Wiki Patterns
grow your wiki
EditRecognition
What is it?
Provide mechanisms that recognise the value added to the community by contributors.
Motivation and Usage
A common personal motivation is to be respected and acknowledged by peers. For some Wiki users, this may be a major influence on whether and how much they contribute.
Most Wikis work on a volunteer basis, where no one is paid for their contribution. For most users, adding information to the Wiki is not part of their job. But, to use a cliche, recognition is its own reward. Showing that people's work is appreciated may encourage them to contribute more.
Examples
- Record the author of all edits. (OK, so there needs to be a separate discussion about whether to allow anonymous edits.)
- Allow others to rate the quality of contributions.
- Show statistics on the extent of a user's contribution, e.g. number of topics for which they are the primary author, number of edits, peer assessment rating ("Reputation Points", "Karma" etc).
- Mark user profiles with roles such as "Moderator", "Guru", "MVP"
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Related Patterns
Adoption Patterns
Adoption Anti-Patterns
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The distinction between "credit" and "ownership" is important. For many people, working on a major new section of content loses some appeal at the thought of losing ownership -- when really it's not so much ownership they want, but credit. I.e. they are quite happy to have others edit their work, and improve on it ... but want their original contribution remembered. Some metadata that acknowledges a major author or editor seems appropriate.
For most users, adding information to the Wiki is not part of their job. But, to use a cliche, recognition is its own reward. Showing that people's work is appreciated may encourage them to contribute more.
When really it's not so much ownership they want, but credit. I.e. they are quite happy to have others edit their work, and improve on it ... but want their original contribution remembered. Some metadata that acknowledges a major author or editor seems appropriate.