CZ Talk:Managing Editor/2010/004 - Simplification of application procedure

My thoughts
Daniel has invited me to chime in on this.

I think the signup procedure currently is too convoluted and is probably putting off applicants.

With generalist wikis, a lot of people sign up just to correct a very minor mistake or as a one-off thing. They spot a comma out of place and just want to fix that. We ought to encourage this.


 * 1) We should get a copywriter to rewrite the text to make it shorter, more encouraging and so on. Change the language from "requirement", "you are required to do this" etc. to a less strict tone.
 * 2) We should use A/B testing to compare various versions of the signup page.
 * 3) We shouldn't ask people whether they are authors or editors at initial signup: once they are signed up, offer them the chance to upgrade their account to editor if they are qualified.
 * 4) Just have a spot for people to dump in URLs.
 * 5) We should do some "guerilla user testing" to see where in the form we can improve it.

That seems like it might get us on the right track. –Tom Morris 17:14, 23 November 2010 (UTC)