User:Donohue55/reflection

A community is a group where individuals come together and create a sense of togetherness through beliefs, hierarchy, history, and other expectations and norms. But what is the hardest part of joining a new community? Is it the confidence required to contribute, the possibility of early alienation, or is it something else? For many newcomers, it is a combination of all these challenges, as entering a new community creates a learning curve where members may slowly grasp the community through its culture and norms. This happens within communities, both online and in-person, where new individuals must learn the ways of the community through an integration phase. During this time, the newcomer must really decide whether they want to be a part of the community, if they feel that they truly fit and can meaningfully contribute. This integration phase is no different on Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia. Contributing to Wikipedia exhibits newcomers' motivations and persuasively influences them to a long-term commitment to the community through [[Wikipedians]]' feedback, rather than the active Wikipedia norms. The feedback and responses that experienced [[Wikipedians]] give to newcomers early in the [[Wikipedia:Seven Ages of Wikipedians|Seven Ages of Wikipedians]] influence how a newcomer makes their decision of either continuing to contribute to pages or moving away from the community altogether.

A community is a group where individuals come together and create a sense of togetherness through beliefs, hierarchy, history, and other expectations and norms. But what is the hardest part of joining a new community? Is it the confidence required to contribute, the possibility of early alienation, or is it something else? For many newcomers, it is a combination of all these challenges, as entering a new community creates a learning curve where members may slowly grasp the community through its culture and norms. This happens within communities, both online and in-person, where new individuals must learn the ways of the community through an integration phase. During this time, the newcomer must decide whether they want to be a part of the community, if they feel that they fit and can meaningfully contribute. This integration phase is no different on Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia. Contributing to Wikipedia exhibits newcomers' motivations and persuasively influences them to a long-term commitment to the community through [[Wikipedians]]' feedback, rather than the active Wikipedia norms.{{awk|reason=|date={{date:%B %Y}}}} The feedback and responses that experienced [[Wikipedians]] give to newcomers early in the [[Wikipedia:Seven Ages of Wikipedians|Seven Ages of Wikipedians]] influence how a newcomer makes their decision of either continuing to contribute to pages or moving away from the community altogether.

== Newcomer Gateways and Motivations ==

== Newcomer Gateways and Motivations ==