1

Every wikiHow article needs to be kept in check, and making achievements for hitting milestones and getting rewarded can make it addictive and fun! Here are some ideas: Articles made: 1, 5, 10, 20, 30 Edits Patrolled: 100, 500, 1,000, 2,000, 5,000, 10,000 Contributions made: 10, 50, 100, 300, 800, 1,500 Time on wikiHow (without getting blocked): 1M, 3M, 6M, 9M, 1Y, 2Y, 3Y, 5Y, 10Y Rising Stars: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Featured Articles: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 NABs: 5, 10, 20, 50, 100 Total views: 1k, 10k, 25k, 50k, 100k, 200k, 400k, 800k Active days (in a row): 3, 7, 14, 30, 90, 182, 365 Thumbed-up edits: 2, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100 What do you think of my idea?

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Not liking how this promotes the idea that users should work quantity over quality.

3

But if their work in that category is mostly “low-quality” admins can take away the achievements and only give them back when they improve!

4

I think most users would already say that wikiHow is addictive and fun. Beyond that, I do not support any of these types of awards based solely on the number of contributions someone makes in a given area. My reasoning is that it emphasizes quantity over quality and creates the need for subjective review of a user’s contributions. For example, if a user “hits” 1,000 total patrols, someone would need to check to make sure the work was actually quality, otherwise users might be inclined to ramp up their numbers in a given area just to get the achievement/award. We already have backlogs in many areas of the site, so have you considered the strain this would put on the community, particularly the admins? We should strive to uphold quality standards and policy on every article, regardless of recognition or awards, because that is the mission of wikiHow. The best way to get recognized for your achievements on wikiHow is simply to make high-quality contributions. Basing anything off the number of contributions is a road I don’t think we want to go down.

5

Active days in a row, on a volunteer website? As fruitful as I want to “express myself” concerning quantity points, milestones, awards for such, and whatnot, I’ll just leave this link here. http://www.wikihow.com/wikiHow:Editcountitis

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Thank you @Maluniu , I was looking for that Editcountitis link but couldn’t find it in the search. +1

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I don’t understand. P.S. If you don’t support my idea, that’s fine. Nobody cries over spilt milk! (or in this case, ideas)

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We do have awards like barnstars, for example. If it’s recognition or praise that somebody would want from volunteering on wikiHow then there are 3 methods: 1-Make consistant quality edits and work in collaboration to improve wikiHow to recire aforementioned awards. 2-Just think about the amount of people you can potentially help by creating/editing articles. 3-Spread the wikiLove yourself! There are plenty of studies which conclude that goving and sharing are great spurces of happiness. Personally I think coaching a new user and providing information sucessfully in itself is a reward to the community as a whole. TL;DR barnstars still exist

9

Why is not being blocked an accomplishment?

10

To prevent Timothy MacGuire from ever getting an award, of course…

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We actually already have something similar.:slight_smile:There are award templates available that you can put on a person’s talk page if they hit a certain milestone and you feel that they are good contributions. These are awarded at personal discretion, which is better because a person can better judge quality than a bot can. Although this is just me, I’m personally more motivated to earn an award given to me by a living, breathing human rather than a pre-programmed script bot. It gives more a sense of accomplishment. Even better, you can award a user a Barnstar if they’ve been making exceptional contributions. Thanks for suggesting it, though!

Highway96, right? I’m not really looking forward to the end of this month…

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I’m against this idea as well. wikiHow is addictive enough as it is; we don’t need a system to make it addictive. Besides, this system will just encourage quantity over quality, which goes against the notion of every user being a worthy contributor regardless of how many edits they have. I’ve seen systems like this one on other websites, and have never seen them as being useful. Also, we have user templates that we can use for this sort of thing, even if they have to be updated manually.

13

I appreciate the suggestion @hasbeen400 ! However, I would be against this system, for the reasons mentioned above (by WE14 and others). We have regular award templates that can be given instead, and this system would only encourage users to be concerned with quantity, not quality. About @Highway96 , I hope that his long block gave him enough time to reconsider his actions and I would love to see him making more constructive contributions on and after the 27th. In my humble opinion, it doesn’t matter if he receives an award or not; wikiHow is not all about awards and achievements.