While working on WP:Research and WP:SRAG (research and recruitment policy working drafts), the need to explain who researchers are and why Wikipedians should accommodate them became apparent. In response, I've written a couple of essays about the subject and posted them in the Wikipedia namespace (on en.wp). I'm posting here to request your your feedback and ideas as well as help building and refining the essays.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:What_are_these_researchers_doing_in_m...

From the lead: Expanding articles is not the only way to contribute to

Wikipedia. There is room for many different types of contribution: copy edits, content edits, template construction, vandal fighting, bot management, etc. Through the use of the scientific method, researchers contribute to Wikipedia by extended understanding about the community and bringing state-of-the-art technologies to editors.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:What_are_these_researchers_doing_in_my_Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:What_are_these_researchers_doing_in_my_Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Don%27t_bite_the_researchers

Nutshell: Please don't bite the researchers. Their work is valuable to the Wikipedia community, but like anyone else, they should be expected to not disrupt the editing process.

Thanks! -Aaron Halfaker GroupLens Research University of Minnesota