We talk a lot of about the culture of Wikipedia being negative, critical, abrasive etc; this is a turn-off to a lot of women (and also to a lot of men). But what can we do to change that? Well, I thought about the way that postings get Liked on Facebook. Indeed, most postings get many Likes on Facebook. It seems if you read something and appreciate the post in any way (which includes when you agree with the poster that it is unhappy matter and hence unlikeable matter), you click Like. Well, I decided to try it on Wikipedia. Now, when I run through my watchlist (which I do most mornings), instead of just looking for what's wrong and needs to be fixed, instead if I see a positive contribution to an article, even a small one, I "thank" the contributor for the edit. And if I notice I am thanking someone quite a bit, I send them some Wikilove or a Barnstar. I notice a small increase in the number of thanks I am receiving. While I realise this may be simple reciprocation, I'd like to think I might be creating a small culture of appreciation in my topic space, hoping that people choose to Pay It Forward. So, that's my suggestion. Try thanking people on-wiki in the various ways available. Become part of the niceness culture that we'd like Wikipedia to become known for. Kerry

I have found myself using the "thank" button more than usual recently. In the middle of all the turmoil that goes on onwiki, a simple "hey, that thing you did that you thought no one noticed? Yeah, thanks for doing that" goes a long way toward cancelling some of it out. On Wed, Feb 4, 2015 at 6:52 PM, LB <lightbreather2(a)gmail.com> wrote:

I agree. I'm especially thrilled when someone notices an article about a notable woman and thanks me for creating it. I usually thank them back!!! Can't have too much wikilove! Sydney On Feb 4, 2015 7:12 PM, "Keilana" <keilanawiki(a)gmail.com> wrote:

Well Jonathan, thanks for doing that! I am not an administrator, so I couldn't do those things you mentioned, but I often think that in some cases I wish I could do more than just "thank" the person. I know however that I was very suspicious of anyone posting on my talk page in the beginning, so I feel like the generic "thanks" is the best way to approach someone the first time. If someone comes across my watchlist a few times with I perceive as a "theme", then I will tip them about how to do basic things like create a category on commons for related images, or fill out the Wikidata item, or browse similar items in Reasonator. On Thu, Feb 5, 2015 at 10:50 AM, WereSpielChequers < werespielchequers(a)gmail.com&gt; wrote:

I'm going to go out on a limb here, and suggest that WikiLove Kittens are not empowering. I too find a creep factor with the thing, especially since it seems to be popular with youngsters. This may not be the healthiest way for adults to be interacting with children. The nicest thank you I ever got was from someone at another language wiki who took the time to come to the English wiki and write a note on my talk page about a translation I did. It seems they had always wanted to translate that particular article to English, but didn't feel their English skills were good enough. On Thu, Feb 5, 2015 at 11:43 AM, Risker &lt;risker.wp(a)gmail.com&gt; wrote:

Wow, if I am in the top 10, there's not much thanking happening. Those are some *very low* numbers compared with the "undo" option that is also available for every edit. Here's a thought. Let your karma be the number of thanks minus the number of undos. Do not allow your karma is not allowed to go negative, so you must thank more than you undo. What a positive culture change that would be! I note it is also a culture change that could be enforced within the platform - hmm. Still, a new league table, we must compete! C'mon, Team Gendergap, let's get our people to the top of this league table! Thank, thank, thank . (seriously!) Kerry _____ From: gendergap-bounces(a)lists.wikimedia.org [mailto:gendergap-bounces@lists.wikimedia.org] On Behalf Of Risker Sent: Friday, 6 February 2015 2:44 AM To: Addressing gender equity and exploring ways to increase the participationof women within Wikimedia projects. Subject: Re: [Gendergap] Thank someone today. Kerry, I'm pretty sure you didn't know this, but you are amongst the top 10 thankers on English Wikipedia - and THANK YOU for doing that. http://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=User:F%C3%A6/sandbox <http://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=User:F%C3%A6/sandbox&oldid=1 49050523> &oldid=149050523 - now being discussed on Wikimedia-L mailing list. (This is the result of a script that Fae ran on enwiki and commons - it would be really interesting to see how other projects do as well.) I do confess that I've started to use the number of "thanks" and on- or off-wiki positive messages about an action to reassure me that a chosen comment is on-point (or sometimes to recognize that it's not on-point, too). This kind of feedback is a lot more useful than I'd initially expected, and I'm working up to giving more of them. My initial restraint was probably linked to my unwillingness to use the Wikilove extension - nothing wrong with it except for using the word "Wikilove" in every edit summary, which I find really creepy. Risker/Anne On 5 February 2015 at 05:04, Jane Darnell &lt;jane023(a)gmail.com&gt; wrote: Well Jonathan, thanks for doing that! I am not an administrator, so I couldn't do those things you mentioned, but I often think that in some cases I wish I could do more than just "thank" the person. I know however that I was very suspicious of anyone posting on my talk page in the beginning, so I feel like the generic "thanks" is the best way to approach someone the first time. If someone comes across my watchlist a few times with I perceive as a "theme", then I will tip them about how to do basic things like create a category on commons for related images, or fill out the Wikidata item, or browse similar items in Reasonator. On Thu, Feb 5, 2015 at 10:50 AM, WereSpielChequers &lt;werespielchequers(a)gmail.com&gt; wrote: Much of my editing on wikipedia is minor typo fixes, the sort that a normal spellchecker won't pick up. I secularised lots of sports teams from having mangers to managers and also dealt with the problem of rock stars preforming songs in sports stadiums. I used to be able to do hundreds of such edits without anyone seeming to notice any except where they had missed the l from public. But now I get thanked for several percent of my edits, I think that is a really positive change on the pedia, of course the metrics people will take it as a negative because some of those thanks will be replacing edits, so the short term effect on the editing level is likely to be slightly negative. I do tend to check out who has thanked me and make sure the newbies who do so have had a welcome and give the ignored old hands reviewer status if I think they are ready for it. One of the most dysfunctional bits of the project is the way that people can do huge amounts of uncontentious stuff with very little interaction with others. I sometimes trawl the accounts who have recently created their 100th article and where appropriate set them as auto patrolled, often when i look at their talk pages the interactions they've had have been minimal. Regards Jonathan Cardy On 5 Feb 2015, at 00:11, Keilana &lt;keilanawiki(a)gmail.com&gt; wrote: I love the thanks button, it's such an easy way to add more positivity to the wiki and the world. :) On Wed, Feb 4, 2015 at 6:04 PM, Katherine Casey &lt;fluffernutter.wiki(a)gmail.com&gt; wrote: I have found myself using the "thank" button more than usual recently. In the middle of all the turmoil that goes on onwiki, a simple "hey, that thing you did that you thought no one noticed? Yeah, thanks for doing that" goes a long way toward cancelling some of it out. On Wed, Feb 4, 2015 at 6:52 PM, LB &lt;lightbreather2(a)gmail.com&gt; wrote: I agree, Kerry. I try to use the "thank" button at least once a day. Lightbreather On Wed, Feb 4, 2015 at 4:50 PM, Kerry Raymond &lt;kerry.raymond(a)gmail.com&gt; wrote: We talk a lot of about the culture of Wikipedia being negative, critical, abrasive etc; this is a turn-off to a lot of women (and also to a lot of men). But what can we do to change that? Well, I thought about the way that postings get Liked on Facebook. Indeed, most postings get many Likes on Facebook. It seems if you read something and appreciate the post in any way (which includes when you agree with the poster that it is unhappy matter and hence unlikeable matter), you click Like. Well, I decided to try it on Wikipedia. Now, when I run through my watchlist (which I do most mornings), instead of just looking for what's wrong and needs to be fixed, instead if I see a positive contribution to an article, even a small one, I "thank" the contributor for the edit. And if I notice I am thanking someone quite a bit, I send them some Wikilove or a Barnstar. I notice a small increase in the number of thanks I am receiving. While I realise this may be simple reciprocation, I'd like to think I might be creating a small culture of appreciation in my topic space, hoping that people choose to Pay It Forward. So, that's my suggestion. Try thanking people on-wiki in the various ways available. Become part of the niceness culture that we'd like Wikipedia to become known for. Kerry _______________________________________________ Gendergap mailing list Gendergap(a)lists.wikimedia.org To manage your subscription preferences, including unsubscribing, please visit: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/gendergap _______________________________________________ Gendergap mailing list Gendergap(a)lists.wikimedia.org To manage your subscription preferences, including unsubscribing, please visit: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/gendergap _______________________________________________ Gendergap mailing list Gendergap(a)lists.wikimedia.org To manage your subscription preferences, including unsubscribing, please visit: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/gendergap _______________________________________________ Gendergap mailing list Gendergap(a)lists.wikimedia.org To manage your subscription preferences, including unsubscribing, please visit: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/gendergap _______________________________________________ Gendergap mailing list Gendergap(a)lists.wikimedia.org To manage your subscription preferences, including unsubscribing, please visit: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/gendergap _______________________________________________ Gendergap mailing list Gendergap(a)lists.wikimedia.org To manage your subscription preferences, including unsubscribing, please visit: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/gendergap

Although I was ranting earlier today about the "attaboy culture" of meaningless little rewards and certificates that corporations substitute for any substantive kind of reward, like pay or better treatment, I concur with your message. If it's a good edit, we need to cultivate that kind of thing by letting the editor (especially a total stranger) know how much it is appreciated. On Wed, Feb 4, 2015 at 5:50 PM, Kerry Raymond &lt;kerry.raymond(a)gmail.com&gt; wrote: -- Michael J. "Orange Mike" Lowrey "When I get a little money I buy books; and if any is left, I buy food and clothes." -- Desiderius Erasmus