I think the question “why people don’t edit?” embeds the assumption that editing is a
normal thing that most people should do.
Why don’t I go fishing? Why don’t I do embroidery? Why don’t I breed poodles? Like most
hobbies and interests, I am sure they are fascinating once you get into them, but I just
never had a reason to take up any of them. But for all I know, I might love them and be
great at them if I tried.
I think that the question about “not editing” is in the same category. I am sure most
people have simply never even considered doing it. I think if you asked them to consider
it, they’d mostly say “well, maybe I could, but why should I do that instead of my pigeon
racing?”
I’m not sure we have a compelling “value proposition” for anyone to become a Wikipedia
editor. It’s not a very social activity compared with other hobbies (which may account in
part for the lack of interest by women). It’s got a steep learning curve of technical
skills and policies. And the rewards for doing it well or often are … hmm, non-existent.
Past surveys of existing editors show a strong skew to being male, having a higher than
average level of education, and a higher than average level of IT skills, which tends to
suggest it’s not “something for everyone”.
I am not aware of any studies on why not edit. But there are studies on why people started
editing - see page 11 of
<https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/76/Editor_Survey_Report_-_April_2011.pdf>
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/76/Editor_Survey_Report_-_…
which provide the other side of the story. If people start editing because they want to
share knowledge and either saw a mistake or an omission (which seems to be the primary
reasons), then one is tempted to think that the opposite is that people didn’t think they
had knowledge to share (might relate to lack of education, life experience, or lack of
self-confidence) or that they did not desire to share it (that might relate to an
unwillingness to share or an unability to share, e.g. time, technical skills).
My prediction is that a survey of “why don’t you edit” would probably produce the
following responses in this roughly this order:
1. Never even thought about it
2. Don’t have the time
3. Don’t have any knowledge to share
4. I’m not enough of an expert
5. I don’t know how to contribute
6. I don’t see the benefit to me from contributing
Kerry
From: wiki-research-l-bounces(a)lists.wikimedia.org
[mailto:wiki-research-l-bounces@lists.wikimedia.org] On Behalf Of Rob
Sent: Saturday, 5 September 2015 7:39 AM
To: Research into Wikimedia content and communities
<wiki-research-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org>
Subject: [Wiki-research-l] Why people don't edit?
I know there's been lots of research (well, some) about why and how people read
Wikipedia, but has there been any significant studies or research about why they don't
edit? Not why they stopped editing or their numbers are dropping or how they got sick of
the bureaucracy and markup code, but what barriers might exist to them ever making an edit
in the first place.
Thanks.