Recognition

Provide mechanisms that recognize the value added to the community by contributors.

A common personal motivation is to be respected and acknowledged by peers. For some Wiki users, this may be a major influence on whether and how much they contribute.

Most Wikis work on a volunteer basis, where no one is paid for their contribution. For most users, adding information to the Wiki is not part of their job. But, to use a cliche, recognition is its own reward. Showing that people's work is appreciated may encourage them to contribute more.

• Record the author of all edits. (OK, so there needs to be a separate discussion about whether to allow anonymous edits.)
• Allow others to rate the quality of contributions.
• Show statistics on the extent of a user's contribution, e.g. number of topics for which they are the primary author, number of edits, peer assessment rating (“Reputation Points”, “Karma” etc).
• Mark user profiles with roles such as “Moderator”, “Guru”, “MVP”