A Wikimedia study shows that almost 40% of all new Wikipedia contributors get negative feedback on their first edits. The percentage excludes users that got banned for spam, vandalism or registering multiple accounts.
The study analyzed a random batch of user edits made to talk pages for new users on English Wikipedia from 2004 to 2011.
A Wikimedia employee read hundreds of feedback messages and tagged them based on the text's tone.
Compared to previous years, this figure actually shows how Wikipedia turned sour since 2006, the first year when there where more critiques than praises for first time editors.
The result, is that 34.4% of all initial edits to new user talk pages were negative, while praises were almost nonexistent, counted at under 2.46%.
Two weeks ago
we reported that first time Wikipedia contributors make quality edits 56% of the time. This means that 40% of those 56% get negative reviews on their first edit.
“[W]e pointed out that while vandalism has been on the rise in the past five or so years of the project, it appeared that good-faith editors still represent over half of all new registered contributors – a trend that we found in this sample as well,” said Maryana Pinchuk, Research Fellow, on behalf of the Community Department.
“So while the increasing use of negative [...] warnings may be a reaction to increased vandalism on English Wikipedia, it is possible that large numbers of good-faith editors are getting caught in the crossfire.”
This could hinder
Wikimedia's strategic plan of increasing participation, quality and reach, since many users with good-faith and noble intentions may be turned away from future edits by criticism instead of constructive feedback on their process.
Wikimedia should do whatever it can to encourage not only quality content, but also quality feedback for first time users, since many are still not acquainted with its publishing and editing process.
We noted above that 2006 was the first year when negative feedback surpassed positive reviews, coupled with this second chart detailing the evolution of the total active Wikipedia user base, we can see that since 2007, the total number of editors has gone down.
After connecting the dots, it's in plain view that the rise of criticism may be turning new editors away from future edits.
The complete study, alongside statistical data and process breakdown can be found on the
Wikimedia Foundation Summer of Research page.
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