Wikipedia:WikiProject community rehabilitation/Idea/Nothing to prove

This isn't a fully fledged idea yet, more of a general notion. Wikipedia was a better experience when I had nothing to prove. I don't have a lot of DYKs, GA FAs and so on, (not any, really) nor do I have any desire to go collecting credit. The only thing I ever tried to gain on Wikipedia was the respect and admiration of those I respected and admired.

Wikipedia now has, in my opinion, far too many tests of what it takes to be a "good editor", or a "real editor", that endless alphabet soup we use to judge eachother. Everyone now, has to prove themselves, whether as an admin, a content producer, or what - everyone's value is being judged. I have no time for that, and neither should you.

Somehow, we need to have a more affirming community - not one of empty praise, but of genuine camaraderie where we appreciate each other for the simple act of charity that is helping out on Wikipedia even the - no especially the - well meaning but foolish. How do we do it? I don't know. It needs to be lighthearted, it needs to be fun, and it shouldn't be a tool or a bludgeon, or a way to get more social credit than others. --Tznkai (talk) 04:41, 17 November 2009 (UTC)
 * I fully agree. I was just skimming through the Random task idea, and I froze in surprise when I realised it was intended to be a competition. Until that point I thought it was just a button which would offer you a task someone else has requested. There was an informal Award Centre not too long ago, and despite the best intentions of the creator it had disastrous consequences. There is a very high degree of pressure on Wikipedia, every edit we make is forced into someone else's vision of a "path to adminship", which involves exactly 12 DYKs, 4 featured articles and 34.3 edits a lunar month. If you have a higher percentage of edits in the Wikipedia namespace you're a bureaucrat, if in the Talk space you're indecisive, if in the User talk space you're too social and chatty, and god forbid you have a higher ratio in the User space, you narcissistic freak. Admin coaching turned from simple editor feedback into something about as alarming and healthy as ex-gay programmes, and overall Wikipedia has begun to resemble a rat race measured in shiny bronze stars, rather than a community-driven encyclopaedia. — what a crazy random happenstance 06:12, 17 November 2009 (UTC)