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Offer people who decline to add a reference follow-up actions and learning opportunities
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Description

In T329593, we're defining the experience people will be met by when they decide not to add a reference when Edit Check prompts them to do so.

This task involves the work with introducing follow-up actions and learning opportunities for people to consider taking depending on the "decline" reason they select.

Requirements

DescriptionStoryFollow-up action/information (desired)
1.My changes are already cited earlierAs someone who is attempting to contribute new content to an article based on information I discovered through a source that is used elsewhere in the article I'm editing, I'd like to know how I can go about "re-using" this reference so that people who will come after me will know how they can trace the origin of the information they'll be reading and considering depending on.TBD
2.I'm not sure what citation to addAs someone who is not yet clear about what citation to accompany the new content they're adding with, I'd value knowing what questions people who are experiencing adding citations to Wikipedia ask themselves when contributing new content so that I can feel more confident identifying a viable citation for the content I'm adding on my own.TBD
3.The information I'm adding would be easy for anyone to verifyA)Automatically insert a hidden comment next to the content being inserted, B) Automatically insert the {{citation needed}} template with the reason=parameter populated [i]
4.The information I added does not need a citationSomething like "Wikipedia requires encyclopedic content to be verifiable through citations to reliable sources. Content that is not cited is often reverted. Would you like to add a citation? [Yes] [No]." via @Sdkb in T329593#8635552.
NOTE: volunteers, on a per-project basis, will need to be able configure these follow-up actions and learning opportunities. [ii]

i. This idea surfaced in the 14 July 2023 Editing Team Community Meeting
ii. User:Joe Roe named this need on mediawiki.org


This ticket was inspired by the ideas @Sdkb shared on mediawiki.org.

Event Timeline

I'd be interested to see what sort of edits fall into the third category, but I'd hazard a guess that many of them are not actually going to be [[WP:BLUESKY]] things. The follow-up action might be a dialogue that raises [[WP:BURDEN]]. Basically, to the new editor, "it's easy enough to Google this" might seem reasonable, but to a vandalism patroller going through hundreds of edits, they don't have time to Google each one — they're just going to revert with the default uncited summary. The person adding an edit is always the one best positioned to add the reference, since they already have it on hand, so pushing them a bit to add it may reduce the burden on others/result in more new content getting preserved.

I also continue to worry that the presence of the options may give editors false ideas about Wikipedia policies. E.g. by having an option "The information I'm adding would be easy for anyone to verify," it may lead newcomers to think that the policy is that easy-to-verify info doesn't require a citation, which is not correct. We wouldn't want them carrying that impression forward and not citing future edits, so it's important that the follow-up message disabuse them of it.