[Foundation-l] [Wikimedia Announcements] Fwd: Announcement: New editor engagement experiments team!

[Samuel Klein]

On Sat, Mar 24, 2012 at 12:39 PM, Gregory Varnum
<gregory.varnum at gmail.com> wrote:
> Oh come on people - this is yet another Foundation-l discussion that has gone off the rails.."the elusiveness of Samuel Klein"?  sounds like a thriller novel..  I'm not sure we need to be attacking other volunteers here.  :/

That's the *other* Sam Klein.
http://thrillingdetective.com/eyes/sam_klein.html

Cyrano writes:
> I feel compelled to express my agreement with MZMcBride. I find his questioning pertinent.

The questions are pertinent; in particular, everyone should be aware
of the cost of experiments (and should wrap that into any proposals or
evaluations).

> I wish the quality of content were at the core of the WMF. I feel disappointed by the direction
> it is choosing

You mean specifically the focus on editor retention and new editor
engagement over the past year?

We all care a lot about quality; the question is whether that is a
driving force or a symptom of pursuing our mission well.

Personally, I'd guess that basic improvements to how many
account-creators make their first edit, and how many months the
average new editor stays on the projects, will directly impact our
quality in a good way.  (I would also love to see focused experiments
that target improving article quality.  We've certainly had success
stories, with wikiproject assessments and contests.)

> What are some concrete things folks would like done now that this decision has been made?

Thanks for keeping the thread on topic, Greg.  There have been a few
concrete suggestions already; MZM's suggestion to thoughtfully assess
the cost of any experiments beforehand is a good one.

> Personally, I think this is fantastic direction for WMF to be taking (I know that's a shock).  It seems if Wikipedia
> didn't follow this strategy we'd still be using Nupedia.  Focusing on recruitment of just the experts over the masses
> didn't win out then - doubt it will now.

Good to hear!  Wikipedia itself was a big, low-expectation experiment
back in the nupedia days.
But it was designed not to interfere with the existing nupedia
process, so it didn't antagonize those who were committed to what was
already in place.

SJ