[Foundation-l] Analysis of statistics

[Henning Schlottmann]

Milos Rancic wrote:
> * Also, statistically, old people are dying more often than young
> people. Fortunately our generations (20+, 30+ and 40+) will become
> retired academicians or so one day in the future and then we'll have a
> very nice expansion in the number of highly qualified contributors.
> However, if we don't attract younger than us, Wikimedia projects will
> die with us.

Don't you think it is delusional hubris to plan with editors, who stay
in the project from 15 to retiring age? For pretty much everyone
Wikipedia is of passing interest. The phase can be 30 days, 100 days,
two or three years. But very few people enjoy a hobby like this for
decades. And the very few who do, will find Wikipedia on their own.

We need to recruit people who are willing to contribute for a few winter
months. And maybe - just maybe - continue in spring or return next year
again. Wikipedia was always intended for drive-by editing: Readers, who
correct a fact, add some new information or fix a typo.

It is nice to have extremely active editors, but the bulk of the content
- as opposed to the copy editing and template filling - is done by
passing contributors.

Ciao Henning