User:Ryancormack

Greetings
I'm here to help make this wiki a little bit better. I have quite a bit of experience editing on Wikipedia, particularly editing in source code. I hope to make a difference here as well.

Have a great day!

Some thoughts on how I think FamilySearch Wiki could be improved
1.The bright red warning "If you are unable to edit the wiki after logging in, you will need to request editing rights using this form. You will be notified when editing rights are granted" is ugly. Can you change it to black?

This new policy also seems to contradict the pages that invite participation. Why not scrap the lockdown policy and change that statement to something like "Help us fight vandalism. If you see a page that is inappropriate click here" At the very least perhaps give church members the benefit of the doubt. I don't know the extent of the problem, just giving my perspective.

2. The following life preserver link is found throughout the wiki ->

When a new editor clicks on this, they are taken to a very generic FamilySearch help page (and there is no box there for Wiki-help). I would think a solution to this would be to add a wiki box on that page, or better yet change the help page to this support page instead. As someone with experience with Wikipedia I can easily code and tell you these things. Most new comers trying to give feedback would probably just give up and disappear.

3. The font is freakishly small on this site. One of the few site that require me to hit "ctrl" and "+". Not very friendly for the visually impaired. This is especially true for superscripts
 * and for bullet points, which are fairly common.Superscripts within a bullet are next to impossible to read

4. New user on Wikipedia usually get a welcome/orientation message on their talk page when they first set up an account. This would be a good thing.

5. I've noticed a there's a push for creating more articles, rather than improve existing articles. I don't think FS wiki has the resources and volunteers like Wikipedia to maintain quality. More pages = more maintenance. Going for quantity over quality will make this look like Cyndi's list (an ugly directory of resources) rather than an online encyclopedia and how to guide for genealogy. It may already be too late ...

6. It would also be good to have a different introduction for new editors who have experience in editing on Wikipedia. Maybe a special page to tell them how this Wiki is similar to Wikipedia and how it is different.

7. Templates should be made for international and national resources that are repeated on numerous pages. For example a template for Findagrave.com could say the exact same thing on hundreds of cemetery pages. This provides consistency and accuracy as well as easy maintenance and updating. Similarly for each USA census. This could also be done for topic introductions (i.e. "cemetery records usually contain... They are useful for ..." can be templated).

8. Article quality ratings - Wikipedia has articles labeled as "good articles" and "featured articles". These act as a gold standard to which others can rise to. This is not used/promoted very much on this wiki.

Just a few of my initial impressions. I hope to use my Wikipedia experience to help make this site better.