Wikivoyage:Welcome message

When new Wikivoyagers set up a user account and make a new user page, it can be nice to welcome them to the site with a brief welcome message. This has the benefits of letting them know that we want their help and shared knowledge, as well as giving some good starting points for learning how to be the best darn contributor ever.

We want every contributor's first contact with Wikivoyage to be a positive experience, regardless of whether their first contribution sticks or not. A friendly welcome and an explanation of any reversion can save a contributor who may otherwise just turn away from the site.

Anyone can welcome new users to the site, and they can use whatever text they want. It is recommended that new user is welcomed if they:
 * edit live article pages, especially if the edit(s) resulted in a comment from someone else (so you can critique their work and point to particular articles that might help them - or just thank them for the contribution), or
 * create a new page, (other than their user page), or
 * create their user page and make an edit to live pages, or
 * make comments on talk pages or other discussion pages.

The following Wiki markup has most of the important starter links in it, however, and makes a good standard welcome message.


 * Hello! Welcome to Wikivoyage.
 * To help get you started contributing, we've created a tips for new contributors page, full of helpful links about policies and guidelines and style as well as some important information on copyleft and basic stuff like how to edit a page.
 * If you need help, check out Help, or post a message in the travellers' pub.

-- ~

You should be able to copy and paste that into someone's user talk page. Or you can type to insert the same text from Template:welcome.

It's nice to personalize the message, though! You can add comments after the template, before you sign the message.

Wikipedians
For likely Wikipedians, consider the following message:


 * Hello! Welcome to Wikivoyage.


 * To help get you started contributing, we've created a tips for new contributors page, full of helpful links about policies and guidelines and style, as well as some important information on copyleft and basic stuff like how to edit a page.


 * If you need help, check out Help, or post a message in the travellers' pub.


 * If you are a Wikipedian, or have previously used Wikipedia, then you may notice some differences in the style of our articles. These include:


 * * "Village pump" &rarr; travellers' pub


 * * "be bold" &rarr; plunge forward


 * * "sandbox" &rarr; graffiti wall


 * * "stub notes" &rarr; Article status notes


 * * "External links" &rarr; We do not use a separate external links section, but incorporate primary links only into the text itself.


 * Thanks for contributing! -- ~

You should be able to copy and paste that into someone's user talk page. Or you can type to insert the same text from Template:wikipedian.

Anonymous users
Anonymous contributors should be welcomed in cases of:
 * repeated vandalism, (or any vandalism?)
 * repeated edits over a period of time with an assessment about their quality, (good, bad, indifferent or variable)
 * contributing to discussions, especially if it is important that replies be seen by contributor
 * copyright or other policy guideline issues.

Some guidelines we try to follow here:
 * Find something nice to say. Even if someone is an obvious troll/vandal, be the bigger person and Assume Good Faith. Also keep in mind that 1 IP is not always 1 User and that other users may be on the other end of your message. First impressions and all that...
 * Invite the user to create an account. But make it clear that it's in no way required. Pointing out the Docent Wikivoyage may also encourage folks to get involved, especially if they have been focusing on one or two destinations that they obviously know well.
 * Point out appropriate policy/guideline links. Probably not the whole welcome graph, but a subset that seems useful given their contributions.

Just as an example:



By the way, great work on ... destinations-- have you considered creating a user account so you get credit for your contributions and many other advantages

Also, if you're new to the whole wiki software look at the wiki markup to get an idea of how to use the wiki markup (we dont use html tages for formatting). If you need help, check out Help, and if you need some info not on there, post a message in the travellers' pub.

I look forward to more contributions! ~

There is also a shorter standard welcome message for anonymous users in which you can optionally incorporate a custom message; see Template:Welcomeplusanon for more information.

Benefits for creating an account
See Why register.

Business owners and Tourism professionals
See Welcome, business owners and Welcome, tourism professionals.

Business owners
For business owner who started with some edits, start with something like this:
 * Welcome to Wikivoyage. We have an introductory page for business owners--please take a minute to read it before going on with your edits.


 * Following your recent edits [diff URL] in the ArticleName article:
 * For now, I reverted your additions to the above article.
 * For now, I reverted your additions to the above article.

When the user removed information about competitor:
 * One of the most important rules is "never remove info on competitors". Never, without exception. Failure to comply to this rule normally leads to blacklisting the business being promoted and/or blocking the offending user.

When the user contributes too flowery description of his properties, something this can help:
 * What's most important when adding your properties to the listings are: be fair and don't tout.

...or, if you need a more wordy message:
 * Welcome to Wikivoyage! Thanks for your recent addition of (venue name) to the (article name) article.


 * It looks very much like an advertisement. Wikivoyage strives to avoid being an "advertising brochure" for any business, city, or service--so {please edit|I have edited} your text to describe the establishment rather than trying to sell it to a reader. I would recommend to read Don't tout article before your future edits--and we would happy to see you back editing here but also respecting our guidelines ;-)
 * BTW, we would recommend you registering a login name at Wikivoyage, see the list of benefits having an account may bring to you.

When a flowery list of nearby attractions is added to accommodation property:
 * Please avoid lengthy descriptions of nearby sights and attractions in accommodation listings like the one you recently added to the (article name) article. Instead, please give a concrete idea of the location: near the railway station, 5 min on foot to the National Museum, 10 min by car to the Grand Canyon--it will be much more helpful for a traveler choosing a place to stay.

When apartment rental is [repeatedly] added, and it doesn't meet our criteria:
 * I removed your apartment listing as it doesn't meet our criteria for apartment rentals. Please review those criteria before adding back your apartments.

When apartments section is [repeatedly] added in an article where no consensus reached yet on listing apartments:


 * As for your recent (re-)addition of apartments section to ..., I reverted it as our apartments policy has recently changed. First, consensus must be achieved on the article's talk page that apartment listings should be allowed.

When the business places an advertisement on their user page:
 * You are welcome to use your user page to identify yourself as associated with your business. This can help people collaborating with you on a guide. However, we avoid having advertisements on user pages.

Guiding new users
When a new user has made an edit that doesn't comply with one of our policies, or that had to be reverted, it is useful to include some extra text in your welcome to guide them to the appropriate policy.

When districts are not considered and the item is [repeatedly] added to the main article:
 * As long as ... is a huge city, we always list its places to eat and sleep in a specific district article, not in the main city article. I had to revert it in the main article, but please feel free to add individual listings to one of its districts: ...

When a link to a secondary source or agency is [repeatedly] added:
 * I removed the link you added because it doesn't meet our criteria for external links. Please review those criteria to see what links can be added to articles.