[Wikimedia-l] Editor retention implies social features

[Denis Barthel]

Am 17.04.2012 18:20, schrieb Sarah Stierch:
> People want some type of validation that goes beyond the mission, 
> whether it's a "prize," an award, etc.

Gamification might be a strategy for many things, but I don't think that 
it is working as a general approach throughout all communities. I doubt 
that european or asian communities would appreciate a playful approach 
on gathering and sharing knowledge as much as the en does.

>
>  I think there is a lot of value in encouraging people to bring their 
> personalities to Wikipedia by way of their user page, etc. In this 
> world we live in today, people want to share a picture of themselves 
> and so forth. Saying "That is what a user page is for," isn't enough, 
> and we've struggled to make an easy to use userpage that encourages 
> new editors to share images of themselves.

"encouraging people to bring their personalities to Wikipedia" - 
gamification might be of help for that. Trouble starts to make the 
brought-in editors stay when they see, that earning likes, favs and 
pluses is much more easier elsewhere, as you do not have to contribute 
lengthy on brazilian 200-m-sprinters, extinct languages of western 
papua, villages of western-central estonia, artillery battery commanders 
of the civil war, fossil species of foraminifera or fluid dynamics before.

Maybe it might be more useful to support editing instead of collecting 
people only. I can't imagine that sharing a new picture on my userpage 
is helpful, while I am trying to figure out, if there is convincing 
information on the dispersal events of the genus Lilium in Japan and 
North America or trying to find a reference for the second album of a 
japanese ultra drone doom metal band.

Would love to find help therein.

Regards,
Denis