User talk:Samwalton9/Live help

Thoughts from Bluma.Gelley

Hi, Sam

I really like this analysis. You give a great breakdown of the issues with the current help system. I think, though, that you're implying and dancing around, but never quite outright saying, the main issue: most non-geeks are not familiar with IRC at all, and forcing them to use an interface which they will likely need help using while they are trying to get help is a major usability flaw. IRC is really not popular anymore, and most people who click on a "Live Help Chat" button expect to get a one-on-one, easy-to-use chat box, not an IRC login page with confusing parameters (the standard help IRC login page provides users with a username, but the link from the Article Wizard just gives an empty box entitled "Nickname". This is very confusing for someone who's never used IRC before, who may assume that they should be using a specific username - their Wikipedia username, perhaps? - and not know what to do.). It really seems like a major turn-off for non tech-savvy users, who are often exactly the people we're trying to recruit. Bluma.Gelley (talk) 15:47, 28 May 2015 (UTC)

Hi Bluma, thanks for your thoughts! I agree completely that IRC is a core issue, and really the whole IRC section is an attempt to extrapolate on why specifically it makes for a bad interface. As for the nickname issue, this is actually another issue with IRC since Freenode has registered usernames that users wouldn't be able to have, and most of the common ones (Western first names) are undoubtedly already taken. Sam Walton (talk) 17:39, 28 May 2015 (UTC)

Definitely. You seem to think that this can realistically be changed. Knowing the Wikipedia community, do you feel that they would be willing to accept this change, or would they poo-poo it as not necessary?Bluma.Gelley (talk) 18:03, 28 May 2015 (UTC)

I like laying out my thoughts and the options for things like this either way, but I do think the community would probably support this. The main problem I see is actually getting the tool developed, Visual Editor and Flow appear to be taking most of the WMF's development time and having a community member build it is likely a non-starter. Still, I'd like to do some more analysis, collect some more opinions, and see if there is community desire for it anyway. I'm aiming to pick a 2 week stretch some time soon and leave a computer logging the channel 24/7 for analysis, which should result in some interesting numbers before taking this to a proper proposal. Sam Walton (talk) 18:09, 28 May 2015 (UTC)