A large amount goes to experiments...if one third of that amount used appreciating editors, we would have been a much better scenario.

On 29-Jul-2014 7:09 pm, "Ravishankar" <ravidreams@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Hey,
>
> I have been noting declining contributions across Indian Wikipedias for the last few months.
>
> http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-karnataka/telugu-wikipedia-struggles-to-stay-afloat/article6255633.ece
>
> triggered to write this mail.
>
> This is my view on what's happening:
>
> 1. Most of the Indian Wikipedias have crossed 10 years. Many of the active and first generation contributors are burnt out, taking a leave or have left for good. If you are not creative, intentional and consistent in your efforts to replenish and nurture the next generation, you will see a declining trend.
>
> 2. Malayalam Wikipedia which once had 30 contributors who made 100+ edits a month registered only 10 such editors in May 2014. The last time they had activity this low was during May 2011. At the same time, their Wiki Source is registering a phenomenal growth. So, some resources could be split between projects too. This is a good reason to not start too many projects. Wikipedia, Wiktionary, Wikisource should be good enough unless you have a huge community.
>
> 3. Focus on offline projects like events, celebrations. While they are good, over doing can stress few active contributors. In my experience, every time after organizing some offline event, there is too much burn out and people return after months.
>
> 4. Things that plague all global Wikipedias - archaic editor, social media distractions, increasing use of tablets / smart phones.
>
> Future will be quite challenging :)

I'm sure more experiments coming our way to make the future less challenging.. ;)

>
> Ravi
>
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