and Adoptee's Area. Regular Chores: Update the list of Adopters checked against criteria. Change {{Adoptme}} to {{Adoptoffer}} on users that have been offered adoption at category.

This talk page is automatically archived by Werdnabot. Any sections older than 30 days are automatically archived to Wikipedia talk:Adopt-a-User/Archive 1. Sections without timestamps are not archived.

Contents 1 I dumped my adoptee 2 Boosting Adoption 3 Waiting for adoption 4 How can an adopter choose suitable adoptee? 5 I got confused 6 Adopter who has been blocked 7 Does this give the wrong idea about Wikipedia? 8 Automation?

[edit] I dumped my adoptee

I noticed a new user, Saikano who was getting in some minor trouble and was listed as seeking adoption. Unfortunately, he showed little interest in improvement, so I have "dumped" him. Is there any procedure for this aside from removing the userboxes? —dgies^t_c 02:17, 7 March 2007 (UTC)

No procedure really as the programme is still quite new. Generally I try to keep an adoptee on, even if they are getting into trouble, and try and steer them onto the right track. Of course, if this has failed, and the user has obviously no intention of improving their conduct, then I would suggest leaving a polite note on their page telling them what you are doing and why. Also include that if they wish another adoption they can put {{adoptme}} onto their userpage, but suggest that they will need to want to improve their outlook if they want a successful adoption. Then remove the adoption templates from yours and their userpages.

Basically, and I have had some experience with "bad" adoptees, including sockpuppets, I always try to assume good faith and give the adoptee every reason to come back to WP:ADOPT if they want to improve their conduct. Hope that helps. Cheers Lethaniol 10:56, 7 March 2007 (UTC)

Yeah I tried several times to point him in the right direction, but it seemed all he wanted to do was work on his user page. See his talk page history if you want the gory deatils. —dgies^t_c 18:23, 10 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Boosting Adoption

Hi there everyone,

As you may have noticed Category:Wikipedians seeking to be adopted in Adopt-a-user is quite "full". Has anyone got any creative ideas on how to get more people adopted?

My only idea is to leave a message on all adopters user talk page requesting that they take on more adoptees (especially as most adoptions go quiet after a few days). Thoughts please. Cheers Lethaniol 16:02, 10 March 2007 (UTC)

Go on an advertising campaign. Tell friends and family. Hit up all the admins you know and tell them to Adopt-a-User. The Jade Knight 09:09, 11 March 2007 (UTC)

Not all prospective adoptees seem to understand how the system is supposed to work. Over the past week I have offered adoption to six editors, and only one replied. At all.--Anthony.bradbury 14:44, 18 March 2007 (UTC)

I have similar experiences Anthony - I normally offer adoptions in batches of 5-10, but find only about 1/3 reply. This probably for two reasons.

1. That new users will sign up for the adoption service, and then get bored of Wikipedia - hence why we have the category for users who have already been offered adoption.
2. That the user had been waiting so long for an Adopter to offer adoption that they have got bored.

Now I think the first problem has been dealt with, but the second one does need sorting and that is what this section and the section below is about. Cheers Lethaniol 14:24, 19 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Waiting for adoption

Is there any way of listing those seeking adoption in date order of when they asked for it, instead of alphabetical order? I've offered adoption to a couple of people but had no idea whether they had been waiting for a much longer, or shorter, time than others. (I tried to avoid alphabetical bias by starting in the middle...) Thoughts? Bencherlite 22:43, 17 March 2007 (UTC)

Not a bad idea. Perhaps the template could include a date field, or something? In my case, for the record, I actually started at the back end, and included a bit of randomness to try to avoid alphabetic bias. The Jade Knight 00:12, 18 March 2007 (UTC)

Well, I am a sort of technological wizard if I do say so myself. I'll see if I can come up with something that fits the bill. Ok? Zazzer 14:33, 18 March 2007 (UTC)

Usually to make the template include a date field we need a bot. --Deryck C. 04:26, 19 March 2007 (UTC)

This sounds like a good idea if someone can make it. Ideally we should try to keep the number of people looking for adoption low though - say less than 20 - that way this wont be an issue. Cheers Lethaniol 14:01, 19 March 2007 (UTC)

I believe some other templates that use dates do it by making a wrapper template that you subst, which includes the real template and some magic words as parameters. I've never made a template, but as I understand it, it wouldn't be that hard to add auto-dating to the template. --Sopoforic 09:49, 20 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] How can an adopter choose suitable adoptee?

We can sort them by language, issues and some other criteria. For example if adopter and adoptee have the same language - when non of them are native speakers of English- or both of them participate in the same issues it can be more helpful and successful. For example I'm persian therefor I can adopt persians better than the other.--Sa.vakilian(t-c) 08:49, 20 March 2007 (UTC)

I suggest to make a form for who seek adoption and ask him/her language, time zone and some other important issues to help adopter with finding more appropriate one. --Sa.vakilian(t-c) 09:47, 20 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] I got confused

I can't understand the difference between Category:Wikipedians involved with Adopt-a-user#Pages in category "Wikipedians involved with Adopt-a-user" and Category:Wikipedians who have adopted in Adopt-a-user--Sa.vakilian(t-c) 08:44, 20 March 2007 (UTC)

The first should contain everyone involved in Adopt-a-user, adopters and adoptees alike (though most should be found only in the subcategories. I wonder why they're not). The 2nd is only those who have adopted others, not those seeking to adopt or adoptees. The Jade Knight 23:07, 28 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Adopter who has been blocked

Zazzer has recently been blocked, but has 4 3 adoptees, which seems to violate the general guidelines for adopters. Should anything be done about this?? -- Whereizben - Chat with me - My Contributions 20:26, 28 March 2007 (UTC)

Well, something should probably be done. At least leave a message on his talk page and give him a chance to explain himself. The Jade Knight 23:04, 28 March 2007 (UTC)

They only have 3 current adoptees. One in the list graduated. I would say a block is a block is a block and we should de-list them as an adopter and spread out the remaining three over other willing adoptees. I'd be happy to take one of the three. --MECU≈talk 23:18, 28 March 2007 (UTC)

I was thinking that myself. As for explaining, pgk has repeatedly warned them about copy violations, which they seem to have ignored, which is why pgk blocked them, from what I can see. I could probably take a person on, but I am not certain I am experienced enough yet, so I would defer to the judgement of others. -- Whereizben - Chat with me - My Contributions 13:07, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Does this give the wrong idea about Wikipedia?

It seems like a program like this may give new users the wrong idea that Wikipedia is a social networking site rather than an encyclopedia. Is there some purpose to adoption that can't also be served by the normal type of feedback that editors will get from other editors? Friday (talk) 23:25, 28 March 2007 (UTC)

There was a little discussion about this in the archive of this page, see [1]. If anything, through the adoption program, it should be made clear we are not a social networking site, along with all the other policies. Not everyone learns the same. If we can convert a few extra, different-types of members that might have not stuck around otherwise, then the program has benefit. --MECU≈talk 01:58, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Automation?

There seem to be a lot of people waiting for adoption in Category:Wikipedians seeking to be adopted in Adopt-a-user and a lot of people willing to adopt in Wikipedia:Adopt-a-User/Adoptee's Area/Adopters. It seems like many adopters are willing but not actively seeking adoptees, and I would guess that many potential adoptees don't have the know-how or inclination to seek out an adopter.

My guess is that the majority of both adopters and adoptees are waiting for someone else to make the first move. Would there be some way to write a script or bot that could automatically match potential adoptees with adopters who are willing? Even if actual automation is too difficult or impractical, could we develop a process whereby the two pages are regularly perused and matches are made?

We could still allow people to do things the old way, if they prefer to hand-pick their adoptee/adopter, but maybe have {{autoadoptee}} and {{autoadopter}} templates that would help automate the process? This might also help to deal with the problem of "dangling" adoptees (i.e. those who put up the template and then leave).

Any thoughts? Would my idea work? Does anyone have any suggestions on other ways to match people up? Does anyone else have the same perception that the majority of people are waiting for something to happen?

—P^urpleRA^IN 19:38, 4 April 2007 (UTC)

Sounds like a good idea to me. The Jade Knight 10:34, 7 April 2007 (UTC)

It's a good idea. Anyway, we can also go on and try to match 'em. If there no one object, I'll do it. Snowolf ^(talk) _CON ^COI - 12:32, 7 April 2007 (UTC)

Keeping in mind this page, of course. I agree with what PurpleRain said before- both groups are waiting for the other to make the first move. On the AAU home page it kind of outlines the reason- it says that an experienced user will offer adoption, or you can have a look at the adopter status page. Maybe we should just keep one of those? A more 'personalised' adoption will have the adoptees looking at the status page for an adopter that knows about a certain aspect of Wikipedia... thoughts? CattleGirl ^{talk | sign!} 07:33, 8 April 2007 (UTC)