Wiki science/Children and the Wikimedia Projects
 | This is opinionated |
Introduction
[edit | edit source]This page of Wiki Science will talk about young editors. Here, we're going to talk about who young editors are, and how to deal with them. By the end, you're suppose to know how to deal with young editors, and their intention for editing.
Children
[edit | edit source]We don't really know, but a good hypothesis that "children" could be Wikipedia vandals, those random vandals that come in and change everything to nonsense. Then there are some (minority) of children/youngsters that are actual editors, take me, User:Ilyanep at Wikipedia, 11 when he became an administrator for Wikipedia, and many others.
Now... Children are also pretty important. As children are in their times where they are in school where they are tough different subjects, more igneus rocks to World War I, Battle of Somme. They could add what they learned to articles or create an article on the topic they are learning, so that means several... SEVERAL articles/improvements to articles.
How to handle
[edit | edit source]Calling them "immature" is the least helpful thing you could do. It can discourage Children Editors who would like to improve/help, and just make them leave/quit. Who knew that he/she could've actually been a very productive editor in the future? Patience is the key, mentoring helps as well. Everyone learns, and maturity for young editors come naturally, not "forced" or "pop up". If they make a mistake, explain it to them in detail, and if they decide to keep making the mistake, then a block is necessary.
Remember, patience is the key to helping young editors, as they don't know much.
Wikiversity's role in Children
[edit | edit source]Noting, this is a place where you can put classes/assignments on (several classes take place on Wikiversity), Wikiversity is an amazing place for a young editor. Students take classes online here at Wikiversity, but I don't necessarily HAVE seen any students under 13... I don't think there will be a class like that in the near time future.
But I have seen several students who are at college level, so it seems like college classes are the majority of classes that participate on Wikiversity.