I personally work irregularly enough that I dont want to feel an obligation, but I do want to coordinate. I'd like a tracking sheet of some sort where people could if they like say ahead of time what they intended to do when, but then at least record it afterwards so that others could see when and where work was needed. (But if we did use a wheel I'd take a slot.) I do feel an obligation-- not to do all possible mopwork-- but to certainly do at least a fair share of some parts of it. And i would feel better to know that at times i couldnt watch something ,someone else was doing it.
On 10/15/07, Steve Bennett stevagewp@gmail.com wrote:
On 10/13/07, Charlotte Webb charlottethewebb@gmail.com wrote:
I think as long as we remain volunteers, most of us will edit whatever we want, whenever we want. If you want to work out some sort of
IMHO that's a simplistic, very self-centered view of Wikipedians, prioritising immediate self-gratification over all else. Altruism is more complicated than that: If you've ever seen a good, functioning volunteer organisation, it's not "everyone, do whatever you feel like doing, we won't boss you around", it's "we can achieve something amazing if everyone pitches in. Team A, you will do X..."
It's in the nature of people that we *do* like working, and being told what to do, if there is some reward. There are also plenty of psychogical/anthorphological/sociological theories to explain why the more we work for something, the more we desire that something. So, the harder we work for Wikipedia, the more we will value Wikipedia - and in turn, the harder we will work for it. Presumably the converse is that if we tell people that we don't value Wikipedia enough to impinge upon their personal freedoms, then they in turn are going to value it less.
brownie point system for those whom you entice to work in the least
glamorous areas of the encyclopedia, it might be fun enough for some people to play along with, but Wikipedians generally prefer to be self-directed.
That's a very big generalisation. I think "Wikipedians" are an extremely diverse group. Plenty could be co-opted to "work" in a non self-interested way, if the right approach could be found.
Personal example: I tend to create a lot of stubs. However, I'm stimulated to create them in specific areas when there is a clear worklist to go from, like http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Missing_encyclopedic_arti..., clearly cut out work with definable milestones and measurable progress work well. The "chore wheel" could work, but it would have to be highly visible, and with social rewards. It should also probably not be measured in hours, but in work accomplished.
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