On Thu, 18 Oct 2001, Jimmy Wales wrote:
I think this is really an interesting angle. I was thinking in exactly the opposite direction, but I can see your side of this, too. I was thinking that it would be a fun form of recognition to see who has the most points. But, we don't want to encourage people to be "karma whores".
Yes--competition can be a huge motivator, but Wikipedia is a collaborative project, and it's not clear that competition would, in the long run, do any more than create a nasty little pecking order of the sort one of my esteemed colleagues :-) has already mentioned.
Also, I suspect the public display (or even private comparison) of points would be a turn-off to the many adults, including many academics, who wouldn't like to play such games.
Larry