Wikipedia:Welcoming committee

Welcome to the welcoming committee (WC). We are an informal group of Wikipedians who greet new users and help them get started in various ways. There are no requirements for joining us save a good attitude and an willingness to show newcomers some of the ropes and field questions. Here's how you can help...

[edit] Welcome new users

Our main activity is to greet new users. To do that we post a welcome message on their talk pages (if they don't have a talk page yet, create one for them!). Often, it's best to post a personalized greeting composed directly from you to the new user. But to save time, you can use a premade greeting template or a cut-and-paste greeting.

[edit] Welcome templates

Be sure to place greetings on each user's talk page, not their user page; this will ensure they will receive the "You have new messages" automatic alert.

[edit] Standard templates

The traditional template is {{Welcome}}. To use it, type this on a new user's talk page:

{{subst:welcome}} ~~~~

An updated version, with corrected links, new formatting, and optional parameters, is {{Welcome!}}. (In place of "message" write a personal message, or leave that part blank):

{{subst:welcome!|message|~~~~}}

The Welcoming Commitee's shortest greetings is {{Welcom}}, which provides a link to our welcome page. Type:

{{subst:welcom}}

[edit] Greeting anonymous new users

When welcoming new users who don't yet have accounts (their edits are logged by their IP address rather than a user name) it is best to suggest that they create one. To welcome such a user, type:

{{subst:anon}} ~~~~

or

{{subst:anon-welcome}} ~~~~

[edit] List and gallery

The Welcoming Committee's complete collection of templates for welcoming new users is located at Wikipedia:Welcoming committee/Welcome templates; this includes adapted templates in the user space.

Wikipedia:Welcoming committee/Welcome templates/Table provides a visual gallery of welcome messages.

[edit] Vandals

You may come across a new user who has done nothing but vandalise articles. If their vandalism is minor, you might add a welcome and a warning to their talk page. For more serious cases, you probably should just add a warning. But whatever you do, please don't add a template that simply thanks them for their contributions — this sends the wrong message.

[edit] Making templates

If you would like to learn to encode templates, see Help:Template, Help:Magic words, Help:Variable, and m:ParserFunctions.

[edit] Where to find new users

Here are some ways to find new users:

• Check Wikipedia's account creation log - this is especially useful with a quick link to their talk page, as well as an "at-a-glance" sign to tell if they've probably been welcomed already: their talk page isn't red linked!
• You will no doubt come across them as you work on Wikipedia. You may spot them in the edit histories of pages, or on talk pages. If a user's signature or username is in red, that indicates that he or she doesn't have a user page set up yet. That means they are very likely (but not always) a new user. Check their talk page so see if they've already been greeted (though there's no harm in greeting a new user again; you can always say "hi", and offer your assistance).
• Check the New user log

[edit] Help new users

If the new user responds to the welcome message (you may wish to put his talk page on your watchlist), follow up with more help. You may wish to suggest adoption.

Members of the WC should be especially careful not to bite newcomers.

[edit] Help staff, maintain, and improve Wikipedia's newcomer resources

In addition to greeting new users, we also design and help maintain pages specifically to assist newcomers in various ways. The pages we help operate and/or maintain are:

• Welcome to Wikipedia — our main welcome page.
• Wikipedia:Introduction
• Tutorial
• Wikipedia:Questions — the "where to ask a question" directory.
• FAQs & VFAQs — quick answers to the most common questions.
• Wikipedia:New contributor's help page — this is a place for new users to post questions and get an answer (usually within minutes) by volunteers who monitor or frequent the page. We like to hang out there and assist the best we can.
• Wikipedia:Help desk — where volunteers answer questions on how to use Wikipedia. Many new users go there for help too.
• New user log — where new users can introduce themselves and meet other new users. It's nice if we respond to what they post there, especially if we can point them to pages or projects they'll be interested in.
• Wikipedia:Adopt-a-User — where a new user can be adopted by an experienced user who will be his or her mentor/tutor.

[edit] Plot and plan

As an active team, we discuss and implement new projects from time to time. We also discuss new users in general and try to keep in touch with the experience a typical new user is likely to be subjected to upon discovering and participating in Wikipedia. Sometimes the treatment they receive from veterans can be confusing or even traumatic. So we try to come up with ways to prevent this sort of thing. To participate, please see the talk page.

[edit] Add yourself to our member list

If you would like to see who we are, or add yourself to our noble ranks, check out Wikipedia:Welcoming committee/members.

[edit] See also

• Wikipedia:WikiProject Community
• Special:Contributions/newbies — Edits by newcomers.
• Special:Log/newusers — account creation log.
• Wikipedia:Template messages/User talk namespace

Category: Wikipedian organizations