Editor since 2007 is instantly understandable to everyone, I would say it is
at least as easily understood as editcount
I've never had to explain what a clean blocklog was, and I don't recall
having to explain barnstars. Toolserver access, yes I have explained to
people, but even our most untechnical editors have no problem grasping the
concept that there are people who can do various levels of programming.
But your question was about "a core part of defining identity in the
projects" if you want "a core part of defining editors wiki skills outside
of the projects" then you need a completely different focus. When it comes
to newbies and near newbies then I would suggest a more targeted
personalised approach is better. Goodfaith editors don't need to be told
bout the blocking process until they have an encounter with someone who
merits a block, likewise FAC is rather more relevant to some editors than
others.
For non-wikimedians then I think you need to consider the relevant skillsets
that the wikimedian needs to display. I know one editor who answered the PC
literacy question in a job interview by saying he was an admin on EN wiki.
We have lots of editors each year who apply for university, I know at least
one who has done so with a letter of commendation from an academic they have
collaborated with on Wiki; This is probably an area we could greatly expand
- though you'd need to do some more identifications to the office. In the
future I suspect Academia will embrace the digital revolution and get used
to the idea of marking candidates for the quality of their update to an
earlier work rather than for rewriting stuff from scratch. Once that happens
it will be much easier to explain wiki experience in ways that professors
understand.
Where the two could overlap is in my old hobby horse of Computer Based
Training. I'd love to see the scout movement awarding vandalfighter and
Wikipedia editor badges to scouts who've done the training and then
demonstrated their new skill.
WereSpielChequers
On 1 October 2011 20:03, Steven Walling <steven.walling(a)gmail.com> wrote:
On Sat, Oct 1, 2011 at 11:15 AM, WereSpielChequers
<
werespielchequers(a)gmail.com> wrote:
Re the suggestion that edit count is the only
universal metric for
success.
Editcount is a very long way from being the only
universal metric for
success.
Length of Tenure and cleanliness of block record are just as universal.
Adminship and other userights, are also universal, though I'd concede
that
adminship on some projects is seen as easier to
get than on others, but
then
automated and semiautomated edits are perceived as less worthy than
manual
ones.
Featured content is at least Wikipedia wide, though I confess I don't
know
wiktionary or Wikisource well enough to know if
they have an FA style
system.
I'm pretty sure that Barnstars are universal, though maybe someone could
do
a survey of the wikis to check that.
Linguistic skills. Babel boxes are another thing that matter in all our
multingual wikis.
Wikiness is a new one on me -
http://toolserver.org/~erwin85/xcontribs.php?user=WereSpielChequers
I've just come across it in the Stewards elections, so it is both
somewhat
specialised and at the same time something that
editors from many
different
wikis can appreciate and clearly many are judging
each other by. You
could
argue that it is a function of editcount and
linguistic skills, but I
think
it more than that as I probably outscore some
editors who are far from
monolingual.
Toolserver access and the ability to code are universally valued. As I
believe are various other editing skills.
If you want more I'd suggest creating some modules of Computer based
training, with of course appropriate userboxen for those who complete
them
with a high enough score. It would be great to
have one for Newpage
patrollers to guide them through the minefield that is speedy deletion
tagging, and there are several other areas where a shift from learning on
the job to learning via a gamelike training modules would raise quality,
reduce angst and I believe greatly reduce levels of newby biting. If we
invested in some for new admins we might even address the two most common
reasons for block histories amongst our most active editors.
WereSpielChequers
The point is not that there aren't other things worth valuing or that some
set of very, very experienced people in the community value. It's that
there
are ways we could make things other than edit count a core part of defining
identity in the projects. Because they're not right now.
Toolserver access? Clean block log? Barnstars?
How many times have you had to take time and explain what those even are?
Most people who've ever edited don't even really understand the concepts
much less think of them as metrics for success. Ask 100 random Wikipedians
-- especially those with an edit count lower than 1,000 or who aren't in a
big project like English or German -- about any of those things, and I bet
you they won't know what half of them even are.
It is not universal if it's only visible and understandable to people who
are already extremely active in Wikipedia.
> I absolutely agree. We keep running into this problem (edit count as
the
only
universal metric for success) all over the place.
You mentioned the Wikimedia Labs project (i.e. the Toolserver
equivalent),
> but I think one thing we could do now would be to go take a look at the
> mockup currently built for GlobalProfiles and let engineering staff
know
what
stats/info you think could/should be included in order to mitigate
the
"editcountitis" issue. Note that
it's just a proposed design doc, so if
you
agree that we need better indicators of the work
people do for the
encyclopedia now's the time to speak up.
https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/mediawiki/wiki/GlobalProfile/design
Steven
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