WikiCendekia: New Experiences and Lessons

When I found out that I had passed as one of the participants of WikiCendekia, my primary mission was to gain as much knowledge as possible about managing Wikipedia projects. This program is very suitable for me, a relatively new project administrator on Wikipedia. So far, I’ve only learnt independently by reading Wikipedia’s policies and guidelines. Sometimes, I consult with my seniors in the community about how to deal with users who do not comply with Wikipedia’s terms and policies.

Honestly, WikiCendekia program has been very helpful for me in gaining a deeper understanding of the wiki projects I manage, especially since my technical skills as an administrator are still quite lacking. At this time I manage two wiki projects: Indonesian WikiQuote (WQID) and Indonesian Wikipedia (IDWP). And I’m trying to transfer the knowledge I gained from managing IDWP to WQID based solely on my personal experience.

I learned that managing two projects doesn’t necessarily mean implementing the same principles. Each project has its own characteristics. While IDWP serves as a hub for other wiki projects, it doesn’t mean it is the sole authority in determining the policies and regulations for the smaller projects under it.

Every terms and policies for smaller wiki project should be formulated collaboratively until consensus is reached. The establishment of these terms and policies also takes into account the user traffic within each project. Therefore, not all projects require immediate consensus on these terms and policies as soon as they release from the incubator.

The main focus of a small wiki project being managed is to develop it so that other users find it easier to contribute. Then, gradually, we developed terms and policies that helped project contributors contribute in a better way..

Releasing a project from the incubator is certainly different from maintaining it. Maintaining a newly released wiki project requires several contributors who willingly continue contributing and keep the project growing. This is not easy and requires extra patience, especially when there are still relatively few contributors.

A presenter at one of the WikiCendekia sessions explained that project administrators can submit proposals to define policies for their projects. It needs at least 3-5 people to establish a policy for a small wiki projects. After that we can decide together whether these terms and policies are suitable to implement or not.

However, even if a policy has already been approved by consensus, it can still be changed in each wiki project. If someone objects to that, he must submit a new policy proposal with a clear basis. Other contributors then respond with their own arguments until we reach a new policy consensus.

From the discussions I had with several project administrators during The Sysop 101: How to Be a Firm Administrator without Demotivating Contributor session, it’s concluded that not all wiki projects especially the small ones need to have terms and policies as long as there are no users who commit repeated violations. Therefore, the terms, policies, guidelines, or essays on a wiki project aren’t designed from the beginning. They’re usually created after a violation has occurred.

From this I learned that Wikipedia is democratic. It doesn’t belong only to a certain group of people, but to everyone whose contributions deserve to be valued. WikiCendekia program helped me understand that administrators aren’t merely “police officers” patrolling Wikipedia, but also protectors and mentors who support other contributors who want to participate in liberating knowledge.

This is just one of many tasks carried out by administrators of Indonesian Wikipedia and its sister projects. Admins also have to struggle against lots of AI-generated articles from contributors. I’ll share it in another post as part of the experiences I gained from participating in WikiCendekia.