<quote who="Chitu Okoli" date="Thu, Apr 26, 2012 at 04:02:39PM -0400"> > In this case, I actually started this project with the hunch that > barnstars would lead to a slight decline in editing behavior;
That's the projected conclusion from e.g. Alfie Kohn, http://naggum.no/motivation.html also included in Emacs distros as ./etc/MOTIVATION
It may be important that the barnstars are ephemeral/symbolic - if they could be traded for cash they might have less of an effect.
Still, Kohn extends the 'critique' (if it is one) to symbolic praise (viz symbolic violence) http://www.alfiekohn.org/parenting/gj.htm
(Note, I realize most WP top editors are not children, and the logic of praise may be very different in different age groups.)