Jun 25, 2011 12:51 GMT  ·  By

Wikipedia is a great resource and the amount of content is impressive, but there is always more to be done and added. Unfortunately, there is little to encourage new editors to start creating new stuff and even less to encourage them to continue.

The bright minds at Wikipedia believe that all you need is love which is why it's introducing a new WikiLove button which will enable editors and users to send appreciations to other editors for their work.

"WikiLove is a simple experiment in appreciation. It makes it easy and fun to send barnstars or whimsical messages of appreciation to other users," Wikimedia, the foundation behind Wikipedia, wrote in a blog post.

WikiLove is a simple gadget, a new button will show up in the top right corner which will enable you to send a message of thanks to an editor.

Users get to choose from a number of images available, they can send a kitten - always appreciated, a barnstar, beer or they can make their own message.

WikiLove is available on a prototype version of Wikipedia for now, you will need a different account to try it out. But the plan is to have it live on the main site as soon as next week, provided that everything goes smoothly.

The need for new ways of expressing thanks and appreciation became apparent after a study showed that most messages sent by other editors are critical, though sometimes helpful, but rarely of appreciation.

"Editing Wikipedia has tended to become harder over time, and the likelihood that new users will receive correction/criticism has increased," Wikimedia said.

"The drive for quality and reliability has led to the development of sophisticated automation mechanisms that aid in socializing new users to Wikipedia’s norms, policies and conventions. The act of expressing appreciation for other users, by contrast, is a largely manual effort," it added.