Wiki Patterns

Patterns for successful wiki use

User Tools

Site Tools


recognition

Recognition

Classification
TypePattern
FocusAdoption

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

Motivation and Usage

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.

Examples

  • 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”
recognition.txt · Last modified: 2018/11/28 14:56 by splitbrain