Wikipedia talk:Recruiting Editors Brainstorming

This is an experiment in Brainstorming, as well of course as a search for new ways to attract editors :)

I refrained from copying material in there, I'll do some after someone else starts adding stuff. Flammifer 13:18, 8 May 2006 (UTC)


 * I've been successful recruting for WikiProject History of Science by sending a message to the H-Net Hist-Sci-Med-Tech listserv (a moderated history of science, medicine and technology listserv). A mention of the project even ended up in the History of Science Society quarterly newsletter.  I think it's good to put a sense of moral urgency into the message, and convey enthusiasm about what a Good Thing Wikipedia is.--ragesoss 17:36, 12 May 2006 (UTC)

Postgrad students
Honestly, we have enough to do at the moment, and you shouldn't encourage procrastination! --Midnighttonight 09:24, 13 May 2006 (UTC)


 * Procrastination is the thief of time. Bibliomaniac15 00:19, 24 May 2006 (UTC)

Page view counter
IIRC, MediaWiki is already capable of doing this, whether it's disabled in Wikipedia for performance reasons I'm not sure – Gurch 15:24, 13 May 2006 (UTC)
 * I think this is absolutely essential - both for recruitment and for retaining current editors. It would also be a good way of directing effort to well-read, poor quality pages. Andeggs 10:08, 16 May 2006 (UTC)
 * That last sounds dubious. It might also mean that Users are shown what the high-profile pages are where they can try and insert their PoV, style of phrasing, or style of layout. There is no close agreement about "poor quality". Brya 21:34, 19 May 2006 (UTC)

Highschool students
I had a brainstorm on how to get a lot of highschool students. Everyone thinks that those high school pages are just fluff, but they act as great recruting tools. Many highschoolers first edits come on their highschool page. If we wanted to recrute editers from a particular school, all you need to do is get a google ranking high enough for that particular school.

See: This could even apply to all "cruft" articles. The more pokemon articles we got, the more pokemon fans came to edit them. The more artilces on a certain type of music album, the more the fans of that group came. They didn't just edit the things that attracted them, sometimes they became editors on all the articles in that subsection, or section. So, create articles on notible things that will attract editors is an idea.--Rayc 18:55, 13 May 2006 (UTC)

Very serious project
I see this project as a very serious one. Wikipedia lacks of two kinds of editors: scientific experts and "neglected subjects" connaisseurs (those mentioned in WikiProject Countering systemic bias). Maybe with the collaboration of the Welcoming committee, we should make as a first step boilerplate texts for invitation into the Wikipedia community (much like Boilerplate request for permission), and then maybe a discussion place where any user asks if somebody could recruit experts, or if someone knows a good place or forum where such experts gather... These are just ideas, but what do you think? CG 14:23, 14 May 2006 (UTC)


 * The problem seems to be is this project to recruit people that visit wikipedia but don't know that they can edit, or to recruit people from external sites/places.--Rayc 16:50, 14 May 2006 (UTC)


 * Both; I'd expect that most "potential contributors" have visited wikipedia at least once (unless they've been living under a rock for the last years), but may not be fully aware of how they can be useful and that *they* are the ones Wikipedia needs. It's not two distinct groups of people, it's just two different ways of reaching them (through Wikipedia or through email / forums / etc.) flammif e rtalk 03:00, 24 May 2006 (UTC)

Boilerplate text to ask people to come over: Somebody had mentioned those on Building Wikipedia membership:


 * Possible solicitation letters:
 * Building Wikipedia membership/Sample solicitation
 * Building Wikipedia membership/Another sample solicitation
 * Building Wikipedia membership/Sample solicitation 3
 * Building Wikipedia membership/Skeptical solicitation

And yeah, getting the Welcoming Comittee involved would be neat, especially if there was a way to have a customized message for people coming as part of a particular recruitment drive. flammif e rtalk 03:00, 24 May 2006 (UTC)

virtual equity market
My first question is why anyone would need an incentive. Forgive me for being idealistic, but the joy of knowledge is enough for me. Second, I doubt the use of a virtual equity market. It would be terribly cumbersome to keep. Bibliomaniac15 00:17, 24 May 2006 (UTC)
 * I don't think it actually is an incentive, but it would add another dimension (of complexity). Mostly, it's just an interesting thought experiment to think about edits as commodoties.  It's not a typical juxtaposition. --Matthew Benjamin Landau 04:04, 24 May 2006 (UTC)