User:James086/Watchlist philosophy

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This is an essay; it contains the advice and/or opinions of one or more Wikipedia contributors. It is not a policy or guideline, and editors are not obliged to follow it.

Watchlists are extremely useful tools; Special:Watchlist is the 3rd most visited page on Wikipedia overall.^[1] I use my watchlist extensively, but I have come to a realisation, watchlists distract us from the encyclopedia. What's the first thing you do after logging on? I'd put money down that it's check your watchlist.

If you have a different approach that works for you, please add a new section or discuss it on the talk page.

[edit] Problem

So how long does it take to do that? I find that if you have too many pages, you spend more time checking up on changes to your watchlist than anything else. I timed myself, and with ~300 pages (plus their talk pages) it took me about 30 minutes to check them all.^[2] That's a lot of time on Wikipedia. I could delete about 50 images, revert and warn maybe 100 vandals or contribute greatly to a new article making it worthy of Did You Know? in that time.

Also, with many pages on my watchlist, I find I check it more often because it's more likely something has been updated. A list of 50 diffs can make it difficult to analyse. If there are lots of pages present it takes longer to review each change and I find myself repeatedly checking the same diff by accident.

[edit] Resolution?

I now have 108 (as of May 10 2007) pages on my watchlist and I find that I check it less frequently and faster. Bacause I'm often pressed for time, this allows much more contribution and less "checking what's happened since I left". If you feel inclined to engage in a similar strategy I have a few suggestions:

If you have a discussion that's finished (e.g. on someone's user talk page or on a certain policy page) un-watchlist it. Talk pages can get a lot of attention thus cluttering your watchlist.
For pages that are very regularly updated, why not make some userlinks? Then they are only a click away at all times, while not taking up watchlist space.
Trim your watchlist regularly. By getting rid of those pages you don't really want to watch, you reduce time wasted.