Wikipedia:Don't overload your watchlist!

Can you really keep track of all the news going on in the world all by yourself?

Watching pages is a capability provided by Wikipedia that allows users to efficiently see if any changes have been made to any articles to the user's interest. It is easily possible for any registered user to watch any page, and to remove a page from one's watchlist at any time when logged in.

Why watch a page?

That is a good question. Why do you want to know if any changes have been made to any particular page?

The following are some possible reasons:

1. You created the page, and you want others to expand it
2. The page has the potential for more information to be added in the future, and you would like to know more about the subject from someone else
3. The subject may require updating, and you want to see if updates are made
4. The page is at risk for vandalism, and you want to be alert to catch the vandalism early

What it is recommended to watch

• Pages you have created (unless the creation was only for technical reasons, and you otherwise have no interest)
• Pages on which you have made a lot of the contribution
• Pages you have never edited, but would like to learn more about the subject one day than is currently provided
• The subject receives frequent or periodic updates, and you would like to know when they updates occur
• Pages you have marked for deletion. If those pages are recreated, they will then appear on your watchlist and you can take action where appropriate.
• Non-existent pages, if you would like to know if they are ever created
• Pages that are common targets of vandalism, if you wish to assist with preventing or reverting the vandalism

What it is not recommended to watch

Watching the following types of pages is not recommended unless you have some other interest in the subject:

• Pages on which you have made extremely minor edits only
• Additions of categories, navboxes, links to other Wikipedia pages, or other small details that are included on many pages
• Pages on which you have reverted vandalism, unless the vandalism is ongoing, and you wish to help stop it
• Pages you have previously edited, but since lost interest in
• Redirects, unless they are controversial
• User pages and talk pages of others, unless you are having an ongoing discussion with that user
• Closed deletion discussions, unless they are currently under deletion review. These are never supposed to be modified.

Pitfalls of an overloaded watchist

The human mind has limits to what can be read and comprehended in any given period of time. This varies for each person, but everyone has some limit.

The more pages that are on one's watchlist, the longer it'll take to read the watchlist.

If you have a long watchlist, you may find it exhausting to read it all. As a result, you may quickly scan it over, ignoring all but the most significant changes to yourself.

The purpose of the watchlist is to look out for changes to a page. If you are ignoring the bulk of changes on your watchlist, this defeats the purpose of the watchlist.

There is also the chance that you may miss a change that is meaningful to you.