Recently, I have seen a few new users giving out barnstars. It is worrying that they do not understand the severity of giving a user a barnstar, to the point in which the receiver has to “warn” them about it (not necessarily warn them, but rather a reminder).
I’m thinking that we can make some kind of a barnstar system like this:
If you want to give someone a barnstar, you have to post a nomination/vote on a special page on wikiHow. You can’t see your own nominations since it wouldn’t be a surprise.
At least 2 admins have to vote “yes” for the barnstar, and there cannot be a since “no.”
The list of nominations is in order by the nominee’s amount of contributions. Barnstars are automatically rewarded to the nominee by a bot (so nobody can misuse the templates).
That’s the basic idea. What do you all think? Could be unnecessary? A good idea? Post your opinions.
Jordan
2
While I respect the motivation behind this proposal, I don’t believe formalizing the process of awarding Barnstar in such a way is really necessary, and I feel like it will make things needlessly complicated.
It doesn’t seem like editors have been so overzealous with awarding Barnstars over the years that we need to lay down new ground rules for them. Plus, it might make the idea of receiving a Barnstar become a competition (especially among newer editors) with people wanting to receive them not by doing authentic, quality work worthy of such recognition, but just to win a “prize”.
Perhaps we can put more emphasis on the significance of these awards, and reiterate how they should be awarded sparingly, but I feel implementing a system like this completely eliminates the current organic and natural procedure to awarding a Barnstar (when done properly).
It’s a nice idea but I agree with @Jordan
. Formalizing it might take away the special nature of it and then there’s a whole bunch of other things that would need to be tweaked. (Like who would have access to the tool/vote? Who could nominate someone?) Most experienced editors know just to ignore a spammy barnstar. There’s a saying that you shouldn’t fix what isn’t broken and I don’t think the barnstar system is broken. At the end of the day yes a barnstar is special but it’s not the end of the world.
system
4
I appreciate the idea and good intent behind this suggestion - I understand it comes from a place of having a good heart about maintaining quality. However, as someone who created many of the Barnstars over a decade ago, I would rather not see any encircling of praise.
A Barnstar is awarded from the heart of the giver. It is up to the giver to decide the merit. It is not a formal qualification, it is not something that has to be earned through demonstrating that the recipient has jumped through formal hoops. How we offer praise to other people is not to be dictated by rules, especially not in a collaborative project where we’re all aware of how amazing it is that people give of their time and effort here.
It may surprise some of the later-arrived contributors but we used to be a lot more generous in giving out Barnstars many moons ago. A decade on, I am surprised by the thought that they are meant to be awarded rarely and strictly - and by vote…
By way of an example of what can be skewed when we tell people how and when it’s okay to praise: Rising stars fell into the sphere of judgmentalism about awarding praise, to the point where some contributors complained about articles not being RS worthy, and because this attitude went unchallenged, it became the norm. Yet, to complain thus is to forget that it attacks the choice of the person awarding the RS. RS’s were initiated to be a form of encouragement and praise, rather than denoting article perfection. I don’t and never have expected articles to arrive on this site in perfect condition or this wouldn’t be a wiki, so I have long been frustrated by how the RS turned into a judgment on the person awarding it.
If a contributor feels someone is making helpful, amazing and considerate contributions to this site, then don’t hesitate to award a Barnstar with generosity. Any contributor with a real attachment to this site can see when an award has been given with genuine intent and reason. For the few that slip through in ways that some might consider unwarranted (for whatever reason one considers praise unwarranted ?), those of us with in regular contact with the project are keen observers of whether the recipient is participating collaboratively and usefully. A mismatch of effort is not a reason to clamp down on when and how we praise.
Kindness sits at the heart of Barnstars. Recognising the amazing work people do needs to be a constant and Barnstars were always conceived on this site as a neat shortcut way of such recognition. I don’t want us regulating yet something else on this site, there are already too many rules, telling me what is and isn’t allowed as if this isn’t a wiki with the freedom to innovate in ways that help improve the project we all care about so much. Every little thing I have let go unchallenged in the hope it was a passing phase has allowed too many “don’ts” to turn into concrete. For the Barnstars, I don’t want this to happen, so I am saying a big no to any system that regulates the giver’s choice to award praise.
Thank you for considering my opinion.
Anna
5
This is funny timing - just the other day, I was making a mental list of people I’d like to give Barnstars to. I almost went on a bit of a binge but was afraid if I did several at once, it’d reduce the specialness of each, so I held off. Sounds like some of you would appreciate that hesitation and some of you wouldn’t
Anywho, I think Jordan, InfernoTerra, and Flickety have raised some really key points already so I won’t be a broken record. Kenny - I know what you’re getting at, and I think everyone else does, too. We’ve all seen the kind of user who signs up brand new to wikiHow and gives out a dozen Barnstars in their first day or two (including to themselves, heh). It can be annoying to see… but as Stephen mentioned, is it a huge deal? Probably not. Any wikiHowian who’s been around a while can tell when a Barnstars is given for genuine appreciation. To me, the meaningful personal message that goes with it is worth more than the award itself (even if it’s a simple message but speaks to a particular effort or passion or project the recipient has been working on, or highlights the conscientious approach they always take, or recognizes their kind wikiSpirit). Those heartfelt ones are the ones that really mean something, and the others are easy enough to deal with - if someone is sending tons of Barnstars in a row to people they don’t know (and it’s actually an ongoing issue that’s offputting or disruptive), the user can be coached about the norms; if it’s not disruptive, you can just say a nice thanks, and move on, or if you’d prefer, ignore it altogether. But hey, it’s nice to be nice, and wikiHow is a nice place! I’m with Flickety that raising fences and creating rules about praise would be a shame, especially when we have so many people here doing genuinely amazing work that is so worthy of real praise. I’ll admit: I’ve shied away a little from giving a lot of Barnstars, not because I don’t think they should be given fairly liberally, but because I was afraid that my giving them out would be taken as a sign that these awards need to be handed out or sanctioned by the wikiHaus. I feel verrrrry strongly that they shouldn’t be! As a member of our community, I’d like to give them out to show my appreciation for collaborators who are making wikiHow a better place. But if/when I do so, it’s not so much as a staff member but on a personal basis… I really get a warm and fuzzy feeling when I see community members recognizing each other with Barnstars. We have the hardest working *and* kindest community on the web, and that’s pretty awesome. Maybe you all just have to promise not to start thinking Barnstars need to be a staff thing, so I don’t feel weird about giving them… then I’ll start the trend of giving out more deserved Barnstars again. Or better yet, you guys canSpread the wikiLove (yes yes, within reason… keep it special and for deserving efforts… but spread it!) <3
Thank you Kenny for wanting to reserve barnstars for special occasions! I respectfully disagree with your proposal because these new users may be doing this out of genuine kindness. They just may not know that barnstars are reserved for special cases and meant to be handed out occasionally. I think the new voting regulation may be intimidating to them and even cause them to leave, same for established contributors. I personally wouldn’t want to have to be kept from awarding a barnstar. Plus, I think having a bot award the barnstar would make things way less personal.
I think we can just remind new contributors–very, very kindly and gently–that barnstars are not meant to be given out too often, but tell them how much you truly appreciate the kind gesture. But thanks again for sharing @Thehelper101
! I appreciate your helping keep things special around here
Best,
Adelaide
system
7
@Anna
, it was not unusual at all to award a group of Barnstars to various users some moons ago… Indeed, this makes sense because a) your mind is on it and you’re in the mood for recognising other people’s efforts b) it’s a FANTASTIC opportunity for you to think about the unique contributions of each of the people you’re going to give Barnstars to and c) it ensures that more people get the wikilove at one time!
I don’t see Barnstars as coming from your position/role. They come from the heart. So whoever you are, whatever you do here, offering Barnstars is your kindness, your show of care for others. And I’d hope it’d inspire others to give them out. Don’t let them go dusty!
Kenny, I apologise for not using your name earlier. I am really impressed with your interest and careful tending and editing across the site. I am defensive about Barnstars because of my understanding of their history, and in my opinion the generosity of spirit of Barnstars is vital to maintain. I hope you understand.
Thank you for all your opinions/perspectives.
@Flickety
and @Anna
Very well said guys! <3
system
10
+1 for what Inferno Terra said…
@Thehelper101
: I sort of agree with the admins that have given their comments; there is nothing wrong with a barnstar, it just means “Good job with your editing, you have significantly improved the how-to manual”. It is not something to be taken personally. If there are spam barnstars, then it is easy to deal with by reverting them.
I also sort of agree with you in the fact that there are users giving out barnstars to blocked users, even though they are out of kindness, as it is sort-of disruptive.
system
13
Kudos to Anna and Flickety. I figured you said it very well, and I didn’t need to repeat it… but… <laughing!> Here we are!
I’ve worried about the same thing before, honestly. I’ve seen wonderful contributors and hesitated to award Barnstars for their work because I was anxious about giving them out too often! I even asked Krystle about it before
. But I only give them to people who have been doing consistent, awesome work.
And truth be told, I don’t think whether you are staff or not makes a difference! Many people who are not staff give out genuine praise. What’s wrong with that? Zip. I think anyone can give out a Barnstar. I don’t think giving Barnstars when they’re unwarranted is too much of an issue, I don’t see too many people doing it.
I love Barnstars and have given many over the years to the most dedicated contributors. It brings us all together as friends in what can often be a hostile Internet world.
Good points everyone and this is an important discussion, thanks Kenny for bringing it up.
