FamilySearch Wiki:Welcoming committee

Back to Care and Support

Welcoming committee members welcome new users and help them get started in various ways. There are no requirements for joining us except a good attitude and a willingness to help newcomers get started on FamilySearch Research Wiki.

How you can help

 * Our main activity is to welcome new users who are participating in the wiki by authoring new content or editing existing content. To do that we post a welcome message on their Talk pages. Each Talk page needs to have the Discussion Convention template posted.

Unless the user is a student in a BYU class, the following message should also be posted on the Talk page directing the new user to the Wiki Welcome Center and to check their email for further instructions:

"An invitation to the Wiki Welcome Center, a resource guide for new contributors (https://familysearch.org/wiki/en/Wiki_Welcome_Center) has been sent to the contact email you shared. Please join us there."

Step 1: Find a new user

 * Click here for instructions on where to find new contributors to the Wiki.

Step 2: Check the user's contributions

 * It's important to know what the individuals are contributing so you can personalize the message (see Step 4) and the information can be used to encourage future contributions.
 * Click on the new contributor's username
 * While on the user page, underneath the Toolbox menu on the right, click on User Contributions
 * Look at the following:
 * The dates of the edits the user made so you know how long they have been contributing to the Wiki
 * The pages they have been editing so you know where their interests are
 * Click on the "diff" link so you can see what the individual has edited
 * List edits on the Supporting Active Users (Column "Q")

Welcome templates

 * Standard
 * The standard template is Discussion Conventions. To use it, type this on a new user's talk page in Wikitext:




 * This will make a section titled "Talk Conventions" with the following instructions:

* Please post new messages at the bottom of the page to prevent confusion. * Please sign your comments. Type 4 tildas (~) after your text. * Please use section headings to separate conversation topics.

See: Wikiquette, Be nice, and Talk page guidelines. Start a new talk topic. Please post your comments on this page by clicking the link above. This will automatically format the page so all you have to do is type your comments.

No additional Welcome message is posted on the BYU Student talk page.
 * BYU Student


 * Contributor
 * A welcome message is added to the talk page following the Discussion Conventions template that says, "An invitation to the Wiki Welcome Center, a resource guide for new contributors (https://familysearch.org/wiki/en/Wiki_Welcome_Center) has been sent to the contact email you shared. Please join us there."

Email messages
Click on "Email this User" under Tools on the left sidebar.

Subject Line: Welcome to the Wiki!

Message: Welcome to the Wiki!

My name is (your name). I am one of the Wiki support team members. Thank you for your recent contribution to the Wiki. I've included some links to help you succeed in your role as a contributor.

1. The Wiki Welcome Kit - Here is a resource guide for new contributors:  https://familysearch.org/wiki/en/Wiki_Welcome_Center

2. Our Yammer Community - The Wiki contributors collaborate, offer feedback, and receive the latest Wiki information using FamilySearch’s internal communication tool called Yammer. If you would like to be invited into that network, click the link below, fill out the form and you will receive an email invitation from Yammer within a few days:  https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__docs.google.com_forms_d_17rzCcef-2DeKpg0LeGl-5FBIOILMzZ6vGwk7GVBxMCIlpQg_viewform-3Fpref-3D2-26pli-3D1-26edit-5Frequested-3Dtrue&d=DwIDaQ&c=z0adcvxXWKG6LAMN6dVEqQ&r=7XxckdXiW8PESpuMACOT5fYw_YoHImcS8gKIN8xC8yE&m=-9ATJsGdrwfJFmp4-bI-7KdoLdNRs9dBMBKGD25bQ_w&s=mH80QI35qDgMOdFemqZxeXx1tE-yjRuSrZ-uCLOXUWA&e=

We are always looking for contributions from people who know about or are interested in a particular Wiki topic or location. Is there a particular subject in the Wiki that you might be interested in helping us improve? Let me know if you have any questions or need help.

Thank you,

Wiki Support Team

Welcoming etiquette

 * The edit summary of the welcome edit should simply say "Welcome!" The edit should not be a minor edit.


 * Before you welcome users, it is recommended that you check their previous contributions. Some new users use their accounts solely to vandalize or break rules in other ways. If the user has vandalized a page, you should add a warning to their talk page. Please don't add a template that simply thanks a vandal for their contributions.


 * In addition to this, if you notice any unintentional mistakes in the contributions of new users, you may wish to bring it to their attention in the welcome message.

Step 4: Update the Supporting Active Users Spreadsheet

 * Open the [Supporting Active Users Spreadsheet] in Googledocs.
 * Locate the appropriate alphabetical location for the new user's information
 * Insert a new line for the new user's information
 * Copy and past the User Name from the User's Contributions page
 * If the New User was welcomed, put the date in the "Welcomed?" field of the spreadsheet
 * If the New User was not welcomed, put "no" in the "Welcomed?" field of the spreadsheet and the reason in the "Notes" field.

Help improve new user resources

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


 * FamilySearch Wiki:Welcoming committee/Welcome to FamilySearch Wiki — main welcome page.
 * FamilySearch Wiki:Introduction -- FamilySearch Wiki introduction page.
 * FamilySearch Wiki:Tutorial -- FamilySearch Wiki editing tutorial.
 * FamilySearch Wiki:Questions — the "where to ask questions" directory.
 * FamilySearch Wiki:FAQ — quick answers to the most common questions.
 * FamilySearch Wiki:FAQ/Technical — quick answers to the most common technical questions.
 * Help:Contributor Help — links to pages that will answer questions for new contributors.
 * FamilySearch Wiki:Mentors — where a new user can be adopted by an experienced user who will be his/her mentor.
 * Share your knowledge by adding to the Wiki — with information about how to create a good first article.

Discuss plans

 * 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 FamilySearch Wiki. 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.

Where to find new users
Here are some ways to find new users:


 * Check the Newbies' contributions page and help newbies contribute if they are having trouble
 * You will no doubt come across new users as you work on FamilySearch Wiki. 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 to 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 recent changes. If there is a new user, it will say as an edit summary: (New user account). These users will also be on the account creation log. You can then click on the red linked talk page and then greet them. This is also helpful if you are looking for newbies, vandalism, etc.

__NORICHEDITOR__