I agree that many WikiProjects are moribund, but I was only thinking of those which are active as you need someone willing to assist in on-boarding. I think you could do it more frequently than annually, maybe around #edit milestones or my "developmental or interest" milestones. "Wow, Wilma, you've participated in 20 Article for Deletion votes, have you thought of becoming an administrator who closes these votes" (or some such). Or "Hey, Fred, you've edited 50 articles from WikiProject Architecture, are you interested to get more involved with this group?"
Maybe just giving the project recruiters the tools to easily identify users with the desired characteristics would be enough (although some guidelines so they don't over-pester would probably be in order). They can then reach out and onboard folks however they like.
The same tool could also be used just to praise the users for various milestones to motivate them. "Hey, Barney, congrats on 100 geology edits, would you like to have a progress bar on your user page so you can set a target and track how many geology edits you're making?". That is, try to motivate them by setting a goal which seems to reflect what topics they like to work on (could be based on categories and/or project tagging).
Kerry
Sent from my iPad
Hi Kerry,
Thanks for the ideas. Jonathan Morgan, Aaron Halfaker, and I have had more than one conversation about wikiprojects as a way to engage with new editors. Unfortunately, there are a lot of derelict wikiprojects.
I have some ideas about how to improve the training system for ENWP and Commons in particular. But that's different from the motivation issue, which I think is more challenging. With enough money and time, the training system can be upgraded. I'm not sure if the same is true for motivation. I have the impression that student Wikimedians are mostly motivated by grades (hence the precipitous decline in their participation after their Wikipedia Education Program class ends), and many other people are motivated by money or PR (hence we get a lot of people engaging in promotionalism or PR management.) It's not clear to me how someone goes from being wiki-curious to feeling motivated enough to contribute for years. There are many other hobbies that are lower stress, healthier, offer more opportunities for socializing, and offer a friendlier environment. I think that some Wikimedians are motivated by desire to promote or share their interest in a particular topic, which might keep content creators interested and engaged for years, particularly if they meet people with similar interests. But it's a phase change to go from being a content creator or curator, to taking on roles that benefit other individual Wikimedians, or broad cross-sections of the Wikimedia community. We could use all of those kinds of good-faith long-term contributors.
Perhaps we should include information in our training about "career paths" for Wikimedians who would like to develop their skills and/or move into new roles?
I'm not sure what else to suggest. I find it challenging to figure out how to motivate people to want to contribute productively for years, and there are some roles for which lengthy experience is an informal but significant prerequisite for acceptance and/or success. I'd like to see more people make that journey.