Board Thread:General Wiki Discussion/@comment-25941663-20150119211557

 I have been a member of the community since the start of the year. Many will say that I don’t have enough experience with the site and that I should probably get to know more about the wiki and its inner workings before I try and suggest changes. Maybe they are right. But the fact that I am fresh here means that I can also more realistically represent (a group of) the new wiki users.

 The issue I want to talk about is the issue of visibility. I joined the wiki to read new stories, find new authors to follow and even post a story or two of my own. And that is very difficult to do, simply because finding new stories is very, very counter-intuitive. You need to go to ‘Wiki Activity’, ‘See all activity’ and then ‘New Pages’. Finding hidden gems amidst the chaos of ‘New Pages’ is almost impossible, unless one clicks through every single link.

 At the moment, the only way to read some good stories is either by reading the first-page stories or by getting directed to one of the stories here by an external source (there is also ‘Suggested Reading’, but still, most of the stories there aren’t exactly new). The wiki feels more like a bland warehouse of stories that nobody can find, instead of a wiki that promotes good writers and good stories, thus increasing the quality of writing.

 But I am not the whiny child who only cares about complaining. I have sat down and brainstormed some ideas that (in my mind at least) can help improve this wiki. As a note before I start, I am not saying that these suggestions should be implemented; I more than anything want my ideas to spark a healthy discussion around the visibility issue and ideally inspire the people who run the place to make some changes.

 Time for some suggestions (this is getting ridiculously long, I apologize):

 1) ‘Pasta of the month’ doesn’t make much sense to me. It is simply a pasta that is highlighted for a month. I expected it to be the best story that was posted in the past month. So, the best pasta that was posted that month should be getting the spotlight. That would definitely promote new writers and stories. This month’s nominations include a pasta that was posted all the way back to 2010!

 I suggest we change this ‘competition’ to be only for the month’s pastas. Stories would get nominated by users and admins. But maybe we should change the ‘one nomination per user rule’. Make it three, or even more if possible. The nominating-voting-spotlighting periods need to be discussed, if we go through with this suggestion.

 2) I will admit that the current ‘PoTM’ is very useful for finding good stories. So, we should keep it but under a different name. Nominating and voting would remain the same.

 3) ‘Spotlighted Pasta’ is also a waste of potential. From what I get, the admins pick a story to highlight. And that is a very good idea. But I don’t understand why you put only one story up there. Maybe it is hard changing the story often or something. It would be better if we had a new story up every 10-15 days or so. I mean, ‘Faulty Wiring’ can’t be the only story that admins suggested, can it?

'' Final Note: I understand that I may come off as hostile towards the staff and the way the wiki is run, but believe me, I am only writing this post because despite being new here, I have fallen in love with the place and I would really want it to improve. ''

'' If you have any thoughts/ideas of your own, I would love to hear/discuss them. ''  