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_…
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't_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