Well, I don't think that the real discrepancy lays between IPs and users. Registration
is purely a matter of formality : as you get acquainted with Wikipedia as an IP, you are
likely to contemplate the advantages of having a unique identity. It is not that IPs never
write FAs, but that, most of the time, they finally go through the registration process
before finishing their work.
Yet, we can perhaps draw a reliable distinction between occasional and (relatively)
permanent editors. The first one are rather passing by, writing only the stuff they are
interested in, going away from wiki once they feel tired of it, possibly coming back
whenever they feel like it. The second one go extensively beyond their initial scope of
edition and get to assume the current general affairs of the community.
Therefore, does occasional editors matter ? I should say yes. For instance, on the French
wikipedia some new editor did a brilliant job on [[Napoléon III]]. Once the article became
an FA, he stopped being active : to him, its main, ponctual, work was over.
Le 30 oct. 2012 à 20:59, Laura Hale <laura(a)fanhistory.com> a écrit :
On Wed, Oct 31, 2012 at 5:04 AM, Piotr Konieczny <piokon(a)post.pl> wrote:
Well, this is based on my experience as GA author and reviewer. I have never seen an IP
successfully nominate an article (I did see nominations once or twice, they failed
quickly, as the articles were not up to GA level and IP never came back). And of course, I
have yet to see an IP GA reviewer (that is not a troll or a useless if good faithed
newbie). If you are aware of any successful GANs were the primary author was an IP,
I'd like to look at them. I'd hypothesize that:
But that wasn't the point raised. The point raised was not: can IP addresses
successfully navigate Wikipedia process? It was: can IP addresses successfully create
content? If you're focused solely on process, then yes, correct. You will not see IP
addresses engaged their because the rules generally prohibit it.
On the other hand, if the issue is can ip addresses create content, then it appears to
me, yes, they can create content and do so successfully without getting their content
rolled back. They are an important group. in the area I write in, between 10% and 35% of
all edits to articles appear to be made by IP addresses. (Most of them based on the
regional interest for the topic.) They often include information that has improved
articles and can learn sourcing. This is not always the case, but happens often enough
that their editor value should be considered.
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