Research talk:New editors' first session and retention

EpochFail, some new users have mentioned that they had heard rumours that editing Wikipedia is very hard, the community is hostile, your atempts are likely to get rejected, and you should just stick to sending money (it has to be admitted that the advertising campaigns do suggest that we need money more than editors, which I think is not the case). The possibility of reputational effects might suggest some additional interpretations of your results. Of course, you may know of more formal survey data on these perceptions in the general population; on my side this is just anecdote. [redacted] 15:26, 2 August 2020 (UTC)

EpochFail fixing the ping so you're notified... Jtmorgan (talk) 23:55, 2 August 2020 (UTC)

Thanks Jtmorgan. I'm not quite sure I understand the critique or concern here. E.g. if Wikipedia got a reputation for being an unwelcome community, wouldn't that manifest *before* someone clicks edit? Wouldn't the rise in negative responses to newcomers *support* this reputation? Further, the analysis suggests that the dynamic of negative attention directed towards newcomers and falling retention (~2007 ish) predates Wikipedia's reputation (~2011 ish). I don't mean to challenge the point being made by [redacted] so much as to try to figure out what it is. Is there an alternative explanation for this data that could fit? --EpochFail (talk) 18:53, 7 August 2020 (UTC)